WWYD: Buy Health Insurance or Go Without?
In this week’s “What Would You Do?” series, I thought I’d pose a question that many of us have to face at one time or another. If you don’t have a ready source for health insurance and/or you don’t have the cash to pay for a policy, would you go without?
Health Benefits are one of the big reasons (or excuses depending how you look at it) people use as to why they can’t own their own business, retire early, or just generally leave their job. And, as gays and lesbians we often don’t have the luxury of being covered under our partner’s plan. Even if we do, we get taxed extra on the benefits so you need to weigh the cost of that as well. Even if you love your job, with nonstop downsizing and restructuring you could be laid off at any time bringing with it the conundrum of maintaining health insurance in the interim (with or without COBRA).
I have known a number of folks who have opted to not have health insurance because they say they can’t afford it. They reason they are healthy enough and don’t go to the doctor anyway. When I hear this I think to myself, how can you NOT afford it? Healthy or not, accidents and surprise illnesses happen all the time and the cost of something as minor as a broken arm can throw you into financial straights. While it may be fiction, look at the mess Shane found herself in when Shay broke his arm just a few episodes ago? No health insurance and a $15,000 bill for his broken arm. Of course this is The L Word so she simply lands a lucrative (if uncomfortable) modeling gig and poof, money woes vanish. The same doesn’t usually happen in real life, though, even if you’re an attraction magnet for money.
So, here’s the question — you’ve found yourself out of a job or are embarking on your own business. You are not covered by your partner’s plan. You are strapped for cash and the several hundred dollar a month fee for health insurance will really set you back.
Do you find a way to buy at least a basical health plan? Or, do you take the risk and go without?
Let us know what you would do in the comments….
Funny… how come everyone on the L Word finds a magical way to eliminate their money problems? Jenny now with the studios courting her for the movie rights to her story and even Helena’s foreshadowed big-stake’s poker winnings. Of course, I continue to watch every week.
RE: health insurance – I think it’s a must. At times, when I’ve been self-employed I’ve carried the most basic plan (under $200/month) for catastrophic purposes. Always best to find a group plan usually available through your alumni association or other member organizations.
I’ve been in that situation multiple times. What I usually did was get catastrophic coverage, that basically doesn’t cover anything until a certain (high) amount is reached. And I had to use it once too.
It depends on how you define “going without”. I didn’t have health insurance for many years and necessity forced me to find alternatives.
Statistically (sorry, no online ref.) the majority of emergency cases are a result of car-related accidents which are covered by car insurance. Accidents around the house are also common. So, I always kept up full comprehensive car insurance as well as renters insurance. Thankfully, I never had to test that theory but I did have a few heart-to-hearts with my insurance agent whom I trusted.
For the most part, I’ve developed a long-time habit of managing illness with naturopathic and homeopathic “medicines”. When I was low-income and needed a professional naturopath or homeopath, I never had trouble finding a doctor willing to do a work trade.
I’m no longer low income and I now have insurance through my partner’s job (at her insistance), but I hardly use it. So, in a sense I continue opting to “go without” even though I have insurance because the alternatives I found while broke were so effective. (I no longer do work trades of course – I’m more than happy to pay doctors who will do work trades with other people who are low income).
-chris
I was underemployed working in the arts out of college, and I bought cheapo catastrophic insurance through Unicare. I think it was around $100 a month. If something had happened at that time, I would have had to declare bancrupcy – much more devastating than scrimping together that $100 each month. Within six months I got insurance through working my way up at my job. I think this is common in the arts fields – my sister just went through the same thing last year. She came down with random and rare appendix problem that racked up over $60,000 worth of bills – luckily she had that emergency insurance and didn’t have to declare medical bancrupcy.
@ chris posting above – A few dangers in your plan is that medical payments that your car insurance makes are usually maxed out at $5,000. I had a minor fracture a few years ago and it was double that just for a few xrays and a walking cast. I would be really cautious with your insurance to make sure you have enough coverage… you might find that buying health insurance would be the same amount of money as in increasing your car/renters insurance to higher levels of protection. Another thing to remember is that if you are diagnosed with an illness WHILE uninsured, it is almost impossible to get that illness covered by insurance later on. i.e. If you get diagnosed with asthma while uninsured in 2006, and you get an awesome job wiht insurance in 2007, they may view that asthma as a pre-existing condition and refuse to cover it, forever and ever. Obviously this would be even more serious if it were cancer or the like. I don’t mean to be an alarmist, but too many of my artsy fartsy friends have been in this position and I’ve given too much money to “help I don’t have insurance and now me or my baby is sick and going to die” benefit shows to hold my tongue! 🙂
Last tip – Musicians can get some insurance through ASCAP and BMI programs.