As I’ve mentioned in a few places, Mr. BFS has gotten a one year contract with a new school district for the 2010-2011 school year as a librarian.  A new district means a new commute, new coworkers, and new medical plans.  This school district has four options and I’d love to see which way each of you would lean.

Please note, I have my own insurance through my company, so these plans would just be for him.  I’ll be asking you to help me pick my own plan again when they give me all the details in the next month or two…

Before I start, let me say only options 1 and 2 come with a “HealthFund” that is funded by $750 from the school district every year.  Mr. BFS would use the $750 before paying out of pocket and any leftover funds can be rolled over indefinitely.  You will see that the major cons to options 1 and 2 are higher annual deductibles and coinsurance maximums.  Also, “Preventative Allowance” is how much they will cover for preventative health care like annual physicals and immunizations before you have to cover anything at all in that category.

Option 1 – Consumer Basic – $26.34 a paycheck or $684.72 a year

Lifetime Max Benefit – Unlimited
Annual HealthFund Credit – $750
Annual Deductible - $2250
Annual Coinsurance Max – $3500
Office Visits, Hospital Visits, Etc – We pay 25%
Preventative Allowance – $1000
Preventative Care – We pay 25% after the first $1000

Option 2 – Consumer Plus – $53.04 a paycheck or $1379.04 a year

Lifetime Max Benefit – Unlimited
Annual HealthFund Credit – $750
Annual Deductible - $1750
Annual Coinsurance Max – $2500
Office Visits, Hospital Visits, Etc – We pay 20%
Preventative Allowance – $1000
Preventative Care – We pay 20% after the first $1000

Option 3 – Choice POS II – $62.50 a paycheck or $1625.04 a year

Lifetime Max Benefit – Unlimited
Annual HealthFund Credit – $0
Annual Deductible - $1000
Annual Coinsurance Max – $2000
Office Visits, Hospital Visits, Etc – We pay 20%
Preventative Allowance – $500
Preventative Care – We pay 20% after the first $500

Option 4 – Open Access – $86.85 a paycheck or $2258.16 a year

Lifetime Max Benefit – Unlimited
Annual HealthFund Credit – N/A
Annual Deductible - N/A
Annual Coinsurance Max – $2500
Office Visits – $20 copays
Hospital Visits, Etc – We pay 15%
Preventative Allowance – N/A
Preventative Care – We pay 15% and copays until we hit the coinsurance max

So, if you were Mr. BFS – 27 years old with no known health problems other than getting every bug kids bring to school – which plan would you go with?