Miyania

Hi everybody

Just got a quick question about health insurance

I've noticed some of you are talking about that you can't get the help you need because you don't have an insurance? I always (and excuse me for being so blonde *lol* I'm from denmark) thought even though you didn't have insuranc, you could get the help you needed to get well in the U.S. or other western countries?

But it doesn't work like that in the U.S.? because in denmark it's free... we have higher taxes, but free healthcare, or what you call it...

So people, enlighten me How much does a health insurance cost, and how does it work?

Luv Miyania

nasheajones

Hi Miyania I live in Minnesota and health care here is a joke I will try to break it down...The more you make-the more you pay. When my husband and I first started out we did not make a lot of money and health care was way cheaper. I think it is pretty sad that we do not have free health care because that means so many of us go untreated for so long. I know many parents including myself who at one point or another could only afford health care for their children not themselves. I am just getting back on insurance as we speak If for whatever reason you can not afford to keep insurance you have to pay for everything out of pocket and some hospitals refuse to see you if you owe anything...it is sickening really. So consider yourself lucky Hope I answered your question..

__________________

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Nashea
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Jashobeam

If you make below a certain amount per year or a senior citizen or a verteran or disabled you can get health care through the federal gov't and sometimes the state gov'ts. My niece is deaf, so the gov't pays for her hearing aids until she is of age and can work and pay for her own. My cousin is mentally disabled so he gets a check from the gov't to cover his living expenses. My Mom is a senior citizen, so she has Medicare, Social Security, and is signed up for a program funded by prescirption drug companies so her meds are cheaper. My FIL is a vet, so he and MIL can go to the VA (hosptials and doctors offices for vets) for very low or even free health care. My aunt has a disablity that does not limit her from working, but since she is disabled, she gets a check. She started working and they cut the checks off and she got mad and quit. As far as I know she just never pays her bills. There are also clinics that base what you pay on your income. I got my shots for school at a clinic for next to nothing. Dad always went there for checkups until I refused to take him to the quack that was his doc there. Not all clincs are bad though, I'm sure.

If you are able bodied, not mentally challenged, and young you have to pay for your own health care. I'm in favor of less gov't meddling in health care FWIW. And yes I've been without insurance with no money to pay for medicines or doctor visits.

If you are dying or in labor, you can walk into a hospital emergency room and they have to treat you to stablize you or deliver your child. That's the law, and it's usually up in hospital ER waiting rooms for visitors to read. If you cannot afford to repay the bill immediatly you have different options:

1. You can set up a repayment plan (my parents always did this) so that over the months or years you repay the service you received.

2. You ask the hosptial to waive certain fees, ask your doctor to waive his fee and then pay a lower balance (most people don't know about this).

3. You take out a loan and repay the hosptial over time (that's how we paid for DD's birth) at a low interest rate.

4. You walk out without paying and if they don't have your information they write off the bill and can eventually go bankrupt with too many write offs.

guineapig

In the United States, they very VERY poor or VERY disabled and very old (65+) can get free healthcare from the government. It's not always the greatest, nor is it always 100% free. Some people get insurance through their job, and pay a premium for it every month. Ours is $263 for a family of three. This type of insurance cannot be denied or cancelled. Then there's the rest of the country, quite a lot of people. Many work and their job doesn't provide insurance. Many work and still can't afford private insurance. Many can probably afford private insurance but the companies here can deny you if you have ever had a health problem or are fat or because the grass is green. It really sucks. And most insurance companies in this country period do not provide infertility help.

The hospitals here do have to stabilize you on an emergency basis, but this is a very poor utilization of healthcare and runs the costs up for everyone. It is extremely expensive to take care of the flu in the ER because someone is not insured. Many hospitals are going broke from the uninsured. Trauma units are closing. It is a growing problem. The hospital can also chase you for money owed or send it to collections, but that still doesn't mean the person will, or (more likely) can pay--times are tough over here.

__________________
Nuvaring--stopped due to mood swings & some TMI issues. waiting to try cerazette!
allergy shots 2 yr


Never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty, and the pig likes it.

jlucy

Here in the US if you can't get on a big group plan (i.e., work for a company with health insurance) you most likely can't even get insurance if you have any type of preexisting condition. At least that has been my experience living in Florida and Louisiana. Stupid PCOS keeps me from getting insurance. I am self employed so I get screwed.

