Living Without Insurance

[dimetime]

As crazy as this sounds there are millions of Americans who do not have insurance. When I say insurance I mean no insurance what so ever. No health insurance, car insurance, home owners insurance. There are millions in this country who have no coverage what so ever.

Its not because they are not able to find insurance it is because of the costs of these insurances. This is something that I find scary to think about because if something were to happen they have nothing at all to help them out.

Not having insurance can end up costing a person a lot more than the cost of being covered by insurance.

After doing a little bit of research online I did find that there are a lot of insurance companies that are offering some really nice deals on insurance and I wish there was a way to make sure that those with out insurance would see them, but there is only so much that I can do.

I know what it is like not having insurance. Not being able to see a doctor when something was wrong, or a dentist when one was needed. It is a horrible way to go through life. Though now there are ways of making sure that your covered by insurance with out paying huge prices for it.

[ClassyLady]

I am in that boat right now as for health insurance. The place my hubby works dropped all the insurance, even life. right now we would be in a huge mess if something were to happen to one of us.

I feel and broke my wrist this weekend nad had to go to ER cause we have no insurance. I need to see my regular doc and can't afford to.

[pennypinch]

Thats just aweful. I cannot imagine not having health insurance, especially for the kids. There is no way we could pay for doctors, dentists, eye doctors or whatever on our own! They cost way too much. Thank goodness we do have insurance. Otherwise I don't know what we'd do!

[Rae74]

I do not have any insurance right now and i have to go to clinics and stuff for my medical care,or the emergency room.

I have found a program though that you can use to get free medicine from the manufacturer if you qualify.

I filled the paper work out and took it to my doctor and had him sign it and sent it to the manufacturers of all of my medicines along with proof of income and they are sending my medicines to me for one year for free.

That is over four thousand dollars worth of medicines for me.

[moneysense]

Life Insurance is another insurance that is a must have. Even if it is only a $5000 policy. That may not seem like much, but it will pay to have you cremated and leave a little money left over.

Funerals these days are so expensive. For instance, a one day showing with cremation afterwards, the obit in the newspaper, flowers, and so forth will run you about $5,700. Anything more that just the bare minimum at the funeral home runs so much more.

So everyone needs to have at least the $5,000 policy in order to take some of the hardship off of your family at the end. Its hard enough to deal with a death, but then to add the worry of how to pay for a funeral to the grief you are feeling is just too much.

[Rae74]

I found out a few years back that I had to have surgery for a tumor in my uterus,needing to have my uterus removed.I was having internal bleeding though it had just started and was not severe yet.

I was told that with no insurance that I would need one thousand dollars down before they would even schedule the surgery.For someone that has something that wrong with then and in need of surgery I thought that this was ridiculous.

I did pay the money and had the surgery and I am fine now,but what if I could not come up with the money,would they have let me die?

[BSClay]

I think people should all be able to have insurance but there are so many different sides to the coin. Positive is everyone could go see the doctor and have what they need done, but I wonder if that happened if we would still get the same quality in medical care and the same advancements. I think there should be a branch of government opened up for such things to allow people medical benefits. It is a shame there are still people out there dying each day because they can not afford a surgery they need desperatly.

[Rae74]

I know a diabetic with no insurance,and his meds are over eight hundred a month.He finally got help from the drug companies with my help and gets his meds for free.

Getting him into a clinic is almost impossible right now though because they are all full and not taking any new patients.What do you do for this,it is so hard to see him suffer with complications from his diabetes and I can not do much of nothing about it.It hurts so bad.

[moneysense]

RAE are there no free clinics near you? That would be the optimal answer as a lot of them actually have meds in stock and they cost nothing for the patient.

We have 2 hospitals in our area that specifically state that if you cannot afford care that it will be given to you regardless of whether you have insurance or not and that includes the emergency room.

My husband is a Veteran and sees his physician in Pittsburgh Pa, which is a 150 mile round trip from here. When he collapsed last week I had him taken by ambulance to one of these hospitals and he was admitted for 4 days.

We have no health insurance for him except for the care that he gets at the VA clinic and hospital, but he was given exceptional care at this hospital.

Check your hospitals and see if any of them accept patients on this basis.

[dimetime]

All hospitals have to see patients regardless of whether or not they have insurance. If this person gets turned away from any hospital then that hospital can be in for some real trouble.

Most of the time if a person needs medical attention and has to visit the emergency room they can request what is called the Hill Burton Papers. I believe that this program is all across the United States, however I could be wrong on this point. Here is a website I found regarding this issue that may be of some help.

Hill Burton

There is a lot of information to read here and I hope that it will be helpful in helping your friend.