Looking for some good message boards/websites where they know how to navigate our health care system?

Question

Is there a good website/message board/web community that knows their stuff when it comes to dealing with insurance companies and what to do if your company drops you? (i.e. medicaid/disability...or other options)

I've done some searching but have not yet found what I'm looking for. It would be nice to be able to carry on a running conversation with knowledgeable people as questions arise. I'm totally stressed out because I have no clue what I'm doing...and I think would feel better about proceeding if I had a roadmap/ some semblence of a plan (i.e. "if that happens...then I should do this")

So if anyone knows of where all the best gurus/good web communities are hiding who know how limited income folks can best navigate the twists and turns of our health care system, I'd appreciate your help/suggestions. Thanks. :)

Answer 1

Good question but I know of no such web site. I can tell you of some resources to check, however, so time does not pass you by without insurance.

IF you just recently lost your group health insurance through no fault of your own, find another health insurance you'd like ASAP. Either contact an independent agent in your town or go to a site like ehealthinsurance.com. IF your health is basically good, consider an HSA account--use that term in your search. If not, then you may be financially safer with an HMO. IF you choose and fill out the paperwork for another plan within 80-some days of the last day of CREDITABLE group health coverage AND are not eligible for COBRA or something else, the insurer HAS to insure you under HIPAA. However, this is not necessarily great news as if you have problems, the premiums they can charge can be astronomical. Still many who are healthy can get something affordable this way.

If you are low income, you can also check here for med help--NOT insurance:

"Health Centers provide health and dental care to people of all ages, whether or not they have health insurance or the money to pay for health care.  

Find the Health Center closest to you



  

Hill-Burton Free & Reduced Cost Care at hospitals, nursing homes and other facilities are required to provide a specific amount of free or below cost health care to people unable to pay. Eligibility is based on the size of your family and your income. You apply for Hill-Burton care at the facility where you were or will be treated.  

More about Hill-Burton and find facilities in your State "

http://www.hrsa.gov/help/default.htm

You should contact your state department of insurance to find out if your state (about 33 do) have high-risk insurance pools IF you have a med problem that makes you uninsurable through regular private insurance. Also see if they have any other programs you may qualify for--some states have lower cost programs that allow for more income than Medicaid.

As to disability, basically forget that. It does NOT work as the public, paying taxes into it, is told it does. First you can not have worked AT ALL for a year for MEDICAL REASONS--just NOT working is NOT sufficient. Second you then have to apply and you will be denied--more than 60% are regardless of merit it's just a "no." Then if you're smart, you won't waste your time making an appeal, you'll get a Social Security disability attorney to file for you. You will wait YEARS with NO income, no insurance. IF you get on disability, you will spend 29 MONTHS with NO insurance waiting to be eligible for Medicare.

Medicare premiums are getting jacked up tremendously and/or costs shifted on to patients. All the Michael Moore propaganda is a load. FACTS:

In the US, Medicare is going bankrupt. In 1998, Medicare premiums were $43.80 and in 2008 are $96.40--up 120%. "Medigap" insurance is common because of the 20% co-pay required for service. Medicare HMOs are common because they reduce that burden without an extra charge in many cases. HOWEVER, many procedures which used to have no or a low co-pay NOW cost the full 20% for the HMO Medicare patient. ALSO the prescription coverage they tended to offer has been REDUCED in many cases to conform to the insane "donut hole" coverage of the feds. Doctors are leaving Medicare because of the low and slow pay AND because the crazy government wants to "balance" their Ponzi scheme on the backs of doctors.

"That dark cloud lurking over the shoulder of every Massachusetts physician is Medicare. If Congress does not act, doctors' payments from Medicare will be cut by about 5 percent annually, beginning next year through 2012, creating a financial hailstorm that would wreak havoc with already strained practices.

Cumulatively, the proposed cuts represent a 31 percent reduction in Medicare reimbursement. If the cuts are adjusted for practice-cost inflation, the American Medical Association says Medicare payment rates to physicians in 2013 would be less than half of what they were in 1991."

http://www.massmed.org/AM/Template.cfm?S...

There's more that you should be concerned about, but by now, you can see this is NOT a realistic option. Each year, hundreds of people DIE waiting to get on Medicare disability. That is not an exaggeration or a lie like pols like to dish out--it's fact.

The ONLY way to speed the process is ESRD (end stage reneal disease) or convince a Social Security judge you are on the verge of death--emotionally, physically, or economically soon to be homeless--and this will take MONTHS IF you can get that heard--and that all comes only after you've been out of work more than a year and had your appeal rejected.

There is a "disability" supplemental income process that is probably somewhat less involved, but most likely you could more quickly get Medicaid than that and your disability would need to be permanent for the Medicare one.

Medicaid basically requires you to be totally broke unless you scam the system like many do (check out those income guidelines).

Your official site for info is here:

http://www.cms.hhs.gov/

You want to look for lower cost health care where you are: clinics (walk ins such as at grocery, drug stores, WalMart, associated with med schools or nursing programs, or the county hospital); get a good primary care doc who WILL cut you a break (30-50%) for cash pay at the time of service and will try to write GENERIC prescriptions, etc.; consider flu shots each year--again your local grocer probably has a Clinic come through just for that for less than $40--ask your doc about the "lifetime pneumonia" shot. IF you are still insured, make sure all your vaccinations are up to date as well. Look for things like labs that come through grocery stores or such and do everything from a mammogram to coronary risk testing to allergy shots and more for a CASH pay that is a HUGE discount over what you can get otherwise.

Look for LEGIT plans to fix the hijacked system that allows government and large insurers to control our lives. Ron Paul has some legit legislation in Congress (and he is still a working doc). Otherwise, READ. Hands down BEST plan and also comprehensive is here:

QUALITY, ACCESSIBLE, AFFORDABLE health care for all.

That means preventative care (physical with follow up). Real medication (no Medicare "donut holes" the really ill are ripped off again.) No bogus ridiculously low "caps" on needed medical procedures. No abuse of the ER. No paying for the silly with the sniffles to go to the doc for free. No more bankruptcies over medical bills. I want THIS plan that ends abuse of the taxpayer, takes the burden off employers, provides price transparency, and ends the rip-off of the US taxpayer at the hands of greedy insurance CEOs (which has been repeatedly documented).

http://www.booklocker.com/books/3068.htm...

Read the PDF, not the blurb, for the bulk of the plan. Book is searchable on Amazon.com

Cassandra Nathan's Save America, Save the World

Ends problem of uninsurABLE, uninsured, medical bankruptcies, pre-existing conditions, caps, and other nonsense and saves taxpayers a bundle. It is NOT UHC so some won't bother to consider it. There is NO graft in it, so pols don't like it.