Re: health insurance worries
TampaDancer do you still dance part time or is this just your room name ? If you do I suggest you find another career that has some kind of benefits ( insurance coverage ) lots of busineses offer insurance to their employees .Your pre - condition is going to make insurance not affordable no doubt and you certainly cant afford to not have it .Only a few places offer insurance to part time employees.I am not certain that ther are many or any loop- holes for you here .Sorry maybe Melonie has some better news then mine ? :-\
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I went to read about your condition and there was quite a few cures out there for your particular condition . Do these work or are they just a lot of hype ?
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Unfortunately, private insurance companies and insurance coverage by private employers almost always use 'pre-existing conditions' as an excuse to deny coverage or charge outrageous premiums. About the only way around this is to land a 'straight job' that is civil service or union such that the insurance coverage rules are extremely generous.
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<sigh>
that sucks.
yes i am currently a dancer curious. and there are no known cures for colitis short of having the colon removed and living the rest of your life with a colostomy - in which case, I'd rather be dead. seriously.
Re: health insurance worries
Quote:
Originally Posted by tampadancer
<sigh>
that sucks.
yes i am currently a dancer curious. and there are no known cures for colitis short of having the colon removed and living the rest of your life with a colostomy - in which case, I'd rather be dead. seriously.
sorry it wasnt better news , pm me if you find out anyhing good on this you never know .
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Oh you poor thing. I have the same problem. Not colotis but I have poly cystic ovary syndrome and am pretty much uninsurable. I have no insurance. Since you are in school there is student insurance you can get from Golden Rule (I think) and they can't deny you. I don't know if the coverage is that great. I am right now trying to get an HSA with a $2600 deductible and so far have been denied but am trying to fight the denial. Do a search for the thread I started a while back about health insurance. Now if you have the time to work part time there are certain companies you can work for part time that you can get insurance. EB Games in the mall offers it as well as UPS, Starbucks, and a few others. Unfortunately it's usually with big companies and the jobs don't pay crap which is why I haven't taken that route myself. I'm out of town right now on a friend's computer so I can't check my links,but I have a website bookmarked that gives a lot of info about FL insurance and I can send it to you when I get home. that is where I learned about the student health insurance stuff. I even considered signing up for a full load of classes, getting the insurance, and then dropping the classes but wasn't sure it would be worth it. You can keep the insurance for the rest of your life though. You just have to be a student when you sign up for it. It really sucks that a person who works hard but doesn't work for a big company can't get any freaking health insurance. My boss doesn't even has it but was somehow able to get on Medicaid when she got pregnant. I think she reduced her salary to herself and that with being pregnant made it possible.
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yes bunny... i read the thread you started before posting this one. Health insurance companies like to fuck over people like us. <sigh> I can only qualify for student insurance if i am full time - and this is my last semester of full time status.
There should be some kind of laws to protect people like us. It isn't right.
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hey belle.. Instead of paying 4-5 hundred a MONTH in health insurance, put the same amount monthly in the bank for when/if you end up in the hospital again. It may even save you money!
How much does it cost everytime you go to the hospital with an "attack"?
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actually... i think if you are going 9 credit hrs or more, you can keep the insurance under your parents...
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you know... thats an idea
i generally have serious attacks every 3-5 years. twice i have been hospitalized and the bill was about 10-12k each time. I did not need to go to the hospital this past time. $500 an month is 6k a year - and assuming i need hospitalized every five years - i would have 30k in the bank to cover it....
The big issue now is my medication expenses. The medication I am on now to maintain remission is about 1k/month. Of course, I only pay about fifty bucks for it. I should try to get them from canada!
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i pay fifty bucks for it because i have insurance (to clarify - otherwise id have to fork out the 1k)
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I was diagnosed with depression when I was 15. Long time ago. Well, it still shows up as a pre-existing condition. Also, the acne I had as a teenager ... pre-existing condition. Anytime I go to a dermatologist, the service is not covered even for a rash.
As I had paid a good chunk of my earnings to have health insurance, I thought, Screw it. I'm not benefiting a damn thing. Instead of paying an insurance company, I have a health emergency fund, to which I contribute what I would've paid in premiums.
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I have a doctor I go to and when I told him about my health insurance problems he told me he doens't have any either! He said it's not worth it. A lot of times if you are uninsured you can bargain with them and get a discount. I order my meds from www.inhousedrugstore.come and they are a lot cheaper.
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If you want to seriously explore the possibility of setting up a 'medical fund', I'm pretty sure that there's a way to do this via forming an LLC/corporation where every dollar you contribute to the 'medical fund' is a tax write-off even if the contributions are much greater than the actual medical expenditures in a given year. I'm also pretty sure that, as long as it is kept separate, that the 'medical fund' money can be invested and collect tax free interest and dividends until the time comes when it needs to be spent. I've never explored the details of this i.e. the legal requirements for an LLC/corporation with one 'employee' setting up 'self-insurance' coverage for that employee, but I'm pretty sure that it can be made to work. Legal/accounting experts ?
