Need affordable health insurance plan

I need some suggestions for health insurance. After my husband's death, my stepson and I are without health insurance as of Aug. 1. I need something affordable, which I realize is a vague parameter, but hopefully something under $200/mo. I can pay for the everyday stuff - I need coverage for major health issues. Has anyone used a Health Savings plan? I welcome any suggestions. My son is 17 and healthy, I am 57 and healthy - neither of us smoke nor take any medications. We live in Missouri. Thanks for any help.

Hi Kay, I don't know if there is any such thing as affordable health insurance under $200/month in the states. According to a reviewer of Michael Moore's documentary "Sicko", our best option for something like that is to go to a foreign country - see paragraph 4 in: http://www.alternet.org/columnists/story/54759/

If I had children, I'm thinking possibly Canada - but, again, I don't know what all the ramifications of that would be.

I remember that Horseshoe had a thread going on this topic and he sent me the link:

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/576010/

I've posted the previous links in the hope that they will spark some discussion here. If we can't come up with answers, at least - hopefully - some discussion will make you feel not so alone - you have plenty of company.

Edited to say that hopefully we can keep this discussion just to facts without getting political - I think this is too valuable a topic to lose to political aspects.


This message was edited Jul 1, 2007 10:16 AM

Hi Kay.
If you don't mind waiting for a little while, I can research some options for you in Missouri. I work for a TPA as a reinsurance analyst, so I usually help friends and family with questions they have about their health insurance. I know that it's really hard for most people to figure out health insurance, so I feel like those of us who know a little more about it should make it a point to try to help other people. I don't know the options in Missouri , because I live in Texas, but I can certainly look into them and pass them on to you. Honestly, for under $200 a month I doubt you'll be able to get into anything other than a very high deductible, catastrophic plan. You may have to raise the budget a little to between $200-$300 for even a catastrophic plan. Quick question - will you have access to a group plan through your employer at any point? Please let me know if you'd like me to look into this for you.

Also, I just joined the site, so I'm not sure if we can send each other e-mail through it. If we can, I'll send you what I've found through the site e-mail. If not, would you rather I post the response back here or would you rather I send something to a personal e-mail. Just to let you know, though, it will probably take me about a week to research all of the options.

Melissa

Hi, and thank you both so much for your help and suggestions.

Melissa, I will dmail you.

Melissa, a bigtime and hearty WELCOME TO DG!

Thanks for posting and offering to help.

As for me, KayJ, I'm still plodding along looking for something affordable also. Melissa, if you can post some alternative ideas/suggestions and/or possibly different ideas regarding what kind of coverage is best for the money that would certainly help out a lot of folks.

Many thanks.
Shoe

Hi Shoe,

Thanks for the welcome!

I'd love to be able to post general advice, but in the individual health market, plans vary wildly from state to state. Federal law covers a lot of group health plans, but individual plans tend to be regulated by the state. I always really wish I could work miracles for friends I'm helping out, but our states just do not have effective regulation of insurance premiums. Unfortunately, this is why such a huge section of America is uninsured or underinsured. A couple of things to keep in mind:

1) If you are in poor health and have been denied coverage, check to see if your state has a risk pool. The premiums are high (often 200% of typical state rates), but it's often guaranteed issue coverage.

2) If you are just leaving your group health plan through work, check conversion options in your state.

3) Check whether there are any association groups in your state that you can join. Sometimes these groups will offer benefit plans.

4) Look into COBRA coverage when you're leaving a group health plan, although it's usually very expensive (usually about 102% of total premium).

5) Check whether your state has a children's health insurance program and whether your income will allow you to enroll them in that program.

6) Check whether your income will allow you to enroll in a state Medicaid program.

7) Look into school health insurance for children in college.

8) Ask a CPA about possible tax deductions for healthcare.

9) If you are in a group health plan, ask about flexible spending accounts (sometimes called cafeteria plans). This will allow you to use pre-tax dollars to pay for healthcare and is backed by the IRS.


