Sshh secret - no medical insurance

[Goshawk]

So profiling many in the van dwelling community you get a sense for how they survive. Most absolutely have no medical insurance.

As example medical insurance for an early retirement person who worked for the govment for twenty plus years is about $600 a month. So around $7000 a year for a couple (self plus one). That is the subsidized blue cross standard. (Personally am looking at blue cross basic -which is cheaper).

Point is when looking at the various budgets being honestly published to form a realistic understanding, it’s rare to see medical insurance premium being mentioned.

Sure if you are self insured like the paper Millionaire folks (people who have a retirement income of $50k pension per year) , then you might say you are saving $5000 a year in the bank. Ready for the medical events. But just don’t see that being discussed in budget. More likely folks roll the dice and get MEDICAID as a poor person, if they can.

Many just pay the OBAMACARE penalty of $500 and call it a day.

Just that budgets need to start with $10k per year for a couple or family. Then add in all the other expenses of daily living. It’s just the unfortunate true cost of USA living.


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[IGBT]

Yeah....no.

It does vary greatly depending on the state you call home, but subsidized medical insurance purchased on some state exchanges (like Washington state) is nearly free.

We are paying $70 a month for a couple, late 40s for a policy that has a $500 a year deductible but covers 100% for regular checkups, flu shots, etc.  They even give us back a $50 visa card for getting a checkup and a $25 card for getting a flu shot.

This is for a MAGI income of $23,000 a year.

Now if you have to report a MAGI that is significantly higher, then the $600 a month figure is realistic if not quite low.  Our insurance unsubsidized would be around $800 a month with a $6500 deductible.

 

[Goshawk]

Here is more of the monetary science and math behind the curtains of the insurance industry. Told in the perspective of pet medical insurance with much of the same issues.

.
http://mymoneywizard.com/is-pet-insurance-worth-it/



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[frater secessus]

So profiling many in the van dwelling community you get a sense for how they survive. Most absolutely have no medical insurance.

The price of medical insurance while vandwelling should be the same as or less than that of a sticks & bricks home. The transaction cost of a vandweller changing domicile to an area with a less expensive exchange is much lower than that of a homeowner.

 

[mayble]

It does vary greatly depending on the state you call home, but subsidized medical insurance purchased on some state exchanges (like Washington state) is nearly free.

this is a subject i'd like to see more about when discussing choosing a domicile state.
i don't have enough income to worry much about state income tax, but auto insurance and health insurance are major expenses and vary so much from one state to another.  
does anyone have a good resource for comparing (current) health insurance options between various states?

 

[user 13531]

Is the ObamaCare Penalty an issue for those with little or no income. Claim a financial hardship for all 12 month when completing your tax return, chances for a successful waiver are very high. It also appears the individual mandate for purchasing health insurance may fade away with the pending tax bill...

 

[Jeremiah Diminovich]

I totally get it I'm supposed to take medication for my nerve damage but it cost $600 for a month supply Plus the doctor visit and all that I have gotten out of paying the $500 at the end of the year for Obamacare because I make under so much money do my disability and it's not a taxable income so I'm considered poor. It still doesn't help with dealing with medications now and that's the big problem

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[wanderingfreeman]

I remember when I could afford individual health insurance, way back in the day. I can't afford it anymore. Way too expensive for less coverage.

 

[Goshawk]

For medications guess even the generics are not enough of a solution.


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[user 37446]

I currently do nothing about health care coverage and just hope for the best.  That doesn't usually work well with most things but there's no reasonable option at the present ($600 a month isn't reasonable when your income is $1100). 

County hospitals will treat indigent patients, as a FT dweller I likely will be considered "indigent". 

Even though I bristle at the "homeless" label, if it helps me get needed care (though I currently don't go to a dr, and haven't been in almost 7 years) then that's what I will do. Perhaps in a couple years we will have more options, nothing seems to be forthcoming.  I hear that California is trying to get a free medicare/medicaid type coverage but as broke as that state is, how can they pay for it?

