Health Care If You Don't Have Insurance?

E.,

I know while my husband and I were in b/w jobs we were able to get insurance called Assurant. They are VERY affordable and simple plans but it will really help cut down on costs. You can call ANY State FArm Agent and they can tell you more details or go to the Assurant website. www.assuranthealth.com.

Hope that helps some.
-A.

I have the same problem in a way. I have no dental insurance and it is very hard. I found this great company called Care Credit. It's a credit card for Doctors. You can even use it for your pets if you have any. You have up to 6 months with no interst to pay the bill. It's hard to explain through an email. You can go to the website and check it out. Carecredit.com. It's nice. I love it.
I hope this helps.

L.

i don't know what area you are in - but in Columbus i know there are a few health clinics that you pay a sliding fee scale - one is St. Mark's health clinic on High St and 5th. Depending on what your professions are - you may also be able to trade services for services - but that would require talking directly to a doctor or dentist - which is sometimes hard to do.

Good luck!

C.

look into healthy start, other than cobra, it might be an option

Hi,

Have you looked into Ohio job and family services? Depending on your income, you and your daughter may qualify for medicaid. Its worth checking out.

Hi E.,

We have been a self-employed family for about 14 years now. We always pay out-of-pocket for our doctor visits because of the extreme cost of a PPO. Here's what I've found out over the years:

- You'll most likely only be able to afford the Major Medical insurance if you are low-to-upper middle class income. You can usually find it for around $250/month.
- Some states offer coverage for your children for free according to you & hubby's income. You'll have to research this and see if you qualify. It's not applicable for you & hubby.
- In Ohio, we have several hospitals that have out-patient "clinics" that are staffed by resident doctors. All of them are supervised by licensed physicians. These clinics offer lower cost services - usually on a sliding scale according to your income. An example of cost difference would be: I paid about $1800 for my pregnancy care/labor/delivery for one of my children. This is in contrast to the $5500 that was charged for my other daughter when I had insurance. That's $3700 difference - not too bad.
- Costco offers low-cost prescriptions. Some other places are catching wind of it and offering low-cost generic prescriptions, too... like Walmart has $4 prescrips now. Shop around and don't pay 100's for prescrips!
- Lastly, no matter what insurance you do get, you're usually going to pay out of pocket for the doctor visits. So, it'll pay off to do some homework and make some calls to find a small town doctor that still offers low-cost visits.

That's all I know! Hope something helps... C. :)

Well when my husbnd and I were self employed we went with Anthem Blue Cross because you can choose a higher deductible which makes monthly payments more affordable. The benefit of that is you get co pays for doctors rather than forking over the whole bill and if any test or bloodwork need done you pay what Anthem would be paying to the company for said tests and that all goes toward your deductable. I will also add if you can't afford insurance then you probably qualify for medicaid and if you dont qualify for medicaid then you and your husband are going to have to give things up so that you can afford mhealt insurance. Trust me! We actually have health insurance and our (almost 2 year old)daughter has some medical issues and the medical bills are overflowing our mailbox and that is with coverage and my husband has a decent paying job. I can only imagine how much worse it would be w/o insurance.

I once heard of a program in which you pay a small monthly or yearly fee and they will negotiate with doctors & hospitals so that you get the same rates as the insurance companies get. It may not be as cheap as having insurance but at least you wouldn't be paying full-price. I'm sorry I don't remember what the name of it is but you may be able to find it on the internet.
Good luck!

E.,

we checked out this site, ehealthinsurance.com. it compares coverages.

talk to several ins agent for second opinion (state farm, etc.)

I was out of insurance for a while and there are several places that do a sliding scale. U of L family medical clinic is one of them. Also, you may be able to do a healthcare flexible spending account that takes money out fof your paycheck before taxes and you can use it on anything healthcare related. I'm not sure how much you make, but you might check to see if your kids qualify for K-chip or passport. Hope this helps!!

Hi, Your daughter can get insurance through medicaid then if you want you can choose to switch to caresource etc.. also you can apply for these to see if you get them for the whole family. Also think of getting a part time job that gives health insurance, that is what I do. I heard Assurant is good to call for health insurance. But since you do not have insurance offered though your jobs medicaid will cover your daughter, just remember if your primary insurance is gov't asst you do not get the same quality of care or good doctors to choose from. It is good for a temp. fix. But I would strongly recommend private insurance through a job or pay for it, or some of my friends live in Cananda where this is not a problem. Believe me I understand my husband is a considered self employed and I have my own business but I work part time to get health insurance. If you have any more questions feel free to email me.

I personally don't know how well it works but there is an Ohio program you should look into called WIC (women infants children)... if you qualify check-up's are one thing that is covered as well as some basic child staples. Good luck!

Jobs and family service can help. I suggest looking into it. Its worth a try.

Hi E.,
You may want to see if you qualify for Healthy Start or Healthy Families through the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services. My husband has been looking for a full time job for several months now, and did not have insurance. We have 3 boys (4,2,1) and they immediately qualified. My husband and I also qualified at least temporarily because our income was at the federal poverty level (FPL). Even if you make more money than the FPL, your daughter could still probably get coverage through Healthy Start. It has wonderful coverage.
-J.

You can go down to Ohio Job and Family Services. To verify your income since you both are self-employed, you will have to take in your last year's tax return. Your daughter should qualify for their Healthy Start program and you and your husband may be able to get some insurance also.

Most likely you and your husband will have the insurance for a short period of time. If you stay on the Westside the number to one of the case workers I have had is ###-###-#### and tell them your situation and start getting direction from their.

I hope I answered your question. Also call first link where you can get referrals but please do not go into the New Year without health insurance for you and your family

S. P.
SP Payroll and Tax Services
www.sptaxes.com

Where do you live?

I live in Hamilton County outside Cincinnati.

I too am self employed nd have been getting my health care (quad by-pass and all follow up care) paid though a tax lavy.

Call your clinics in you area also.