My husband and I canceled our health insurance policy. To make a long story short, it was more expensive, (and provided less coverage), than we expected. What are we going to do now, without insurance from a private company? There are plenty of options.
There are some alternatives to getting a policy from a private insurance company. Not everyone will qualify for public health insurance, but my husband does. He is legally blind, which means that he is disabled. This means that he is eligible for Medicare Part A. This is something that he has been getting for many years now.
Medicare Part A can be described as “hospital insurance”. It covers inpatient hospital care, skilled nursing care, hospice care, and other services. People who are eligible for Medicare typically can get Part A “premium free”. Essentially, this means that if my husband has a serious illness or injury that requires a stay in a hospital, his Medicare Part A will cover at least some of the medical bills related to it.
He is now in the process of signing up for Medicare Part B. This part can be described as “medical insurance”. It covers things like doctors’ fees, outpatient hospital visits, and medical services and supplies that are not already covered under Part A.
The last time we had affordable health insurance, (that actually covered things), was when I was working as a teacher’s aide. When I lost that job, we lost our health insurance. This was about two years ago.
Ideally, my husband should have signed up for Medicare Part B at that time, but we didn’t realize it. He is eligible for Part B, and will get it, but he is going to have to spend a little bit more on it than he might have if he signed up right away. Even so, this is still going to cost less than the premiums would for the private health insurance that we just canceled.
Medicare will cover my husband’s health insurance needs. What about mine? I am working on a solution to that problem. The first thing I am going to do is visit Planned Parenthood, where I can get birth control for free. My husband and I can be described as “low income”, and I do not have health insurance that covers “family planning”. This means I qualify for the Health Access Program Family Pact Program.
Getting on reliable birth control is a very good way to prevent pregnancy. If I can avoid getting pregnant, then I will not have need for a private health insurance plan that covers maternity. I am intending to get a type of birth control that is effective for three years. Doing so will reduce my need to find a doctor who can write a new prescription for my birth control every month, (or three months) .
There is a brand new free clinic that has opened in my town. A clinic that offers low cost (or free) dental care is located several towns away. For now, making use of the health services that are designed for people who are low income to use will work.
Image by Images_of_Money on Flickr