[Beach Kiwi]

On other boards I belong to there are often arguments over which is cheaper, as far as direct cost to the individual, private health insurance, like in America, or public health insurance, like in New Zealand.

In light of this, I thought I'd ask the Americans who post here what it costs on an annual basis for the following:

Health insurance - full coverage
Car insurance - full coverage
Home insurance - full coverage

If you could list the state you live/lived in, and age, that would be useful, too. :cool

[toesonthenose]

Brace yourself Beach Kiwi:
I'm in Hawaii so these costs may be higher than other US locales.
Homeowners $3500/year (all prices in US$)
Autos $2800/year, 2 cars
Health $4000/year with the other $4000 paid by employer
Medical Malpractice $15000/year
Umbrella policy $750/year- because Americans and their attorneys love to sue everybody for anything!

I have a friend who was in a minor fender-bender auto accident, and he is being sued because the woman (who had no injuries) in the other car has been unable to satisfy her husbands sexual desires since the accident! Yes these things do actually happen in America! With regards to public health insurance, don't forget that we have 45MILLION people in the US without health insurance.

[RoadRunner]

Auto insurance in Arizona: $1,600/year (2 cars - 1 is 11 years old, the other is brand new). The rates are slightly higher here than in the Virginia area of DC (there are a lot of illegal immigrants in Arizona and many older residents so apparently this increases the premiums).

Home insurance in Arizona: $600/year

Health insurance: Highly variable. Depends on what your company contributes on your behalf. Co-pays also vary. My husband's company provides "free" private health insurance with no out-of-pocket expenses if the doctor is "in network." I paid approximately $1,000/year for health insurance through my company and then I had co-pays of about $20/doctor's visit and $20/per prescription.

[clg]

Health insurance - the employer portion costs about 1,000 a month and we contribute an additional 200 a month with a 500 dedudtibe each year.

Car insurance - about 2000 a year for two cars one 2 years old one 4 years old

Home insurance - we pay about 60 a month for basic coveraged plus another 60 for earthquake

[cpgrant]

Auto Insurance = $863 / year for 1 automobile (2003 model year). $300 deductible. I actually don't drive much, so my insurance is somewhat cheaper due to a "low mileage" discount.

Health Insurance = $226/month for myself (42 y.o. male, non-smoker). $500/year deductible. A PPO. It's a pretty good plan.

Renter's Insurance (I don't own) - $25/month.

Amounts are in US$
Location = Montana

[sweetpea]

Health insurance (HMO):
Employer pays $269/month plus another $49 for dental/vision.
I pay $25/month. There are co-pays for everything too, for instance, $20 per prescription, $10 per office visit. Over a year, I average about $100 out of pocket a month for health care.

Car insurance:
$900/year


This is in California.

[Beach Kiwi]

Thanks for the replies. :nice1

Insurance certainly seems to be a fairly large part of the cost of living in America. I guess having to cover so many variables, like the possibility of being sued, accounts for some of the cost.

Despite the sometimes patchy performance of state funded healthcare, I still think it's preferrable to privately funded coverage.

[coastcat]

I don't remember exact figures, but here are some estimates...

Car insurance: $2400/year for two cars and two drivers. This covers a 2003 Subaru Impreza WRX and my battered 1993 Subaru Loyale. The insurance would be considerably cheaper if my husband hadn't crunched his car 18 months ago (his own fault). My record is clean. :P

Health insurance: We have Aetna PPO through my husband's employer. For employee+spouse coverage (no other dependents), it's about $220 a month for medical and dental.

We don't own the house.

I'm 40, my husband is 34, and we live in Maryland (DC suburbs).

[mechidna]

Well, I'm not sure of the exact figures, but here goes:

Homeowners insurance - about $770/year for the gold premium stuff

Auto - about $62/month for full coverage

Health insurance is about $100/month. Have the normal $15 copays, etc.
This includes dental and vision insurance.

I think that's everything.

[Beach Kiwi]

Thanks for those replies. :nice1