No Health Insurance?

[adorabelle]

So I'm 8 months pregnant with our first child.  Currently I am on a PPO plan through my employer, and my husband is covered as well.  Next month I'll not be employed with the company any longer, so when open enrollment came around last month I just put myself on the health insurance and figured we'd get my husband on the insurance through his employer. Well, come to find out, it's an individual plan and since I'm pregnant he's automatically denied, which I think is a bunch of BS.  I understand me not being able to be covered, but it's stupid he can't be.

So now I'm thinking: If I quit before the end of the year, I can have him covered on my plan through COBRA.  The downfall? It is SO expensive. Like over $800 for both of us. 

I just don't know what to do.  We have to wait until after the baby is born for my hubby to apply.  For me, we'll pay COBRA until the baby is here and then figure out what to do.  I'm afraid I'll be denied due to pre existing conditions (anxiety, cervical dysplasia, and PCOS). 

It sucks that we can't get health insurance we can afford.  Any suggestions?

[kitchensqueen]

Health insurance is a rock and a hard place for most people. Are there any other options for your husband to get separate insurance (his employer?). Or you could see if your state offers a plan at least for you and the baby. Here in Illinois we have All Kids. It actually has three levels - coverage for child only, child and mother or whole family - just depends on how you qualify. Worst case, you get Cobra for yourself and your husband goes without for awhile - provided he's healthy and can, that is. It's tough.

[larablue]

I would pay the 800 $, if there is no other option.

Going without health insurance is no option in my opinion.

Even healthy people can get sick at the wrong time and having to worry about cost then especially while pregnant or with a newborn adds unneccessary hardship to life.

I would rather live in only one room as a family than not having health insurance.

[34me]

We went through this when I was pregnant with my last kiddo 13 years ago.  He can't be covered due to your pregnancy because of the baby.  It's a federal (?) mandate that if dad is covered then baby automatically has to be under the same policy.  And so no one would give my dh coverage due to the what if's with my ds.  No one wanted to get stuck holding the bag for any potential problems.

[3timesamom]

I would go apply through your state for pregnancy Medicaid. Baby would be covered in MY state for up to a year after birth. The income guidlines are much higher for that particular program. We are on it but are having a homebirth hoping to not use it:) Fingers crossed.

Otherwise our entire family is on it because DH's work doesn't offer ins. Private ins is double our mortgage and covers NOTHING. So I would rather live in a house personally and have medicaid. If we were disqualified we are still poor and qualify for charity care.

[cristeen]

Coming from someone who's been paying COBRA premiums for 2.5 years now, it sucks.  Personally I'm uninsurable (PCOS being the big one).  I tried to get individual coverage when DH changed jobs and was denied, so COBRA was the only option available to me.  DH's company had the same deal - they were purchasing individual policies for the employees (and I was pg at the time), so even getting DS covered was ridiculous (we had to buy an individual plan for him, been carrying that plus COBRA for 2 years now).  When we found out we were pg again DH went to his boss and made it clear that this was becoming a deal breaker, we'd no longer be able to afford health insurance - intimating that it was cover the family or he'd be looking for a new job.  We get family coverage as of Jan 1.  But truth be told that family coverage is going to cost us the same amount of money we're currently paying in COBRA+ ind for me and DS.  It's gonna be $800/mo either way - just this way we're on a group plan and I don't have to worry about COBRA expiring in my pp period. 

You have very few choices.  I'd plan on paying for COBRA at this point, but hedge your bets.  Apply for state coverage.  Call your insurance carrier and see if anyone will cover you (the rules are changing weekly because of Obamacare).  Double check with HR at your DH's company, see if they can do anything. 

For us, going without wasn't an option because we own our house.  Even with a planned HB, we weren't going to risk losing the house to medical bills.  But that's a determination you have to make for yourself.  Just be aware that once you drop coverage and have a gap it becomes even harder to get covered. 

[Mulvah]

What is the cost for COBRA for just you?  Can your husband get private insurance if he cannot get group coverage through his own employer?  You will have to run the figures, but one thing is for sure - make sure you have coverage for your pregnancy because if your insurance ends, you won't be able to get new coverage for the pregnancy.

[Erin77]

I would go for COBRA with you and the baby and get a short term, catastrophic kind of health coverage for your husband. A few years ago, I started a job which had a probationary period of three months before the health insurance kicked in- I bought a policy from Assurant (http://www.assuranthealth.com/corp/ah/HealthPlans/short-term-health-insurance.htm) on the advice of the HR person to cover myself and my husband during those three months. It was pretty affordable, maybe $200? I did not have to use it, so I can't vouch for that, but it made me feel better in case we were hit by a car or something. 

