Health Insurance

[Matt71]

I haven't heard anyone mention health insurance anywhere in my research. I've seen lots of people's budgets and not one has included health insurance.

Now that everyone is required to have insurance, how has that effected your lifestyle?

I image most van dwellers have pretty low incomes, so insurance is pretty inexpensive. I priced pretty decent Silver level insurance for me and my wife at $40 a month if we can keep our income between $17,000 and $20,000. Any lower and we'd need to get medicare.

 

[concretebox]

I have very little in terms of assets. I also have no income. So I have qualify for Medicaid through The Affordable Care Act. The problem is I'm only covered in the state of my residency. I moved from Illinois, where I paid nothing except for a $3.90 co-pay (and later, no co-pay). I'm in California now and I've re-applyed for medicaid in this state. I've still waiting to hear back, it's been about a month.

 

[Matt71]

I did notice that some of the plans only cover you in your home state, so you have to watch for those if you'll be traveling a lot. Good to know that medicaid works that way. More incentive to keep my income up.

 

[TravelDerby]

 I'm fairly young and have no medical issues, so my current premiums are very manageable.  Of course that's with a grandfathered plan that I had prior to the "Affordable" health care law.   I will be able to keep this plan until the end of this year, but unless the Obama Administration adds another extension at the end of year my plan disappears.    I've checked comparable plans that comply with the Obamacare laws and don't qualify for any tax credits so I'm looking at around $300 per month for the same plan I have now (I currently pay $121 per month for a HAP PPO here in Michigan). 

 

[TravelDerby]

  Matt71,   Do you by chance attend auctions around the Detroit area?  I'm from Michigan as well and your picture looks very familiar.

 

[Matt71]

I do not. I live in Ypsilanti if that helps.

 

[vanman2300]

I'm not entirely sure about this but you don't necessarily have to go on Medicaid if income is too low. I think they direct you there but if you ask they will insure you under one of the plans offered through Obamacare and probably for next to no cost. One of the individuals I take care of is severely disabled and on Medicaid. He couldn't get a dentist to accept Medicaid and needed help desperately. He went asked about dental insurance through Obamacare and they gave it to him with relatively no problems. I suspect they would do the same for health insurance if you ask them.

 

[akrvbob]

My income is higher than most people here but still low by most standards. I went through the Marketplace and got a high deductible plan for $430 a month and the government pays $325 so I'm paying $95 a month.

Learn more about it here:
http://www.cheaprvliving.com/blog/got-healthy-insurance-open-enrollment-healthcare-gov/
Bob

 

[Wabbit]

Me and my mechanic don't carry any insurance. Neither of us makes enough to qualify for that Obamacare, she has filed for that state medical thing for poorer people but never hears anything back. I had an ear infection a few months back and the emergency room people said they needed some info from me and would apply for state medical thingy on my behalf. Insurance would prob be nice for both of us. It is on the list of "take care of it" after we find our next base of operations.

 

[LeeRevell]

That whole "Don't make enough to qualify for obamacare" thing....... wasn't that the whole point of that trainwreck? To provide healthcare for the poorer folks? Something is getting lost in the translation. My healthcare plan from my ex-employer is expensive, but I have no deductible, cheap co-pay and cheap meds. I'll keep it as long as I can afford to. I will NOT go on "obamacare", I will self-medicate before then.

 

[Wabbit]

Well the point was for affordable health insurance for everyone I guess. Sometimes it seems like a lot of people don't like it, but that's more to do with media trying to stir up news and politicians trying to pander to the voters. However, I am still a fan of universal health care, definitely not perfect, but what is. I ignore politics/politicians/media/voter opinions for the most part. Many people who complain about Obamacare have no problem with Romney's health plan. Maybe I am missing something, but that bias seems a bit sketchy.

 

[ccbreder]

the original premise was every one is insured, so healthier people share the cost of less healthy, and insurance premiums go down for everyone. The insurance industry and Congress compromised the idea to the benefit of the insurance industry.
The majority of the people I talk to with ACA coverage are pleased.

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

A recent issue of NEWSMAX magazine carried the following news snippet:


Over 200,000 Doctors Quit Healthcare Exchanges

 
According to a medical practice trade group, as many as 214,500 doctors will not participate in Affordable Care Act exchange plans in the coming year.  A survey by the Medical Group Management Association indicates physicians are opting out for two reasons:  first, concern over low reimbursement rates, and second, a fear that they will not be paid at all for some cases if they accept insurance provided by the exchanges.
 
Part of the problem involves the way the exchanges are regulated.  In March 2012, the Department of Health and Human Services set forth the procedures to be followed if patients with an exchange plan stop paying their premiums.  In the private healthcare market, people lose coverage as soon as they miss a premium.  But exchange plans are required to provide their members with a 90-day “grace period” to pay up.  In theory, a patient could join an exchange plan, stop paying the premium, receive extensive medical care, and escape paying completely.  And if the patient doesn’t pay up, the doctor who provided the service could get stiffed.
 
And by some estimates, for every dollar a private plan pays for a service, Medicare pays $0.80.  The Obamacare exchanges, by comparison, pay about $0.60.  If more physicians and hospitals decline to accept insurance issued through the exchanges, patients may begin to have trouble finding a nearby doctor.

 

[VanKitten]

I haven't heard anyone mention health insurance anywhere in my research. I've seen lots of people's budgets and not one has included health insurance.

Now that everyone is required to have insurance, how has that effected your lifestyle?

