Health Insurance?

[Skywalker]

When I was pregnant with my son, I was in an abusive relationship, living abroad, the biological father refused to take a paternity test or get on the birth certificate or pay any child support at any stage and I left him and came back to the States to give birth, and I qualified, even being self-employed, for state benefits that essentially paid for everything, prenatal through birth through post-natal.

I'm working for a non-profit that pays very little and am going to get back into doing some sub-contracting work on the side, and my fiance who I'm marrying in less than two weeks makes a great deal more money than I do, so my son who now qualifies for medicaid (even though I don't) will get bumped off that health care. So I started looking on healthcare.gov for a family plan for us (my fiance's company he works for is a start-up and they don't have company health insurance packages yet).

I won't go into the details of costs but I nearly fainted. Humongous monthly cost, homongous deductibles, huge co-pays, huge out of pocket expenses for the whole pregnancy care from prenatal to birth to post-natal... I mean, just insane. We're going to have to pick one that's the least of all the evils and we're just going to have to make it go right to work a little extra to pay for it all, but this is my first time running into this situation and I'm just stunned at how much you have to pay monthly and how LITTLE coverage that insanely high monthly amount actually gets you. It's disgusting, actually.

I already knew from being a single mother how expensive children are but at that time, because of those unique circumstances, I didn't realize the cost! I'm not willing to wait to get married to my fiance and I don't want to be dishonest on any state assistance applications, which is what I'd have to do in order to go that route, and I'm the type of person, and my fiance is the type of person, that we'd just rather work extra to create what we need. I guess I'm just ranting because I had NO idea it was THIS bad. I mean, it's insane. I cannot believe it's called the "Affordable" care act. Affordable for WHO!? Insane.

How are you all coping?

 

[MoBaby]

Yes the affordable care act is not so affordable. It's all a bunch of bull! We have benefits through my hubs company and we still pay $475 per month for a family plan with a $4000 deductible so it's going to be expensive for us too.

 

[1nceUponATime]

Unfortunately our government seems to want to reward people who don't want to work by paying them benefits and hurt those who do want to work but don't have a ton of money to spare. I'm not sure what state your from but where I live they have their own form of state assisted health insurance... Is there something like that you can try to get? Also, doctors offices are sometimes different but if you get a large bill from the hospital you can get on a payment plan with them. Pay as much as you can kind of thing each month. Hang in there!

 

[Mrs. MB]

How is Kaiser in FL? I know that my friend found Kaiser to be more affordable when she had to pay out of pocket for insurance.

 

[jac4315]

I agree it's ridiculous! I thought I had mine covered, we are with a Christian sharing company. Well when I found out I was expecting I called them and come to find out the doctor/hospital I have to go to they don't cover, finally found out about Medicaid and got accepted for just the pregnancy. It was also possible for me to get a cheaper rate at United Healthcare, are they in your area? They have to take you even if you're pregnant. My husband works full time and I work 30 hours so you should be eligible. Also have you asked your doctors office? Sometimes they know what companies are best and affordable.

 

[jessicaftl]

Yeah, I'm in a similar boat. Luckily I had medicaid for both my first and second, this time around I'm still waiting to hear back from the state. I was told it would take 45 days... My sons both qualify but I "may not" so if I go to the doctor I might get stuck with a bill. I'm very frustrated, I feel your pain. There are a few women's clinics around here I can go to, but I'm still not sure what I will end up with.

 

[Skywalker]

Thanks for all your answers! I checked with our states Medicaid income brackets and even just with my finances income, we don't qualify, so it's going to have to be bought insurance. I'll check out Kaiser and United like you girls suggested! Thank you! It's so disgusting, I wonder how medical professionals and insurance company people sleep at night knowing they are part of such a broken, inflated system that rips people off. Surely it can't be like this forever and I hope something changes soon, so absolutely horrid the way it's set up now!

 

[MoBaby]

I'm a medical professional. i am definitely not part of a system that does that not are any of the providers who work here. Actually our insurance rates are much higher and the deductible is more than double what my husbands work is through our medical practice. It's mainly large hospital systems who over charge and over bill and corrupt insurance companies to blame. The medical professionals are usually told how they must bill and file claims by the corrupt hospital systems. Luckily I'm a provider in a privately owned company that provides services soley to the hospital but we don't get a break or discount on benefits. The hospital systems here have pretty bad insurance plans as well.

 

[theiska]

I cant help withthe health insurance info, but are birth centers or midwife assisted homebirths allowed and covered by insurance in Florida? It might substantially cut your out of pocket expenses if you think that's something you want to/could do. I think my OOP cost is cut in half by going to a birth center, but I'm in Missouri.

 

[bunnyblonde]

Look into Oscar. Idk if they're available in fl but I have it in ny and I pay around 125$ a month based on what I make. They supposedly cover all prenatal care and I haven't had a copy yet. Not sure what they cover as far as delivery.

 

[Skywalker]

I'm a medical professional. i am definitely not part of a system that does that not are any of the providers who work here. Actually our insurance rates are much higher and the deductible is more than double what my husbands work is through our medical practice. It's mainly large hospital systems who over charge and over bill and corrupt insurance companies to blame. The medical professionals are usually told how they must bill and file claims by the corrupt hospital systems. Luckily I'm a provider in a privately owned company that provides services soley to the hospital but we don't get a break or discount on benefits. The hospital systems here have pretty bad insurance plans as well.

I've worked as a medical professional as well and I agree, it's definitely corrupt insurance companies run amok and hospitals/specialists who take advantage of situations and over bill. I sincerely hope something changes because it's sickening. I went without insurance for years as a young single person, then lived overseas for a few years, then came back pregnant and qualified for state medical aid, so this is really the first time I've come face to face with the insurance costs and it's just so appalling to me. In my opinion, somethings gotta give eventually. I have faith it will eventually be corrected and greedy criminal companies deserted, just so frustrated bc it seems like the Affordable Care Act, which was supposed to reign in unethical private insurance companies, reduce costs, reduce deductibles, etc., only strengthened unethical private insurance companies, raised costs (Florida healthcare costs just raised a huge percent this year!) and raised deductibles. Some plans I looked at literally have $16,000 deductibles and cost nearly $500 a month and you still have to pay a few thousand dollars for pregnancy care from prenatal to birth to post natal. I scoffed and told the healthcare.gov employee who was helping me on the phone I didn't mean to be rude, but what the heck did my nearly $500 monthly even go towards then? He said apologetically that without paying that, it would be tens of thousands of dollars. It's just insane and I get frustrated because it seems like such a blaring injustice that no one is doing anything about. Having a baby is a relatively straightforward process of monthly exams to monitor progress, then bi-weekly and weekly as the due date approaches, than birth which more often than not is uncomplicated, then post natal follow up exams. And most families are going to go through it more than once. In my opinion, it should cost waaaaay less than diabetes care for one year, for instance, but on every single family health plan I looked at, pregnancy care is many thousands of dollars more expensive. How is a natural process that human beings have been doing for millions of years successfully more expensive than a serious major life threatening disease!? Lol now I am just ranting, and I'm sure you all agree that the costs are exorbitant and extreme and ridiculous so I'm preaching to the choir (ranting to the choir) I just got so riled up about it that it made me want to just go through the pregnancy on my own and give birth at home and keep all my money lol Jeez.