Matchmaker, Matchmaker, What’s Her Copay Like?
When Rabbi Craig Ezring鈥檚 annual health insurance costs soared 38 percent this year to a whopping $18,636, he did more than just complain.
He went looking for a young wife.
For several years, the Boca Raton, Fla., rabbi聽had been getting coverage through a small corporation he formed with his wife. When she聽died four years ago, he thought the cost of his insurance coverage would drop. Instead it rose.聽 That鈥檚 partly because Ezring,聽56,聽had a heart bypass surgery a couple of years ago. Nonetheless, he said he鈥檚 still quite healthy, and does ballroom and Latin dancing twice a week.
When he got his latest health insurance bill in August, Ezing said he almost had a heart attack.
An insurance broker told him his small business insurance rate is based on the age of the owner of the company.聽So, Ezring that he was looking for a younger woman who wouldn鈥檛 mind marrying him to help him get cheaper coverage. 鈥淕ive some thought to the possibility of marrying me 鈥 a good insurance plan is all I ask. Okay there maybe one or two other things I ask for, but sadly, right now insurance has become a top priority,鈥 he wrote.
Ezring, a rabbi at several nursing homes and assisted living facilities in South Florida, said he鈥檚 had a few 鈥渃omical offers鈥 of marriage in response,聽including one asking if he wanted to move to South Carolina.
Ezring said his insurer, UnitedHealthcare, has been good to him in making sure he gets services he need and can see the doctors he wants. But with the latest rate hike, he feels like he鈥檚 working mostly just to afford his health coverage. He鈥檚 shopped for other policies, but other companies won鈥檛 offer him聽coverage.
Told that Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who vehemently opposes the federal health overhaul, is only for his state-subsidized health insurance, Ezring chuckled. 鈥淚t would be lovely if everyone could pay that amount for really good insurance,鈥 he said.
