What are you supposed to do when your kids have no health insurance?

Question

I just got married in February and although we have been together a long time DSHS never took my "boyfriends" income into consideration, so my kids had insurance through the state of Washington. Now, because we are married, they count his income and we make too much to qualify. this leaves my kids with no insurance and to buy insurance through his work is no better than buying your own private insurance and would be about $600 a month for two kids. How do they expect us to afford this when we can barely pay our rent and buy groceries? I have tried Basic Health, SCHIP and all the low income insurers and we are just over all of their qualifications. I already stay at home so we can't make less money. We are seriously considering getting divorced (and staying together of course) just so our kids can be healthy. Are there any other options???

Answer 1

Visit a local agent that works with all the major companies in your area. Individual plans for 2 kids in my state would run from $56 to $198 per month for a comprehensive plan and even less for budget plans. The agent can find the best policy for your situation and budget. There is no extra charge using an agent.

Answer 2

Ignore the first two answers.  $600 for two kids is outrageous.  You should be able to insure each child for about $80-$150/month.  Contact an insurance broker to help you out.  Insuring kids is cheap and you should always shop it before going with a group plan since group insurance is notriously expensive and at least twice the cost of individual coverage.

Good luck.

Answer 3

both of you get second jobs..

We all have to pay for our own kids.

Please don't ask me to support your kids and pay for their medical needs just because you had kids without a way to support them.

Get 3 jobs each if you have to.

No wonder people hate welfare moms

Answer 4

What a tough situation, and you're right, our health care system is very broken.

There's a very good article at eHow that discusses how to get health insurance for you and your family when you don't have a job that covers you:

http://www.ehow.com/how_2367563_keep-hea...

How to Get Health Insurance

Take a look at it, as it covers all the major possibilities for getting insurance, and gives some great resources you can use.

If money is a big issue (and when isn't it?), you can also look here for tips on earning some extra cash online:

http://www.ehow.com/how_2254361_money-in...

How to make money on the internet, scam-free

All the best.

Answer 5

You need to go to work, sorry but that's the solution.  I agree with all the other people that answered stating they do not want to pay for your health care.  You could try to find a job that is at a different time from when your husband is working so you don't have to pay out child care.  I had to work 2 jobs and so did my husband when my kids were little, so you need to go to work too.

Answer 6

You want to make "less" money so you can get taxpayers to cover your health care?  How greedy can you get?  You're the one who chose to have kids.  It is grossly unfair to others to expect them to shell out their hard earned dollars to pay for your kids.  Get a job yourself and make more money.  

Actually, $600 a month sounds like a great bargain.  Here in the east, it's $1200+/month for a single person, $1500 for a family.  Why should people with no kids, who hardly use insurance, subsidize people with kids, when -- on a per-person basis -- the family uses the health care at least 3 or 4 times as much?

Practically everybody else has both mom & dad working.  And singles work two jobs to keep a roof over their heads.  Join the club, and kwicherbitchin.

Answer 7

$600  a month for two private policies isn't bad, and it's about what we pay (slightly less) through my husband's employer for a family plan.

Maybe the solution isn't to make less money, so you can get welfare insurance, or to shack up and live outside marriage (yeeks, I guess you're hoping your girls do that to, so they can milk the system?)  but to maybe find a job, with health insurance?  Or you can do daycare, easily, in your home, and make that extra $600 a month.