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Comment by shiro | Hacker News Reader

I became a freelance 13 years ago. On COBRA for a while. Looked for IEEE group insurance but HI wasn't covered then. The insurance company (HMSA) offered a switch to individual plan. It wasn't too bad initially ($350/mo for me and my wife, HMO, $500/$1000 ded.) But then the premium soared and also we had a kid; at peak it was $1050/mo without drug, vision and dental. I learned antibiotics are pretty expensive.

After ACA, it got a lot better. Currently we have PPO through HMSA in HI. About $650/mo for me, my wife and one kid. Kind of high ded ($1500/$3000), but drugs are covered and also with basic vision and dental.

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You should visit your local pet store, in the aquarium fish section, and check out the products available for maintaining the health and well-being of your fish.

And you should also learn the generic drug names or IUPAC chemical names for the commonly prescribed antibiotics.

I'm not saying those two suggestions are in any way related, other than the possibility that doing both could save you a great deal of money, in certain situations. Otherwise, grocery stores and big-box stores with embedded pharmacies often sell generic antibiotics at prices below your drug co-pay, but you would still need a prescription, and therefore an office visit co-pay. It pays to shop around.

I have an unhealthy fish. What brand would you recommend?

I can't recommend anything, as I am not a veterinarian. You need to do your own research. Fortunately, the web makes this rather easy. Try searching for "aquarium antibiotics" and refine your search terms as necessary.

Fishflex FTW....for fish of course. It's even better than fishmox :P

Does that $650 per month include subsidies from the government for low income? Because that is far cheaper than what I received as a quote on healthcare.gov. For my wife and kids it was $1,100 per month with a $12,000 deductible. With that plan my out-of-pocket expenses would be $25,000 per year before the insurance paid a nickel!

86% of people who sign up with Obamacare received a subsidy1 from the government for low income. Without that, I don't understand how anyone could afford the rates posted there.

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1 http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/11/us/11-7-million-americans-...

No, it doesn't include subsidies (ED: I mean, we don't get subsidies). I signed up directly with the provider. Your number looks egregious. I wonder how that kind of plan works, though, with ACA's 80/20 rule.

It's non generic prescription drugs that are expensive. See for example the generic antibiotics available for $4:

http://www.target.com/pharmacy/generics-condition

http://www.walmart.com/cp/4-Prescriptions/1078664

(you have to click around more to get the list on Walmart)

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