__________________
not TTC
I was meant to be a mommy to dogs.

Jashobeam

jlucy- try more insurance companies. Some don't bat an eye at PCOS because it's not considered a disorder that costs a lot of dough unless you are trying for a child.

Kalyn

I am wanting out of my job, more than ever. But now, I can't leave unless I find somewhere that offers insurance as good as I have now. I know I can't afford my DR bills w/o my insurance. I really think here in the US we should be offered insurance through our taxes. So many people here go without insurance and they are deathly ill. My best friend's uncle is slowly dying. He has a serious medical condition and because he is unable to work he has no insurance and he has been fighting to get disability and they keep denying him. No DR will treat him because he has no insurance. So basically he sits at home and just waits. It is very sad cause so many people go through that. Because of what I am going through right now (trying to get my PCOS under control) I have to stay at a job I strongly dislike and put myself through misery everyday. Hopefully someday everyone in the US can get insurance no matter what.

__________________

Jashobeam

I hope it's not gov't run or anything to do with the US gov't. Look at the IRS, the drivers license agency, etc- high bills and long lines and unhappy workers. The private sector is not 100%, but it's better than anything the US gov't can offer.

guineapig

Well, how about taking a cue from Massachusetts? Everyone there has to have insurance and thus insurance companies have to sell it to you no matter what your "health status." I believe they still have Medicare (old), Medicaid (poor), and subsidizies or tax credits for the self-employed in between. Plus, they cover infertility at the higher cost of *gasp* $2 across everyone. OMG! $2!!!

LOL

My cousin had cancer and no insurance (she had been working for an employer that didn't offer it and was young, invincible, etc until she found a lump) and, luckily, got treated without insurance. Most docs will not treat you without insurance. Her bills were something like $300 grand. Some was written off as charity, some will haunt her forever, some her family paid.

Regardless, we are NOT doing anybody a favor having so many uninsured clogging the ER for UTIs and back pain. There is also a SEVERE abuse of Medicaid with people doing the same types of things. But don't even get me started on the Medicaid and welfare fraud.

Also, once you have been denied by one private company, they seem to have communication between them, like a red flag once you apply to the next one. I was denied by every private company in 3 states before DH finally got a crap job with the govt and ended our insurance woes. And I was not obese or on meds and had never ttc (at the time).

__________________
Nuvaring--stopped due to mood swings & some TMI issues. waiting to try cerazette!
allergy shots 2 yr


Never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty, and the pig likes it.

jlucy

There is something called the Medical Information Bureau that it gets reported to. I was denied by three companies in FL. The first one reported to them. The second one agreed not to report but the first one is still on there. It's worse than having bad credit. I finally got insurance with another companie when I lied on the app but then I later learned that had they covered anything and paid anything out they would have dug through my background and found out about everything. And they WILL want their money back. I have actually seen a case where a person lied on an app and had a heart condition. The insurance company was suing her to get their $$$ back.

We have a state policy for high-risk you can get on in Louisiana if you have at least two refusals in the past two months or something. So I'd have to apply (which costs money) and get refused twice more (on my record again) and then apply for that. And the cheapest policy is like $250/month with a $5000 deductible and there are TONS of exclusions on what it covers. It's a damn joke.

__________________
not TTC
I was meant to be a mommy to dogs.

Nicky5282

I agree! I think a lot of people think this is the answer, but the reality is it would be worse!! I was talking w/ a patient originally from England where people wait MONTHS and MONTHS for treatment while they suffer. Not what I would want.

I wish something were done, where insurance companies HAD to accept you. I'm more than willing to pay for health insurance in exchange for good care!

__________________



To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.




