Can't afford health insurance, is it worth having anything in life?

[SLJ6974]

Can anyone tell me just why it would be worth it to have any real assets such as a nice home, land, recreational items and such if your health insurance goes so high that you can't afford it. I can forsee this happening at some point not only to us but to many americans. So when it does get to the point that we do not have any health insurance because the premiums are more expensive than a car payment or grocery bill each month I really see no point in having anything that hospital and doctor bills could take from you. Its just a matter of time. I would rather spend my money on travel and such vs. trying to have the american dream that could be put up for sale by your local hospital.

 

[ilovemk76]

Can anyone tell me just why it would be worth it to have any real assets such as a nice home, land, recreational items and such if your health insurance goes so high that you can't afford it. I can forsee this happening at some point not only to us but to many americans. So when it does get to the point that we do not have any health insurance because the premiums are more expensive than a car payment or grocery bill each month I really see no point in having anything that hospital and doctor bills could take from you. Its just a matter of time. I would rather spend my money on travel and such vs. trying to have the american dream that could be put up for sale by your local hospital.

It won't happen for most. Insurance companies cannot make any money if they have no customers. I would foresee them offering lower levels of coverage that one could afford.

If I understand you, you would rather travel and live a frivolous life but not have any net worth? I would rather have health insurance and a nice life at home rather than a few weeks of luxury and then come home to a place that we rent and don't like.

 

[ccgirl]

Huh???

I am a bit confused. My health insurance premium is more than my car payment at $450 a month. I guess I feel health insurance is more important than an expensive car. Just seems like your post has gone to the extreme.

BTW, to most the American dream is that of freedom, a roof over your head and food on the table. It is not to have a $600 monthly car payment, regular vacations, boats, etc.

 

[fakereadhed]

You can't afford insurance, but you CAN afford vacations?

 

[bettymae1121]

Most people can find catastrophic plans for only a few hundred a month. It won't cover much in the way of routine care or minor emergencies (say a broken arm) but if you get a major illness (cancer, heart transplant) it will cover that. An unemployed friend of mine has a plan like that, I think she pays less than $150 a month (just for her, she single with no kids).

If I didn't have coverage through my employer and couldn't afford comprehensive plan on my own, I'd at least get something to cover me for a truely bankrupting illness/injury.

 

[Marionnette]

Can anyone tell me just why it would be worth it to have any real assets such as a nice home, land, recreational items and such if your health insurance goes so high that you can't afford it. I can forsee this happening at some point not only to us but to many americans. So when it does get to the point that we do not have any health insurance because the premiums are more expensive than a car payment or grocery bill each month I really see no point in having anything that hospital and doctor bills could take from you. Its just a matter of time. I would rather spend my money on travel and such vs. trying to have the american dream that could be put up for sale by your local hospital.

My health insurance premiums exceeded the cost of a new car or groceries a long time ago.

I still have health insurance. I would give up vacationing before I gave up covering my family's health insurance needs.

 

[mrseace711]

I understand your pain on health insurance. It cost us over $400 in insurance a month. I would not live without insurance, I cant afford NOT to have insurance.

 

[IDoDis]

DH and I are both teachers. We pay over $630 per month for health, dental, and vision (the latter two are a joke as far as coverage goes). Our insurance is going up another $40 per month starting in January and we haven't had a salary raise in 4 years.

Happy New Year!

 

[bettymae1121]

Just for the heck of it, I priced out a plan for 2 adults and one child through BCBS. An HSA plan with a $10,000 deductable (which you can use the HSA to save up for) is $218 a month with 100% coverage once the deductable is met. Even if you couldn't save up the full $10k before you needed it and had to put some of it on a credit card, $10k is hardly going to bankrupt most people. It's not cheap but affordable if you make it a priority.

 

[scbelleatheart]

One of our employee's insurance is $1200 a month for him, his wife and adopted son. We pay 100% of it but it's still high and he has a $5,000 deductible and $50 copays. Ours is running about $900 a month for 2 so it's much more than a car payment. Catastophic insurance is a good deal if you are young and healthy and probably won't meet the deductible.
Our house and cars are all paid off but we would never be without insurance. One accident is all it takes.

 

[Marionnette]

Just for the heck of it, I priced out a plan for 2 adults and one child through BCBS. An HSA plan with a $10,000 deductable (which you can use the HSA to save up for) is $218 a month with 100% coverage once the deductable is met. Even if you couldn't save up the full $10k before you needed it and had to put some of it on a credit card, $10k is hardly going to bankrupt most people. It's not cheap but affordable if you make it a priority.

That's only if you can be accepted for that kind of plan.

Insurance companies only have to offer SOME kind of plan to individuals with pre-existing conditions. They do not have to accept you into an HSA or any other low-priced plan.

