No Health Insurance

First of all, having no health insurance sucks. My family has been in this situation many times. It seems like every time my husband gets hurt, we are between insurances. I even went though my whole pregnancy with no insurance of any kind. So it is safe to say that I have become well versed in dealing with this sad situation (that really no one should have to go though in a civilized country but I will not go in to that). I will present some ideas for dealing with this situation. Today’s entry will deal with general no insurance and the next entry will deal with having no insurance though a pregnancy.

1. When you get to the hospital, tell everyone you see that you have no insurance until you can speak to someone who can help you. Unless of course you are physically unable to do this, then have a loved one do it for you. Do not leave without speaking to someone that deals with people with no insurance. They are sort of like hospital social workers and their job is to help the hospital get paid. They know the fastest way to do this is not though you. These people will hook you up with the right forms and phone numbers to help you get financial aid (yes they have this for hospitals) to help you pay your bills. Depending on your income and how many other uninsured people the hospital treats that month, you can get your bill reduced or even eliminated all together.

2. If you are home from the hospital and are looking in shock at the huge bill they have sent you, pick up the phone and call the billing people. Tell them you have no insurance and they will connect you to the people you need to speak to.

3. If you have all ready been denied financial aid or your bill is not from a hospital, ask for the cash pay discount. All hospitals, doctors, and ambulances have a cash pay discount of anywhere from 10-40% if the bill is paid within 30 days. I found out that putting a big hospital bill on my credit card with 10% interest was worth getting 40% off my bill.

4. If you have lost or quit a job within 2 months that offered you COBRA after you left but you did not take it because it cost too much, get out that paper work. We all know that for the most part, COBRA is joke because most people can not afford it. Well a little known fact is that if you get hurt within the first 2 months of the job loss, you can get coverage by paying the back months premiums. Whatever they would have covered when you had the job, they will cover now. When my husband got hurt and had to be in the hospital for three days ($12,000!) the hospital paid for the first months premium for us. Then we just had to pay the current month. For us, $360 was much cheaper then paying the whole bill. You can stop paying the premium whenever you are done getting the care you need. Then on top of all that, the hospital forgave the deductible we owed. I do not know if this is unique to my state of Washington or if it is everywhere.

5. Think positive. Pray if you are the praying type. I know people think that is silly but let me tell you it is worth a try. First of all, you are already in some kind of physical distress so you don’t need to go stressing yourself out, and second of all it is free so give it a try. It has worked for me many times. We have no outstanding dept from any of the many times we have needed medical care and had no insurance.

Anyone else have to go though a medical situation without insurance? What are your tips?