AboutJohn (J.R.) McCollough Expertise I can answer questions pertaining to Health and Medicare insurance for individual and/or family coverage, students, retired/separated military members, small businesses under 20 employees and seniors in the United States.
Additionally, I can assist people in understanding their options if they've been turned down for insurance and do not know about what state and federal programs are available.
Experience I am the owner of a national agency that only attracts agents of the highest caliber to consult in Health, Life and Medicare insurance products. We emphasize a client-centered approach to the way we conduct business and can provide objective input to help you make an informed decision.
Organizations I belong to a variety of professional, consumer and military organizations. Please feel free to contact me if you're interested in a particular organization.
Past/Present Clients I don't divulge information about my clients on the internet due to respect for protecting information. Anybody is more than welcome to contact me if they wish to receive a list of past and current clients in their respective area whom have authorized my agents and/or I to release information.
Question Dear Mr. McCollough,
My husband and I currently have no health insurance; I'm 48 years old, he's 52, and we live in California. I know what kind of health coverage we want: high deductible, lowest possible premium. Our primary concern is protecting our assets, as we own 2 valuable beach properties (we live in one and rent the other). We have a small loan on the home in which we live (that is, it's small relative to the value of our properties - we owe less than 50k with a fixed rate), so we don't have a lot of debt, but we actually don't make very much money. Last fall, we got a Blue Cross PPO plan with a high deductible, but had to drop it because it was too expensive for our budget. My question is this: I'm wondering if we could lower our costs by joining some kind of group, association or cooperative through which we could get health insurance? I don't even know if this is possible, but someone suggested perhaps some kind of landlords' association, since we're landlords. Personally, I don't care what kind of organization it is, I'll gladly become a member if it comes with a break on health coverage - even a small reduction in cost would help.
I know we've got to get some kind of protection, but it seems we're faced with two impossible choices: either pay the premiums - which will inevitably increase over time even if we don't get sick - and go broke, or risk losing everything. Any information or advice you could give us would be very much appreciated - and yes, we would love to have your objective advice, and wouldn't mind your subjective advice either. Although we are both healthy, I'm afraid this kind of risk is beginning to worry me sick! (never did like to gamble!)
Thank you again for your time and expertise..
:)
Kind Regards,
j-me
Answer Hello,
The decision to purchase health insurance is one where you have to see the value in it. It sounds like you value having health insurance, but feel frustrated and a bit annoyed about the premiums continuing to increase, even though may never actually end up using the health insurance. It's a catch 22, you either face potential financial disaster or find a way to pay the premiums.
I recommend that you pick a high deductible health plan and open a health savings account to stock pile money for a rainy day. There are pros and cons with joining associations, but something to keep in mind is that it's quite possible for an association plan to experience rate increase above the normal private market increases. I've seen increases as high as 200% in some cases. Also keep in mind that should your health change, you might be stuck in that plan with nowhere to go.
Just make sure that whatever association plan you purchase is actually a health insurance plan. There are some association plans you do need to stay away from.
