How do people afford health insurance??

amother

Chartreuse

Thu, Feb 01 2018, 8:55 pm

Watching this thread closely. We were on the essential plan then I found a Job and we do not qualify for that plan anymore. (We do not qualify for any tax credit under Obamacare either)

I have turned over every stone and do not see how I can afford to pay for insurance!! Each plan I have looked into has premiums of at least $1100 plus high deductibles and co-insurance. Pray god how can a young family afford this? Our child is on CHP but for My spouse and myself we have not had coverage for over a year!!

I am wondering if after the insane amount of taxes, insurance and childcare if I am still making $$ or paying into the corrupted system!!!

Would appreciate any insight or advice because I know it’s not responsible to be without insurance.

thunderstorm

Thu, Feb 01 2018, 9:02 pm

Blessing1 wrote:

Bizzydizzy, anyone can apply for child health plus. OP, according to your income, your kids will be eligable.

if the portion your employer expects you to share is more than 10% of your wage only then are you eligible to go onto Child Health Plus. (I was not able to get my kids onto child health plus for this reason) And if an employer offers to pay full coverage you are not able to enroll in Child health plus either.

amother

Amethyst

Thu, Feb 01 2018, 9:16 pm

amother wrote:

The middle class is paying a lot more then the poor who pay nothing and are getting a lot less. They are not getting what they paid for.

That's not been my experience. When I had ppo at the rate of $1600/$2000 a month (single person) I had access to the best of the best of doctors, specialists, rehab, PT/OT, speech, psychotherapy, you-name-it and it was available to me! NONE of that is available to me on Medicaid. Sure, Medicaid will cover specialists and rehab and psychotherapy etc. but NOT the quality I had on ppo. Not by any stretch of the imagination.

amother

Ecru

Thu, Feb 01 2018, 9:23 pm

amother wrote:

Excuse my ignorance but what's Tax credit? U get refund for health insurance premium u paid?
Also, are u in Boro park? If yes did u try talking to yeled veyalda or anyone else familiar in this field?

amother

Lavender

Fri, Feb 02 2018, 12:49 am

amother wrote:

Proper and adequate health care is for the well-to-do. Your question ''How do people afford health insurance'' is rhetorical. The wealthy afford it, the others don't.

We are forced to pay ridiculous health insurance prices because DH has an extensive medical history and he can’t be on garbage insurance. There’s no such thing as CHP where we live and we make a bit too much for Medicaid.
Our premiums are $1400 per month and then of course there’s copays and deductibles. We pay $500-800 per month for medications, medical supplies, and copays.
That’s why I can’t afford meat for shabbos or a new pair of shoes for myself.

nylon

Fri, Feb 02 2018, 1:12 am

You cannot get a tax subsidy for insurance on the exchange if your employer offers insurance and the monthly cost for a SINGLE is less than 9.5% of your gross income. (This affordability rule by the IRS--the law was not clear--has hurt a lot of people whose employer provided insurance has high family premiums.)

New York has particularly expensive insurance. I don't live in NY but if my employer did not subsidize the premium, the total cost would be about $1100 for all of us.

People afford it by looking for jobs where the employer pays a big chunk of the cost.

I also recommend you look into getting your kids onto Child Health Plus though depending on how many kids you have the premium may not be so cheap.

amother

cornflower

Fri, Feb 02 2018, 1:26 am

Can't afford insurance either unless I cut back on some other minor expenses like food and electricity...BH we make too much for Medicaid and it never even entered our minds to lie about our income in order to be eligible.

Instead, we chose a health share plan. $500 total a month for family of six and $1,000 deductible. Obviously it's not ideal but it's just as good as a cheaper insurance plan which would be impossible to get for this price. And sofar it's working just fine.

