Dear US citizen...

[Blu Razzberri]

Hi,

This is a post for all those who live in the US legally (not because I'm judging if you're an illegal immigrant, but because it's relative to my questions).

I'm curious about health insurance, and the reason you don't have it.

Health care in the US and talk about introducing universal healthcare seems to be a UA violation kind of topic, and I can certainly understand why, but let's try not to let that happen here.

.

[yokosmile]

I cannot afford HIC. I am a 21 year old college student, and I only work part time. My boyfriend works full time, and we support each other, but he doesn't make enough money to pay for my HIC. We also have student loan debt and a car payment which is certainly a significant amount of debt. Afer those bills at the end of the month, there is none left for HI.

I am currently paying off a $3000+ ER visit at $25 a month. I don't have regular doctor visits. I haven't had a pap in well over a year. The last pap I had, I payed out of pocket, and it left me completely broke. It scares me. But there's nothing I can do about it.

My parents are very poor. They make around 12k a year in SS and a part time job. They cannot pay for my HI.

I am an honor student, I volunteer, I work hard... and it all seems like it's for nothing. I hope I don't get seriously ill anytime soon. It's all so very bleak...

And to think... I can't get a pap... but genital mutilation is covered by Medicaid in some states... lunacy..

[s_kristina]

My kids are on medicaid, but dh makes too much for us adults to be covered by anything. He makes no where near enough for us to afford private insurance. I've thought more then once about getting a job just so we could have health health insurance, but we would end up paying more for me to work then I would be able to make. The cost of living compared to entry level jobs is insane here. So that ends up with both of us in desperate need of medical care, but totally unable to afford it. I can't play outside with our children without an asthma attack, but can't get medication. He very likely is having trouble with hereditary circulatory issues, but again we can't get him in to see anyone. Even if we could find a free clinic around here it would mean taking time off work and that means a loss of income. The way things are right now our lack of health care will mean at least one of us dies much younger then we would if we had health care.

[momuveight2B]

Originally Posted by yokosmile

. I don't have regular doctor visits. I haven't had a pap in well over a year. The last pap I had, I payed out of pocket, and it left me completely broke. ..

Planned Parenthood used to offer these and birth control for a very reasonable cost on a sliding fee scale. When I was a student we could go to the student health clinic on campus and get both for free.

[USAmma]

We have health insurance and really need it. My dd has some signficant long-term health issues and her monthly medical costs just for tube-feeding supplies comes to $1500. On top of that she seeps specialists every few months and usually makes a trip to ER about once or twice a year. She also gets endoscopies about twice a year at around $5000 each. So yeah, we really need it. We tried to get Medicaid for her long-term issues because sometimes they will cover kids like her regardless of income, but she did not qualify.

My dh works a job he doesn't particularly like but it's a state gov't job and the benefits are pretty good. Even still we pay around $450 month just for her out of pocket medical expenses or copays.

I do not believe in UH unless it's really a good program. I know people in Canada on my tubefeeding support board who have many problems getting their children tests and procedures, also just basic doctor appts. If it's a life and death situation though, the child usually gets the care they need at a hospital.

[EVC]

We don't have health insrance because we can't afford it. I'm afraid dh has developed a fairly serious medical problem, but we can not afford for him to see a doctor

[SunRise]

No health insurance here. My son and I were covered for 7.5 years through my emplyment. Then the company had some financial difficulties and went dormant. SO we were not covered for the six months while there was no income.

Cobra was an option, but I didnt have the 750 dollars a month to pay it (no work no money)

As well, I did check out medicare and another state program but didnt qualify. (Due to odd circumstances).

During the 6 months of not working and not having health coverage we had one asthma attack / trip to emergency, a sick visit and a well visit (all for my child) (paid out of pocket). I have postponed eye appointments and dentist.


Now am working again but still no health benefits / insurance. My salary disqualifies my child for medicare and also exceeds the state program to qualify.

I can afford it, I suppose, rather then put money in savings. But since I hadnt worked for a while my priority is too pay off the other bills that accumulated during nonemployment and then research H.I. a bit more.

We are both low risk / regular health and the cost for one adult one child appears to be 1300 a month now (just a few numbers I saw advertised by health insurance company.) ... which would mean I choose health care or savings and pay out of pocket for care??? Also I intend to try to conceive and will be weighing the options of health insurance versus out of pocket...

I dont think people should have to have this kind of worry or stress....choosing between one or the other, or just plain not being able to afford it...

[merpk]

When I lived in the States I worked for the NYS government, and then DH worked for the NYC government, so I was always covered.


For the record, though, now in NYS all children are covered under the free Child Health Plus program. And the low-income Family Health Plus program (a small fee) or the Healthy NY program (a less-small fee) is available for singles and families without health insurance.

[angelpie545]

My husband does not have health insurance because he cannot afford it right now, and I currently have it through the state because I have no income. My kids have Medicaid. For us, health insurance is simply too expensive, and we live paycheck to paycheck as is.

I'm not a fan of universal healthcare because of the long waits, ext., it can cause, but I do favor the state providing healthcare to all families under a certain income level that we all pay for out of our taxes, at least. I'm still forming my opinion on that whole deal-it is very complicated indeed.

[KJoslyn78]

right now we have HI - the kids have medicaid and DH and i are on another program called Family Health Plus (much like child health plus - but for those 19-64 yo). We have a slightly out of pocket costs on FHP but not for the medicaid for the kids (when i was on medicaid and not pregnant - there was also an very small cost - less them FHP, for my thyroid medication and such, but under 18 and pregnant bear no cost out of pocket).

