From: "jay" 
Newsgroups: misc.invest.financial-plan
Subject: Re: Health insurance in NJ worth it?  Any other way to protect my assets?
Date: 10 May 2005 23:20:08 GMT
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	dJmDoZpYMXDoXbVPxJ1ggKOSD5iG++zdyV/8OFivRh0CSJRsu6Fiag==
	=kXlz

Thanks.  The trouble in NJ is that the plans that are eligible for HSAs are
more expensive than the HMO which is currently $410 per month.   Granted
it's nice to be able to have the savings account, but at least the HMO
doesn't have the 2500 deductible.

As mentioned in the previous message, if I sign up for the HMO, and plan on
staying enrolled until I'm eligible for Medicare, then it will cost me a
total of $440k in premiums over a 25 year period based on the past history
of the premiums increasing at an average rate of around 10% per year.  (This
calculation assumes that the proposed new rules don't make things even worse
as I get older, and that could easily happen).  What are the chances that I
will REALY be receiving $440k worth of medical care over those 25 years?
By the way, the HSA plans will be even more expensive in the long run here
in NJ, since the premiums increase at a faster rate than the HMO's 10% per
year average.

Hard to believe that even a catastrophic indemnity policy with a $10,000
deductible costs $328 per month in NJ.

As mentioned before, if there were some way of protecting my assets from
potentially being wiped out due to a major illness, then I'd forgo the
health insurance altogether, because all of the individual health insurance
plans in NJ are clearly rip-offs.

Any other ideas besides just biting the bullet and doling out $440,000 or
more in premiums to the Health Insurance industry over the next 25 years?

J.