Op, you might want to consider taking that route...

amother

Dodgerblue

Fri, Feb 02 2018, 2:40 am

Another a mother looking for advice. recently got illegible for Medicaid due to higher income so will have to find some other insurance. All of this health insurance searching gets my head turning and didn't figure out yet what will work. We barely afford rent and have debts all over and won't make insurance possible with these options. We are a family with 5 kids and me pregnant. We are in Monroe. Are there any monroe'ers who can recommend someone I can explain my options and get me something affordable?

mom2u

Fri, Feb 02 2018, 4:24 am

You can have a pretty good income and be eligible for child health plus. Pregnancy also qualifies you for family health plus and trust me it's the best insurance they pay for dental eye exam and there is no copay, and it's cheap. If you have no choice and you have to pay for insurance it's a no win situation if you take a cheap plan your deductibles are very high and if you take a better plan you pay a fortune.
I chose a cheap plan this past year for me and my husband. Our premiums were $800. a month with a $4000. Copay per person, at the end of the year we accumulated almost $8000. Medical bills but insurance did not pay anything because we just met our deductibles. On the flip side of we would've gotten a better plan we would originally pay $8000. More and that's not the best plan either. So what do you gain from insurance? You get billed insurance price and that's a lot less then the original price with no coverage. For instance I had a procedure done that would cost around $10,000. With no coverage. But with insurance it was almost $3000.
My kids have child health plus. I pay $90. Per child for up to 3 children there's no copay, deductibles and they basically cover everything. B"h for this!

amother

Ecru

Fri, Feb 02 2018, 7:18 am

amother wrote:

This sounds like a reasonable plan. Can u give me more details?

amother

Lavender

Fri, Feb 02 2018, 8:52 am

mom2u wrote:

What do you gain from insurance?
I hope you never need to have anyone hospitalized but my baby was in the hospital for 2.5 months. The insurance paid out over 800k to the hospital. Yes my copays and deductibles and out of pocket etc cost me 10,000 that year, but I can’t imagine what would be if I didn’t have coverage and I would have 800K in medical bills.

amother

Sienna

Fri, Feb 02 2018, 8:52 am

most middle class people can't afford to pay 24,000 a year for healthcare for one person! Especially if they have a family who also needs insurance. what you are saying is that the very expensive insurance is better coverage then what the poor get for free. I'm not arguing with that. I'm just saying the middle class have it worse then the people who qualify for medicaid.

amother

Navy

Fri, Feb 02 2018, 9:18 am

Almost No Dr near me takes Medicaid. It’s not that I live in some fancy place but the few who do are completely full and it’s impossible to get in. But those doctors are awful and even if accepted as a patient you can’t get appointments. It’s mostly good for ER or hospitalizations.

BH my husband gets it partially paid by his employer and it’s pretax money. But ever since ACA rolled out, we lost our decent plans and the one we switched to only have gone up several fold. It made it from “doable but hard” to “incredibly difficult”. ACA has been awful for us. Where was my $2,000 price decrease? HA! It’s gone up that much!!

amother

Chartreuse

Fri, Feb 02 2018, 10:35 am

amother wrote:

Excuse my ignorance but what's Tax credit? U get refund for health insurance premium u paid?
Also, are u in Boro park? If yes did u try talking to yeled veyalda or anyone else familiar in this field?

Under Obamacare you can get a tax credit for the premiums you pay. The credit is based on your income - the higher your income the lower your tax credit.

I am in BP but have not found someone who could help me Yeled V’Yalda/Nachas only know the programs available... for which I do not qualify. But private insurance is a huge jump seems like there’s nothing in between....

If you’re in the same situation (going from programs to private) Please let me know how you figured it out for your family.

amother

Lilac

Fri, Feb 02 2018, 10:42 am

We’re in this situation, just got off Medicaid because of an increase in income. I’m not in Brooklyn but I’m sure you can get your kids onto CHP, and look into Liberty Health Share for your husband if he doesn’t have health issues, it’s very cheap. I wouldn’t do LHS for myself because of pregnancy, etc.