It's the only way we heave HI and we do need it - as in the past year DH has gotten extremelly ill without reason 1, another an odd allergic reaction to pink eye medication. I also have hypothyrodism and need blood work ever few months (still trying to get my levels correct) plus my medication (which isnt too bad on it's own - but add Dr visits and lab tests, and...). My DH also has been Dxed with BiPolar and although currently he doesnt need medication - when he does it's expensive.

As far as UH - IDK. I dont think things are right they way they are now - but i am not sure what a good solution for the whole would be.

[jandc_hammond]

I don't have healthcare insurance, but my DH does (DD is covered my medicaid). His company charges about 1/6 of his income to cover just him. If he wanted family coverage, it would cost more than 1/2 of his income....we are already somewhat low-income, so we cannot afford coverage for all of us. Fortunately, our state's medicaid program provides coverage to children, so DD is insured. The state does not provide medicaid to adults, unless they are pregnant or disabled. I did have great coverage while I was employed (prior to DD's birth), but left my job after she was born (childcare expenses were as much as my income and I traveled constantly, making breastfeeding very difficult). I really wish healthcare were more affordable, as there have been times where I have needed to see a doctor, but could not afford it, causing the illness to become worse (and more expensive to treat). We are working on putting money into a savings account to use for medical expenses, but have a fair amount of student loan and past medical expense debt that we are also trying to pay off.

[SamuraiMom]

We are self employed, and in limbo for the next 60 days until we find out what we do qualify for. Until then, DC's have medicaid for $60 a month and DH and I have free-care. All that I want is affordable health care. I agree that the US health system needs a desperate overhaul, and I am not sure about UHC... but I don't have any suggestions either. In our state it is law that we all must have HI, or else. We don't quilfy for Mass Health and we make just a little too much for Common Wealth care which would get us affordable health care. So, if in 60 days they tell us that we can't get any help from our state program, we are getting the "or else". But like another person had said on this thread, I could go back to work to pay for HC, but I would also have to pay for daycare and baby sitters....

[JessicaTX]

health insurance is available through dp's work, but he's the only one covered. We paid the excessive fees for a year and would have ended up spending like a third as much if we'd just paid out of pocket. the copays were ridiculous and practically nothing was covered. so we dropped the 800 dollar a month fees and pay out of pocket when we need to go. We're low risk and pretty healthy, even though no doctor will take us on Medical care is done exclusively through the emergency room, even the urgent care clinics won't see us. :

[Snowdrift]

*

[candiland]

My two kids are covered free by the state. I am a single mom (they have a dad, we're just divorced) and would honestly go into debt if I did regular well woman visits, etc. It is very scary - I'm pretty sure I have some pelvic health problems but haven't had a pap in, oh, eight years or so. Simply can't afford it.

[SunRise]

Originally Posted by merpk

...

For the record, though, now in NYS all children are covered under the free Child Health Plus program. And the low-income Family Health Plus program (a small fee) or the Healthy NY program (a less-small fee) is available for singles and families without health insurance.

All of those programs have Income Eligibility Levels. So Child Health Plus is still dependant upon parents salary. My son doesnt qualify for free health care due to my salary. If you make over a certain amount you pay a full premium (which they claim is less then private insurance).

[2busy2clean]

I do have health care -- but I'm scared to death to use it!! Why can't dr's be educated better and know how to treat diseases wisely (nutrition/herbal.) My body can't afford to be sliced and diced or drugged because "thats the way we do things."

[hottmama]

We have good health insurance now (although my partner just got it after 9 years of being uninsured) so I didn't vote, but I am 1000% in favor of universal healthcare. We just watched Sicko and it made me want to move to another country. It's so awful here and the horror stories abound. As far as I can tell, the only people who don't want universal healthcare are the few lucky enough to already have good insurance and the wealth to cover copays, deductibles, and other uncovered costs. Which seems very self-centered and uncaring to me.

[Ambrose]

We're on State insurance. We have specific doctors we can and can't go to. One place never told me they couldn't take our insurance and I've got a $4,000 bill because of it in collections already. I also got denied a neuropsychological (i think it's called that) appointment that is $200/hour and it's typically a minimum of a 5 hour visit.

One thing I like about it- I pay no more than $12/mo for my prescriptions (I have 7). It's $3/script with a max of $12 out of pocket.

I love some aspects of it but despise others and causes me almost too much frustrations for the lovable parts to balance the scale.

[3_opihi]

We are covered through my husbands health insurance, even though we are separated. We just switched to the Mainland corporate insurance policy and pay about 300 dollars a month for a PPO (preferred provider, means you can go to anyone but the out of pocket is higher). Before we switched, we were paying about 650 a month a month for PPO and coverage was only 80%. My son, dd and I all have chronic health problems and that has really destroyed us financially. Sucks.

We just got on the state medicaid program (Quest) and that will be our secondary insurance which will cover anything our primary doesn't. (because I'm in such a small state - Hawai'i, and it's very limited in providers, pretty much everyone takes quest.)

Insurance issues also vary widely from State to state. I know here in Hawaii and in California all employers HAVE to provide insurance to anyone working more than 20 hours a week. Some states it is 40 hours. The bummer about that, is that most small businesses have a hard time providing this. I know that for the place I work, I could not afford the insurance - it would have taken up both of my paychecks.