To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Go to
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
for before/during photos of my weightloss!

guineapig

A $5000 deductible!! YIKES!!! We would long since be bankrupt. Who can afford $5000 cash in case of an accident, bad illness, or heck, even a bad month of bleeding? I know socialized medicine has often a long wait, but the insurance here is sad, lacking, and raising the prices for us all in spite of what the public thinks. And capitalized medicine often has a wait, even with insurance. There is often a 6-12 month wait for my dentist, dermatologist, and ex-RE. Worst story I have, I used to have an HMO when I was a teenager, and after a campus doc missed a UTI (MORON), I suffered through idiot GPs for a YEAR painfully for the insurance to send me to a specialist--urologist. After that year, the bacteria had grown in the bladder so deep it took surgery (another 6 month approval) to get it out. If I had been older or immunocompromised it would have gotten into the kidneys and bloodstream by then--bad, bad thing. So capitalized medicine, even with insurance, isn't always "go and get fixed" the same day/week/month/decade. Many people wait. And if you don't have insurance, you often don't get treated at all.

My trainer still remembers before the pregnancy-hospital thing was passed and they kicked her out 12 hours after her delivery, which was in...1989?. She had no insurance. Her blood count was half the minimum of normal--she was incredibly anemic from loss of blood but she didn't get blood either.

Even more recently, a friend of mine who works full time in food service w/o employer insurance and w/o money to pay for private got bit by a poisonous spider. She got "stabilized" in the hospital but was sent home before she could even walk or stay awake hardly. The doctor wrote for her to stay but the hospital still kicked her out w/o insurance.

I'm just saying, the system stinks as is and something has got to change. Insurance just seems to skip right over the ill, children, and the working poor, and that's a problem.

__________________
Nuvaring--stopped due to mood swings & some TMI issues. waiting to try cerazette!
allergy shots 2 yr


Never wrestle with a pig. You both get dirty, and the pig likes it.

VivC

Guinea, if you're waiting 6-12 months to see your docs, you need to find different docs. I NEVER wait more than a month for an appointment, and if there's a concern, I get in the same day...and that includes my world-renowned peri!

A lot of states have backup insurance. In my state, if you've been diagnosed with certain diseases (heart disease, diabetes, cancer, etc.), they automatically let you enroll. Or, if you're denied by a health insurance company, they have to notify you of this state plan. You pay a monthly premium, based on your income, and the care is the same as most insurance companies offer here. You do occasionally have to shop around for a specialist, though - everyone doesn't take the insurance (which I think they SHOULD have to do to maintain their licenses). So, here, anyone CAN get health insurance. A LOT of states are set up this way, and I prefer it.

Rather than universal health care, I'd much rather have this type of "safety net" program set up. That would ensure that everyone still has access to decent care, rather than waiting for eons to see a specialist.

And EVERY state now has children's insurance available through SCHiP. It's based on income - some children get it for free, others, the parents have to pay a monthly premium. For Dom, we pay $48/month. We have NO copayments, and the doctor can even write us a prescription to get free Motrin, etc. from the drugstore. The idea is that kids shouldn't be denied anything medically necessary because their parents can't afford it.

__________________
Miracle baby boy Rivelino born too early to live on October 6, 2004 at 24 weeks and 6 days. Never to be forgotten...always to be remembered...forever my source of inspiration.

Dominici

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.


My Blog:
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
(I get paid to write!)

Miyania

Thanks for all you answers

In Denmark it's funded over the taxes. We're beginning to get more private healthinsurances, and I was thinking of getting one (if they'll have me), but I really don't think I have a need for it...

If I need to see a doctor, I usually get an appointment that same day, unless it can wait But no waiting there...
And if we have to see a specialist, there's a max. waiting period of 2 months, and then the region pays a visit to a privat hospital, if they can't see youo within 2 months... Same with operations...

But I'm amazed that there's soo big a difference between the states, on how they run the healtcare :/ The stories some of you have It makes me very happy for our system here in denmark

Btw do the insurance companies deny insurance "just" beacuse of the PCOS?

VivC

They can...some do, and some don't. Some will give you insurance and charge you a little more if you have your PCOS under control and your cholesterol/insulin/etc. all look okay. But if you don't have it under control, you probably won't be able to get coverage.

__________________
Miracle baby boy Rivelino born too early to live on October 6, 2004 at 24 weeks and 6 days. Never to be forgotten...always to be remembered...forever my source of inspiration.

Dominici

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.


My Blog:
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
(I get paid to write!)