 

[Jeremiah Diminovich]

I don't consider myself homeless I consider myself on a sabbatical trying to discover who I used to be

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[Blanch]

I have Medicare. My adult children have United Indian Health Services. If you are a Native American and are eligible for tribal membership get it, it gets you free health insurance and free dental. I did the genealogy research and got my boys their tribal membership cards. I know this doesn’t apply to too many people, but if it applies to you then you can pm me for more details.


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[BigT]

I don't know how people get by without health insurance, especially when they start getting older and body parts break more easily.  

Have you seen those ACA commercials they're airing on TV lately, where a guy trips on a toy left on the stairs or falls off a ladder while stringing Christmas lights?

There was a time I would have laughed at those ads, but not anymore.  Not since 8 months ago when I took what seemed like a very minor fall on my bicycle, but ended up tearing the rotator cuff tendons in both my shoulders.  

I hate to think what might have been if I hadn't had health insurance at that time, or had unaffordable, high deductible, insurance.  I might have lost the use of my right arm.  
I'm only 52!  

Now I'm on COBRA, and the cost is a killer!  $800 a month, but thankfully no deductible.  And that doesn't last forever.  
Last time I checked the "Marketplace", the prices were ridiculous.  $600 - $800 a month with a $6,500 annual deductible.  Who can pay that?!?!

Healthcare costs are the biggest single reason I don't quit my job, build a larger van, and move to Arizona.  
I don't particularly like my job, in fact I hate it, but it pays enough to allow me to live in a beautiful part of the state I'm in, and comes with great, free, health benefits.  

Hard to walk away from that, given the alternatives.

 

[Bast]

I am confused by this post. Where did the 10K base budget come from and what is included. Why 10K

 

[John61CT]

For a family not eligible for any gov support or subsidies, that's about the baseline cost for fully private health insurance in the US.

For the poster who can't imagine doing without, really?

I can easily imagine not having access to decent care, and dying young as a result.

How most of the world operates, and going to be more and more the case stateside as well.

 

[duncanshannon]

I don't consider myself homeless I consider myself on a sabbatical trying to discover who I used to be

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[emoji1303]


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[Goshawk]

For a family not eligible for any gov support or subsidies, that's about the baseline cost for fully private health insurance in the US.

For the poster who can't imagine doing without, really?

I can easily imagine not having access to decent care, and dying young as a result.

How most of the world operates, and going to be more and more the case stateside as well.

Mobile lifestyle folks make between $10k and $30k per year depending on status as a single or couple. The impact of $7000 per year premium only,via Obamacare or via normal family health insurance, is just not going to ease up ever. Even if you choose to go without insurance at all, you best be saving $5000 a year for a rainy day medical cost (like expensive drugs). Most people can’t save to improve their life, so this is a shaky task goal at best. Even the folks who are leaders in mobile lifestyle will of course not share if they have a rainy day medical savings (risk of beggars wanting help?); but bet they do.

Wish more folks would estimate the cost out of pocket for cancer chemotherapy, or heart bypass surgery even if you are dirt poor. You might find you have limited access to the best drugs, or limited access to the best doctor group. But if you are under 35 you don’t really see that much care about that risk.

You can pay the system now, or you gamble and can pay the system later.


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[free2enjoy]

Another approach to healthcare is prevention.

I really, really enjoy learning from Dr. Berg about natural ways to help the body heal itself. His videos are really short, really rich with easy to understand insights, and his bedside manner is impeccable.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=dr+berg

 

[IGBT]

If you make below 130% of poverty level, get on Medicaid, or move your home base to a state which has expanded Medicaid.   Washington has done that.

If you make above 130% of poverty level, the subsidized premium is not expensive (a bronze policy is actually free of charge).  Yes the bronze has a high deductible, but it is free so why not take it?   A silver policy with a 94% coverage will likely only be $30 to $60 a month.   Quite a few people spend that much on just their pets.

 

[BadSaver]

As a kid, we didn't have health insurance. I remember going to the doctor and just paying them like any other service. Of course, I remember them sharpening needles to. It used to take two nurses to hold me down. Seems, things have gotten more efficient, I wonder what went wrong?

The four big expenses are housing, education, transportation, and health insurance. Cheap RV living really only cancels one of those costs. Transportation and health insurance could easily cost $10k a year.