It's almost open enrollment for health insurance! As someone who hasn't had insurance since February, this is an exciting time. But now that I'm actually browsing these plans I feel like crying.
I went through healthcare.gov, which re-directed me to my state's (CO) marketplace site. (connectforhealthco.com). They asked me for my zip code, my gender (F), my birthday (age 23), and whether I use tobacco (No, never have) - and the CHEAPEST plan that came up from the resulting search is $250 / month for basically NO COVERAGE. $7,350 deductible, no copays, basically no assistance until the entire deductible is hit. I know that catastrophic plans are designed not to cover anything but the catastrophes - but paying $250 every month for basically the promise of only having to pay $7,350 in an emergency instead of $30,000 (or whatever?)? With my good health and low income?
Now look, I'm pretty new to this - I have never had to shop for healthcare. I have never had to pay for my own. I am learning as I go. And my question is: IS THIS NORMAL?
I last visited the doctor 2 years ago. I have never been diagnosed with anything, never taken medications, never broken a bone, never even needed birth control (until now). Now that I'm looking ahead, I was hoping to find a plan that would help me cover things like dental care (wisdom teeth gotta come out), vision (prescription gotta get updated), and birth control. And the regular yearly check up that I've been neglecting. Or, preferably, and at the very least, a plan that would cover any emergencies and be cheap enough that I can pay for that other stuff out-of-pocket. Having to pay $250 baseline and then EVERYTHING ELSE out of pocket seems ridiculous. I am healthy and young and poor and trying to be responsible but this health care system is not doing me any favors.
This year I was set to gross $35,000 take-home, but my job just had to drop me to part time 20 hrs/week at $18/hr, so I'm now actually making way less than I was expecting to be able to budget for. I'm going to pick up another job but in the meantime this is what I'm working with. I also live in an expensive cost-of-living area. I did the financial assistance calculator thing and it said I do qualify and can expect to cut probably around $40 off my monthly cost - so only $210 / month for a shit health care plan. I guess that's better than $250.
I guess I'm just posting to ask: is that really what I should be expecting to pay each month? If that's just the way it is then I guess that's the way it is, but I have to at least ask. What do other poor, healthy 23-year olds pay?
Edit: another major consideration for me right now: I mentioned birth control. I have been waiting until I have health insurance to pursue getting a copper IUD. Out of pocket this costs about $500. I have some savings and would have just gone for it, but two of my friends had very serious complications with the IUD that required emergency room visits. This is rare, but I wanted to be prepared for the worst case scenario - and I definitely can't afford an ER visit without insurance. So this is a big factor.
Submitted October 30, 2018 at 09:29PM by prettyfuckinghealthy https://ift.tt/2P0YW15
