Brat1

Yup, our date is Jan 2007 and they're currently dealing with Feb 2006 so I've fingers/toes and anything else possible, crossed that it continues to move forward and doesn't move back. Once we can get our Green Cards, none of this will be as much of an issue as I will be able to go out and work, but in the interim, it's such a pain in the you know what

Sorry, getting a bit off topic there, apologies

Michael

Yah and you even might find a job with cheap good health insurance.

fatbrit

Haven't been insured for a good few years -- the premiums were just too crazy.

However, backup plan of staying uninsured has probably saved me more than a few bucks if you subtract the premiums and co-pays I would have paid from the actual bill I've just paid. Went to the county hospital as they're more interested in medicine than their new Porsche and treat you regardless. The final bill for everything was $90k (!!), automatically reduced to around $9k because I didn't have insurance. If you're poor, I believe it would be even less....but I didn't bother with the financial counselor as I don't think I'd somehow qualify. The nice dears even offered 2 years of no-interest payments if I wanted them. Not peanuts I suppose, but really not too bad for 6 nights in hospital, a surgical procedure, and a bucket load of diagnostic procedures.

The issue for me is that I'm stabilized rather than cured, and they've got to do more poking over the next year or so. Private insurance would be impossible (and even if I had it, it would not be renewed), and I don't really fancy getting a greeter's job at Wally World so as to use their group insurance. So Obamacare has saved my bacon.

fatbrit

No insurance for 6 months will qualify you.

Brat1

Okay, so this is where I sound like a dumbass, but I have to ask. So, if you have no insurance, and end up in hospital like you did, then they automatically reduce your bill?? This is where I find the whole insurance/healthcare thing over here so confusing. I'm glad you've got things sorted out though, and that they get to the bottom of what exactly is the problem and you can be medicated for it. Good luck and feel better

Michael

Ah, it is simple to understand, really. If you go to a private hospital that doesn't get any subsidy from the local governments for unpaid bills, they are generally hard nosed and are difficult to negotiate with but eventually they reduce the price since something is better than nothing. If you go to a county hospital, they are subsidized by local governments and expect to get a lot of patients that don't have health insurance so automatically are always easier to negotiate with. If they can't get the money from you, they will just get a bigger subsidy from the local governments.

Simple, right?

That is why some people don't like the mandate in health care reform. Instead of paying a small amount per month for insurance, they would rather take their chances and get the hospital bill reduced and/or have the country pay for it.

fatbrit

They do at my county hospital, which I already knew when I decided it wasn't worth paying hefty insurance premiums with a large deductible and co-pays, and which would be cancelled ASAP if I actually got ill and needed the coverage. If I hadn't used the county hospital, my guess is that I'd have rung up a few hundred thousand at a regular hospital before being transferred to the county hospital. Who knows what you could have negotiated out of that? At county it was automatic, though they still send you the crazy bills with the random numbers before you get the real one with the much more reasonable figure.

You're not a dumbass at all -- the information is incredibly (and probably intentionally) hard to find.

jukes

Hi,
Wanted to ask:
I am a US citizen moving to North Carolina next month with husband who has green card and our kids who get citizenship on entry to US.
So, would we qualify for this Obamacare healthcare exchange/pool mentioned here? We have never lived in US so have only ever had NHS no healthcare cover in US. I have asthma, husband suffers on off depression but not on medication, so pre existing?
I will not be working for at least next 9 months as have baby due May and only pregnancy and birth covered by medicaid. Husband likely to be self employed for a good while if not forever.
How do you know what entitled to and what is best insurance to go for, don't want to buy health insurance and find out later could have got assistance with it etc!?
Thanks.

Michael

Green card holders as well as USC's are eligible. The temporary risk pool has more requirements but the exchanges which start in 2014 are a requirement if you don't have company provided health insurance. If you don't opt for the exchange in 2014 and are self employed or unemployed (probably free), you will have an additional tax added when you file your tax return.

Until 2014, you should check into the risk pool to see if you qualify.

zaze

hello jukes, we live in NC. i have no coverage nor does my dh . I am US and he a PR. i checked out Obama care and you have to have been refused insurance. I havent applied because i know its too expensive. So i wont qualify, sadly.

fatbrit

Not insured for six months is enough together with a pre-existing condition. You don't need to be refused coverage. If you're over 40, just get a doc to write you've got hypertension if you can't find anything else.

Cape Blue

So what happened - did you lose the gerbil?

Lion in Winter

FB I hope you're ok.

PS: Does this use of Obamacare make you an islamosocialist African-born hater of freedom and the US? Just wondering...

Michael

For the past 10 years, I have been using the VA for medical care and received free medical care (except for the co-pay) since I served in the military back in the 1960's. Although I currently also have medicare Part A and B, I still continue to use the VA health care system.

I like the doctors, both my primary care doctor as well as specialists, since they are nice people, listen to my problems, don't rush me, and normally appointments are either a half hour or one hour. They also give me copies of all tests and explain and discuss any abnormal results and I can call or email my primary care physican at any time and she will give advice or write up a prescription that is sent via mail while conversing over the phone or by email. Although appointments with my doctor are regularly scheduled, if I need a quick appointment, they have next day appointments with a staff of doctors and if the appointment is made in the morning, you can normally get to see the doctor in the afternoon. The appointments are a half hour just like all other appointments so generally there is time to discuss problems. During any appointment if tests are needed, you are immediately sent to the lab to take the tests and the results are available before you leave. If I need tests before an appointment, I can normally visit the lab 1 hour before the appointment and the results will be available on the doctors computer before the scheduled appointment. If you develop something that could be serious such as when I developed a floater in my eye, an appointment with a specialist is made immediately and the VA has the latest equipment available.

The only negative that I can think of for the VA is that if you don't have a critical problem but should see a specialist, that can take several months. Also if your primary care doctor won't immediately recommend a specialist since he/she feels that a specialist can't do anything more than she can do, you aren't going to get that appointment.

Only once since I had medicare did I go to a private doctor since I wanted to see an ENT and my doctor wouldn't make the recommendation since in her opinion, I just needed to tough out the problem and it will disappear and there was not any treatment available. The appointment with the ENT was for 10 minutes and when I tried to explain the problem, he seemed totally uninterested and didn't even understand what I was talking about. So after about two minutes, he checked my ears and had his audiologist give me a hearing test. After the hearing test was complete, I then had a consolation with the ENT and he told me exactly what I already knew for the last several months and he never showed me the results and also appeared that he couldn't wait to get me out the door.

Prior to using the VA, I always had very good health plans that allowed me to choose any doctor and/or specialist that I desired but since using the VA for the past 10 years, I've come to think that government run health care seems to be at least as good if not better than private health care.

Bob

You pesky communist...you'll be saying bacon is bad next