How to Get Healthcare?

For several months now, I have been working on an eBook about effective life management skills. My primary goals for this project are (a) to make a little bit of income from it, and (b) far more importantly, to empower others to lead healthier, wealthier lives. For many of us, one of the main obstacles to this is the lack of guaranteed health care.

So it just occurred to me that maybe I have been examining the American health care crisis through the wrong end of the telescope. So often, solutions to widespread problems are individual, rather than global.

Yet, like most of us, I have been focusing on the sweeping, dramatic news stories. While often these make for attention-grabbing (as well as genuinely compelling) narrative, I want to hear from individuals within my own social network. Please tell me how you deal right now with the issue of health coverage for yourself and any others whom you provide for. If you are covered under someone else's plan, then that counts too.

I'll go first. I have used a variety of strategies. Nowadays I am on Medicare due to long-term disability. Actually, I qualified for Medicare in 1995. However, due to a combination of stubborn pride and the belief that I should pull my own weight and leave government assistance for the needier, I did not apply for long-term disability until 2004, when financial hardship compelled me to do so. Until then, I had been paying about $600 a month for insurance through a nonprofit organization for journalists. That particular insurance program has since been suspended and is no longer available.

Again, I really want to know how you -- yes, YOU reading this, right now -- are managing it. Even if you think that your health care circumstances are boring or mundane, I would love to hear from you. Everybody counts here.

(Also, if you are not in America, then please let me know where you are.)

Between my social network composed of this blog, Twitter, and Facebook, I hope to get over 100 responses. My promise to you is this: I will post the overall tally, breaking it down so that it is easy to understand, along with any great tips, ideas, or insights that develop.

I understand that this is rather private information. If you prefer, you can send me a private EMAIL, rather than posting a Comment, and I will keep your response confidential. If you wish, we can have a conversation about your situation, and compare notes.

I find the topic of health care fascinating. Especially right now, I can hardly think of anything more important or urgent to discuss. I hope to hear from you.

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Wishing you a beautiful day,

Bill Brent

[this page last updated: 2009.10.04, 11:59 a.m. Hawaii time]

LitBoy.com is the brainchild of writer Bill Brent. If you enjoy this blog, please consider a donation in support of my work. You can send money via PayPal to info [!at] litboy [DOT] com, or better still, use Revolution Money Exchange. Unlike PayPal, RME pays me 100% of your donation. It's quick and easy!


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Keywords for this post: healthcare, health care reform, national health care crisis, personal finances

Comments

[Joe Decker]

Hi Bill. My wife's work provides insurance to me as a spouse, one of the many ways I'm aware that (as a bisexual) I'm financially privileged by accident of the anatomy of the person I chose to live my life with. There's no way I could afford non-group insurance as a struggling artist, but I believe there are still somewhat more affordable group plans available to me through the North American Nature Photographer's Association.

[Bev]

Hi Bill. I confine myself to my own experience, as you request, and leave my screeds for another day.
First, I've had health insurance for a minor fraction of my life (from 1998-2007). For the entire rest of my life I've been uninsured. It's important to realize that being uninsured doesn't mean that you can't get health care. Quite the contrary, I've had much better health care as an uninsured person. In the USA, most (all?) docs have 2 rates: one for the insured (higher) one for uninsured (lower, usually much lower). The docs I deal with have sliding scales that depend on your income if you're not insured. It's a lie to equate 'uninsured' with 'no health care'. While uninsured, I've had major surgery, long and short term care, emergencies, and regular checkups. I am on a medication that I need to buy monthly. With my insured co-pay, it costs $25.00/month. Without insurance I pay $45.00/month at Costco (they sell meds a cost).
While I had insurance I was told that a certain med that I needed was unavailable to me because the FDA had only approved it for one use (unrelated to my needs). Later it was discovered that the drug was useful for those with my problem, but the company couldn't afford to spend years and more millions getting it approved for another disease. This is common. Drugs are approved for one problem only, and if they are effective for other things, your insurance won't pay.
All this is to say that if you feel sorry for the uninsured because you think that they can't get health care, you're incorrect. At least now. We get great health care.