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melonie - that's along the lines that I was wondering about. (of course, you detailed it much more expertly than I could have ever hoped to!) If anyone else has any advice or resources I could seek, it would be MUCH appreciated.
Bunny - it sounds like the insurance you are speaking about through the school is like some sort of COBRA deal - but I thought that only applied to employment? Also, you order your meds from that site (it is substantially cheaper than out of pocket w/o insurance would cost in the the US);however, are you sure of the quality of the medications ? thats my main concern with possibly ordering online medications in the future:-\ And the site doesn't require prescriptions to be forwarded from you dr?
You know our healthcare system is screwy when a dr. doesn't even carry health insurance on himself, lol.
Another problem that I thought about this morning is the possible long term ramifications of colitis - I have to undergo colonoscopies every few years to make sure I am not developing colon cancer. (I am at an 85% increased chance of developing it in my lifetime due to the colitis) CANCER is a mighty expensive disease to treat....if that was ever an issue... oy
Re: health insurance worries
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bunny
I have a doctor I go to and when I told him about my health insurance problems he told me he doens't have any either! He said it's not worth it. A lot of times if you are uninsured you can bargain with them and get a discount. I order my meds from and they are a lot cheaper. Oh, and if you are a full time student NOW the insurance I'm thinking of you can keep forever as long as you are full time when you get it.
wow, you can buy prescription weight loss pills on this site w/out a prescription.:O
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oh and btw, are there any over the counter generic medicines that can replace the medicine you are taking now?
You might want to look into that! Better then that, talk to your pharmacist and tell him about your situation. Im sure they would be glad to help. Lots of people dont have medical insurance and they are usually very resourceful.
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dang! that's nuts - i didn't think such a thing was legal. Must be some loopholes in the laws somewhere...
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I order a medication on that site that has a very distinctive taste. It still tastes just as nasty when I order it on there as when I buy it in the pharmacy. I told the doctor that I saw (the one without insurance) about it and he said it sounded okay. I've been taking it for over a year from the online pharmacy and had my hormone levels checked in January of this year and am doing fine. I even told my specialist about it and she didn't seem to be worried. The only thing you can't really get on there is narcotic drugs like Vicodin. I have migraines and take vicodin and had to go see the doctor to get a new prescription for it.
If it's really such a big deal for you you might want to try to find a part time job that isn't too disagreeable just to get insurance. It sounds like you have a condition that might be really bad if you don't have insurance. Our system of health care is really screwed up when people who work hard and are motivated to succeed in life can't get decent healthcare.
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ok I'm sure this will be a completely unpopular idea but, have you ever considered marrying sombody in the military? I've worked with a couple of girls who had contract marriages.
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^ LOL. I've heard that part too. One story (cause the military can help you get a house too) was that a military man and a woman committed marriage fraud and got caught because they'd faked all the marriage documentation. I mean, if you're not religious, why not just go THROUGH with the marriage, because they they can't prove anything.
But yeah, military insurance can be limiting too but not as much as in the private sector. About that school insurance...can you keep it after you've finished with school? (I mean, be a full time student when you start, and then when school ends, still be on it?) I wonder...
I think your best bet is probably the medical fund, or perhaps something like a roth IRA--so the money is with you for a long time, you won't take it out except for emergencies (they can penalize you if you take it out before) but it's also growing (depending on the stock) at a rate higher than bank interest rates? Or, what about a govt. bond?
ORRRR, instead of the whole miltary marriage, you could just shack up with a colon doctor...ooo! FREE Lapdances to all the doctors/nurses that help you when you're in the hospital ; )
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From what I understand, the student health insurance can be kept even after you are no longer a student. Read at the bottom of this page. This is where I got the info about it.
http://www.flinsuranceguide.com/individualinsurance.htm
My boyfriend actually told me I could marry him just on paper for the insurance but I feel awful thinking of doing that since I don't want to marry him for just that reason. I know he wants to get married but I am unsure about my relationship and would feel like I'm using him so I won't do it.
Re: health insurance worries
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bunny
From what I understand, the student health insurance can be kept even after you are no longer a student. Read at the bottom of this page. This is where I got the info about it.
http://www.flinsuranceguide.com/individualinsurance.htm
My boyfriend actually told me I could marry him just on paper for the insurance but I feel awful thinking of doing that since I don't want to marry him for just that reason. I know he wants to get married but I am unsure about my relationship and would feel like I'm using him so I won't do it.
Sounds like he suggested it I wouldnt feel bad about that what if you get real sick cant work and he has to pay your bills ? Its a small step to getting closer to marriage and it sounds like you will marry him anyways .