[kitchensqueen]

Originally Posted by Erin77 

I would go for COBRA with you and the baby and get a short term, catastrophic kind of health coverage for your husband. A few years ago, I started a job which had a probationary period of three months before the health insurance kicked in- I bought a policy from Assurant (http://www.assuranthealth.com/corp/ah/HealthPlans/short-term-health-insurance.htm) on the advice of the HR person to cover myself and my husband during those three months. It was pretty affordable, maybe $200? I did not have to use it, so I can't vouch for that, but it made me feel better in case we were hit by a car or something. 

I had to pay mine on maternity leave and it was $1200 per month to cover me and the baby. So it's not always an option people can afford. We had to eat up our entire savings to do three months on it. 

[triscuitsmom]

It's not a question I have to ask because I live in Canada but even if I didn't I wouldn't ever choose to go without even if it meant a super tight budget.

My husband was 28, in wonderful health (didn't even have a hospital card because he'd never had to go). No family history of any cardiovascular disease, normal blood pressure and cholesterol. Excellent weight for height and very active and he'd never smoked. He had a major stroke out of nowhere in September and spent three months in the hospital. We would have been looking at at least hundreds of thousands of dollars if we'd lives in the us and had forgone insurance on him because he was so low risk. Even post stroke all of the testing they did to figure out cause turned up nothing except to say he's perfectly healthy. That doesn't mean guarantees of anything. 

[kitchensqueen]

Originally Posted by triscuitsmom 

It's not a question I have to ask because I live in Canada but even if I didn't I wouldn't ever choose to go without even if it meant a super tight budget.

My husband was 28, in wonderful health (didn't even have a hospital card because he'd never had to go). No family history of any cardiovascular disease, normal blood pressure and cholesterol. Excellent weight for height and very active and he'd never smoked. He had a major stroke out of nowhere in September and spent three months in the hospital. We would have been looking at at least hundreds of thousands of dollars if we'd lives in the us and had forgone insurance on him because he was so low risk. Even post stroke all of the testing they did to figure out cause turned up nothing except to say he's perfectly healthy. That doesn't mean guarantees of anything. 

Yikes, that is scary! I hope your husband is okay now! 

[Ohhedgehogs]

I have a similar story. My sister and her famliy forgo insurance because 'they are young and dont need it.'

I was 21 years old. Newly married, crappy insurane, but something never the less. the last week in march I started feeling ill on monday. was literally carried into tye dr on friday so sick i couldnt stand. monday was at a surgeon for a consult, tuesday had my first surgery to remove an infection frm my tailbone. tests come back. It was MRSA and I also had a pilonidal cyst. two weeks later second surgery. 10 weeks later I have a surgery wound the size of an orange that wont heal. july 1st i had a wound vac installed. august 1st it was removed.

after insurance my co pays totaled about 15k. AFTER insurance.

NEVER EVER EVER think you DO NOT NEED IT!

get cobra and if you do not have a drop in that to when you switch to your new insurnce tehy shouldnt be able to say a thing about pre exsisting conditions. it is how I did it. do not let coverage drop though or they can bust you for pre exsisting conditions.

If you need more help feel free to message me and I can help you with how we did it.

[MidwifeErika]

Health insurance is rough! It is so expensive and often covers so little. However, my sister was 23 and graduating from college so she was about to be kicked off my parent's health insurance. No biggie as she was perfectly healthy and always had been. However, my dad is a VERY cautious and sometimes anxious person so he paid the COBRA while shopping for new health insurance to cover her until she found her first out-of-college job. It was only about 2 weeks after college graduation that she was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Thank goodness my dad is as anxious as he is about such things because she ended up having health coverage through her entire treatment.

The thing is with insurance vs. no insurance is not just the cost a person is left with. There were certain tests and treatments that my sister got that likely helped her kick that cancer (that has a very high mortality rate... especially the specific variety that she had) that she would not have even been offered had she not had insurance. She would have only been provided the absolute bare minimum, she may not have survived, and my parents would have gone bankrupt in the process.

Everytime we have had a break in insurance, immediately something has happened. Last time we went without insurance for only a few weeks and one of my kids needed stitches and I got a kidney infection. That was thousands of dollars in about 2 weeks time. It would have been cheaper for us to pay for the COBRA.

[3timesamom]

Sometimes its the difference in the ins or living in a box. Ins is WAY to expensive.

[iowaorganic]

We don't have insurance.  instead we are in a Christian health sharing group.  for us it has been wonderful- we share $320/mo for our family of 6- soon to be 7.  we love that we are able to share the cost of our home birth midwife and any nontraditional treatments we might need.  Of course we can also share regular medical bills as well.  This works well since we are so healthy.  In addition to this we have an aflac accident policy- which helps so much living on a farm and having accident prone children.....

the difference for us is being able to eat.....