I image most van dwellers have pretty low incomes, so insurance is pretty inexpensive. I priced pretty decent Silver level insurance for me and my wife at $40 a month if we can keep our income between $17,000 and $20,000. Any lower and we'd need to get medicare.

I have medicaid, but when I turn 65 I will have to take medicare and get rid of medicaid. This is a bit crazy but it works this way. Once I am 65 traditional medicaid would take over....under that program they would put a lean on my assets for any coverage I would get. Below 65 the ACA only looks at income and does not require recovery of money from leans on assets...but that goes away at age 65. So..I will get medicare and purchase a policy that will cover me as I travel. No point to having a policy that only covers me in one state. Of course the bigger issue is that a great many docs will not accept medicare patients. So..I guess I will not have a primary care which could complicate things if I need approval to see a walk-in clinic. Urgent care is only available with a physician approval. This is looking to be ugly.

I have a friend who is an insurance agent...I am told that I can get the medical insurance is low deductable for about $300 a month that includes the ability to carry it all over the country.

Yeah..I didn't see anyone include this in their budgets either. And it is going to be a BIG line item

 

[Matt71]

I wonder if it's just coincidence that everyone that I know who got insurance through the exchange is pretty happy with what they got, and everyone that is going through an insurance agent is getting screwed.

 

[Seraphim]

A recent issue of NEWSMAX magazine carried the following news snippet:


Over 200,000 Doctors Quit Healthcare Exchanges

 
According to a medical practice trade group, as many as 214,500 doctors will not participate in Affordable Care Act exchange plans in the coming year.  A survey by the Medical Group Management Association indicates physicians are opting out for two reasons:  first, concern over low reimbursement rates, and second, a fear that they will not be paid at all for some cases if they accept insurance provided by the exchanges.
 
Part of the problem involves the way the exchanges are regulated.  In March 2012, the Department of Health and Human Services set forth the procedures to be followed if patients with an exchange plan stop paying their premiums.  In the private healthcare market, people lose coverage as soon as they miss a premium.  But exchange plans are required to provide their members with a 90-day “grace period” to pay up.  In theory, a patient could join an exchange plan, stop paying the premium, receive extensive medical care, and escape paying completely.  And if the patient doesn’t pay up, the doctor who provided the service could get stiffed.
 
And by some estimates, for every dollar a private plan pays for a service, Medicare pays $0.80.  The Obamacare exchanges, by comparison, pay about $0.60.  If more physicians and hospitals decline to accept insurance issued through the exchanges, patients may begin to have trouble finding a nearby doctor.

Hmmm.  All the exchanges do is provide a market for companies to showcase their plans. How does a doctor know how one acquires the plan - whether a patient went through the exchange or contracted outside of the exchange? 

A person could sign up for a plan anywhere, get an insurance card, not pay premiums and stiff a doctor...

Policies issued through the exchanges ARE private plans - each unique to the company. When a doctor contracts with a particular company, he agrees to accept the renumeration provided By that company for that service. Have no clue where those $.60 on the dollar estimates come from, since the same companies are offering the same plans on or off the exchange. 

This article makes little sense to me, and I think it needs some kind evidence to back it up. And just for the record, I'm not a fan of ACA nor Obama.

 

[Matt71]

Well, you have to keep in mind that NewsMAX started it's own news network because FOX news wasn't conservative enough.

 

[Seraphim]

Well the point was for affordable health insurance for everyone I guess. Sometimes it seems like a lot of people don't like it, but that's more to do with media trying to stir up news and politicians trying to pander to the voters. However, I am still a fan of universal health care, definitely not perfect, but what is. I ignore politics/politicians/media/voter opinions for the most part. Many people who complain about Obamacare have no problem with Romney's health plan. Maybe I am missing something, but that bias seems a bit sketchy.

If providing inexpensive health care with a subsidy was the only goal, it could have been done a lot cheaper and easier.  The majority of ACA panders to political goals and ideals and has nothing to do with 'affordable health care'.  I do not object to the first. I have numerous objections to the latter. It was pushed through a Democratic Congress in a short time, vague answers given to pre-legislation questions, and when the final wording hit Congress there was no time to read it, and the Democrats saw it as an easy victory for their party (no offense intended).  Once it was enacted, there was a lot of questionable aspects to it that bothered members of both parties. Providing low cost health care for low income families is great. The excessive cost and non related legislation included in the package is problematical. Had all that excess baggage been left out, it would not have been the controversial issue.

 

[Seraphim]

Well, you have to keep in mind that NewsMAX started it's own news network because FOX news wasn't conservative enough.

I'm not familiar with Nwsmax. I avoid pundits of either political ilk. They merely pander to what their close minded audience already believes, and offer neither insight nor intelligence.

 

[offroad]

Its kind of weird about some arguments on this all. The bottom line is you will get care, or you will suffer. Does anyone want suffering people, regardless of financial ignorance?

Income should not matter at all. Less rich doctors is not no doctors. Have read stories about dirt poor clinics closing in states because the health exchange insurance is working. Yes it needs to be tweeked-fixed so that political powers can both claim it. It will eventually be adjusted.

Also looking at expensive medical statistics. After 60 half of you will get cancer. Its going to happen. If you don't have insurance you will have a hard time getting the three treatments you need. Chemo-radiation-surgery. Even with insurance you will likely pay $5000 in drugs and deductibles.

But will your quality of life be any better? For my mom it was yes as her cancer was detected early. For other loved ones cancer detected late and made no difference.