There are people for whom health insurance is an expensive necessity. When I think of the thousands of dollars that we spend just to insure ourselves each year and still pay the high copays when we do need to use our coverage, it makes me sick to my stomach! Our yearly health insurance bill (not our TOTAL health care costs) excedes the price of a semester's tuition at college. We're paying Aetna outrageous amounts to basically negotiate reimbursements to the providers down to nothing. It's a sin to see the doctors get nothing more than the copay that they collected from me for payment while the insurance company pays them nothing.

 

[JAMIESMITH]

My daughter has a private insurance policy that is $85 per month. I have insurance through my job that costs me $80 per month. My husband is completely uninsured. His work place does not offer insurance and because he smokes, even a high deductible policy is over $200 per month. We both drive vehicles that are ten years old. We live in a modest home. We have NEVER been on vacation- not even a honeymoon. (We are planning our first vacation for next year and I have been saving for a year already!). We simply can't afford more insurance.

 

[Princesca]

The ideal situation, if possible, is to be self insured, unless you have a high likelihood of something bad happening to you, like a family history of cancer. If you pay, say, $1000 a month for your premium, but never use your insurance, that's $12k a year. If you can handle that for 5 years, that $60k you could have socked away earning interest. Of course, the trick is that you can't stop paying your premiums if your emergency insurance fund isn't fully built up yet... so it's hard to do for most people, but it's what I eventually hope to be able to do.

 

[MSLRAC]

Our insurance has always cost more than a car payment and when we changed to a family policy (7.5 years ago), our premiums started to rival our mortgage payment. We sucked it up, adjusted our budget and have dealt with it all while living a nice, middle class life.

Insurance will never be an option for our family because two of our three children have medical issues. I actually went back to work a few months ago to help offset our last premium increase. DH and I will both do whatever it takes to ensure that our kids have coverage.

 

[GSUJillybean]

Dude, when my husband died, I had a pre-existing condition, and the only coverage I qualified for was COBRA. For me and my infant son, I was scrambling to pay $993/month.

It was SO HARD, but I couldn't afford to be without it. If you qualify for a plan, take it. You can find assistance with groceries and heating and rent, but health insurance affects only your financial life, but the quality of care you get, EMTALA be darned.

If you don't qualify for an individual policy, check your state's high risk pool. Maybe you qualify for your state's SHIP-- the income levels are MUCH more lenient than Medicaid. HIPPA mandates that SOMEONE has to sell you coverage. Get it and hold on. Change is coming. I swear.

DS and I went from COBRA to my state's HIPPAA conversion plan, to being covered under my new husband's policy starting Jan. 1st.

When DS's card arrived last week, I sobbed. I spent so many nights worrying.

No mommy should ever have to feel that way.

 

[GSUJillybean]

One of our employee's insurance is $1200 a month for him, his wife and adopted son. We pay 100% of it but it's still high and he has a $5,000 deductible and $50 copays. Ours is running about $900 a month for 2 so it's much more than a car payment. Catastophic insurance is a good deal if you are young and healthy and probably won't meet the deductible.
Our house and cars are all paid off but we would never be without insurance. One accident is all it takes.

Exactly. I paid an extra premium on my last plan for overlap-- I could have gone without coverage for five days, but I was too much of a chicken.

 

[MSLRAC]

The ideal situation, if possible, is to be self insured, unless you have a high likelihood of something bad happening to you, like a family history of cancer. If you pay, say, $1000 a month for your premium, but never use your insurance, that's $12k a year. If you can handle that for 5 years, that $60k you could have socked away earning interest. Of course, the trick is that you can't stop paying your premiums if your emergency insurance fund isn't fully built up yet... so it's hard to do for most people, but it's what I eventually hope to be able to do.

I'm sorry but I think this is a very bad theory! Other bad things can happen besides cancer. What about accidents? Here's a personal example from last week...DD7 had to have emergency surgery last Monday night for a nearly severed and fractured finger (freak accident at Girl Scouts). The hospital bill alone was $141,000 and we've yet to get a bill from the surgeon because she might need more surgery or PT. We are going to be left owing over $15,000 after our insurance and the GS insurance pays out. I shutter at the thoughts of what would have happened if we didn't have insurance!

 

[GSUJillybean]

Right.

EMTALA requires hospitals to STABILIZE all patients regardless of insurance or ability to pay. There's a pretty big gap between stabilizing a patient and treating them.

Also, young and healthy people have accidents all the time. If you have a car accident resulting in a brain injury? Insurance is really going to make a difference in terms of your ongoing care.

 

[GSUJillybean]

Also, if anyone needs help finding coverage they can afford, PM me. I have gotten SO GOOD at all this insurance crap.

 

[akcire]

OP--if you really become concerned about this as a possibility you can own all of your assets in trust. If you house, bank accounts, cars, etc are all owned in trust than the hospital cannot take them from you.

Personally, it is just easier for me to keep health insurance. Please know I do not say that lighty the last time I took a job, I took a job that paid me $8000 less than another company was offering so I could work for the company with the premium benefits. Why...because sometimes you have to wear your big girl pants, even if they are old out of date too tight and full of holes.