If I can think of more general advice, I'll be sure to post it. I'll also try to think of advice for people who are already in a group or individual health plan. But, please remember that I'm not an agent or a broker. Any suggestions I make are going to be things I've learned working in reinsurance. Hopefully I can help a little though.

Wow, Great! Thanks for those suggestion and ideas, Melissa!

I'll be sure to include them in my "thinking plan" and see where I can go with them.

Very grateful!
Shoe

Melissa, a big welcome and thankyou, too - your information is much appreciated

KayJones Check on the local doc in a box some of them have health programs that are prepaid and I don't want this to sound bad but its like the prepaid funeral programs. If I recall correctly it is like setting up an account that backs money up until you need it. Another approach is to set up something like an IRA account at a bank and if you are willing to put away 200 a month then if you should have to have something major as long as the hospital sees that you have something like this set up they will accept payments from it on a monthly bases.

Contrary to what mister Moore says the hospital systems will work with people on serious hospital care. Also since your husband has passed check with Social Security, there are also usually state funded health care programs that are for legitimate citizens for this very purpose. I know a great many people who have these kinds of problems and there are state and federal agencies that help in these kinds of situations. Start with the states human services and they can direct you on what to do better than I.

Don

Ain't America great.

Thanks for your suggestions, Don. I am expecting input from Melissa, too.

I'm listening to this,....... intensely.

We are on a group insurance from my husbands work. He retired last July, and they let him keep insurance for a year and a half. That runs out this Dec.

He can go on medicare in another year, but I am 10 years younger than him. I have to find some kind of insurance,.....somewhere. : (
I'm all for keeping this topic going, with discussion.
~Lucy

Just to put my two cents in again... Jo didn't seem to think it was the right option for her, but maybe it will help someone else. :-)

My mom was in a similar dilemma.. My dad was laid off from his job and is now working part time and taking Social Security. They looked into private insurance, but since Mom has diabetes no one will touch her. (Dad was a Marine, so his health care is covered by the VA.)

What she finally did was to go back to college. Student insurance is fairly inexpensive and pre-existing conditions don't matter. You do have to make sure you are taking the minimum number of credit hours - the number varies depending on what college you go to. Mom actually has her bachelor's degree already... She contemplated working on her Master's as long as she was going to school anyway, but that was way too much work. She works part time, too, and has grandchildren and church and a life, so she didn't want to be spending ALL of her time studying. So she is just taking fun stuff to fill in her hours. She has taken a couple of sign language course, a beginning computer class, some basic algebra and geometry classes (her part time job is as a math tutor at a community college, so for her algebra was a breeze. LOL), etc. She turns 65 in a couple of years and then Medicare will kick in. She is looking forward to that!

~ Marylyn

I finally chose the Coventry plan that has a $2,500 deductible for me and the same for my stepson. My premium will be $235/month.

Wow, Kay, that's a good price for a premium. (I'll have to do a search for Coventry plan online and see what I can come up with.) I hope it does you justice and helps you feel better about things. Good going!

Marylyn, great idea about your mom going back to school! Smart lady!

Lucy...sounds like you might want to check out the Coventry plan also. Please let us know what you discover (and I'll be sure to do the same).

Happy Day to all.
Shoe

Hi everyone. Just wanted to let you know that I finally put together an unofficial list of insurance tips. Sorry it took so long, but I've been kind of swamped. Also, it was, um... kind of long, so I thought I should probably start a new thread. I'm naming the thread Health Insurance Discussion. Hope that doesn't seem presumptuous. I just didn't want to disrupt the conversation in this thread with a really long post. Anyway, please check it out if you'd like. Thanks. Melissa

Melissa, you are such a Sweetie - thanks for all your help!

Thanks! Will have to print it out and read up on it! You're the best, Melissa!

And folks, here is a direct link to the new thread:

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/753592/

Shoe

Thank you so much, Melissa. : )
~Lucy

Melissa, you're helping more folks more than you know - many thanks from here, too