Today is the start of open enrollment for those who buy our health insurance via MNsure.org the Minnesota health insurance exchange. People who do not have health insurance through an employer can buy it through the exchange if they want tax credits and deductions.
Sadly even when we do buy it through the exchange we could get a letter from the IRS stating that we did not buy it through the exchange even though we sent proof. I believe I am owed $900 dollars but I’ll likely never see it because even though I responded to their notice within the required time frame they were months behind on opening their mail.
Another benefit of buying health insurance through MNsure is they will send letters stating that if I don’t do “X” I may lose my health insurance.
I have been buying health insurance through MNSure since the system started. I remember the year I tried to call with a question and waited hours on hold. I haven’t called since.
There was the year I used the “insurance helper”. I was able to teach him how MNsure works, he didn’t know much about it. I learned not to ask for help.
The MNsure website used to be a total disaster and mostly unusable even when I could sign in. It is still a bad experience but it now works with more web browsers.
The general layout and design has the look and feel of the corporate intranets used in the late 1990s. They use the same graphics and some of the same menu structures.
Part of the open enrollment process involves documenting what my income will be in 2023. That means I need to know how many houses my company will sell and how much each will sell for and how much profit there will be from each sale.
Health insurance is expensive but one day I will age out of the system and will be eligible for Medicare.
Since the fine for not having health insurance has been removed I am tempted to go without, but knowing that a broken leg or even a hung nail could cost tens of thousands of dollars to treat I keep buying health insurance.
Health insurance and health care are two different things. Sometimes health insurance is referred to as health care but it is not health care. Health care is a service that health insurance will pay for once all deductibles have been met.
In 2021 UnitedHealth Group CEO Andrew Witty took home $18.4 million in total compensation, according to the company’s latest proxy filing.
UnitedHealth Group was the most profitable health insurance company in 2021, bringing in more than double the profit of its next-closest competitor with $17.3 billion in earnings, which is less than some oil companies made last quarter but still! My health insurance is currently through Health Partners which is part of UnitedHealth.
On Halloween, I got a letter from my health insurance company thanking me for enrolling for 2023. I guess open enrollment starts sooner for the insurance companies than for the rest of us.
If you are self-employed or do not have health insurance through your employer I wish you luck during this open enrollment period and may the odds be ever in your favor.
