If I had any decent insurance, even just your basic HMO, all I'd have to do is make a quick call and find out which plan doctor(s) is near my residence or workplace.
Based on my experience with my previous Anthem/COVA coverage, I'd have a list of many doctors from which to choose.
But I am uninsured and my choice of affordable options is very limited.
Hospitals? MCV or Bon Secours are it. They are the only hospitals in the area that offer sliding scale care for the uninsured, and they offer it only to those making 200% of the minimum wage or less a month.
Clinics? There's MCV, Crossover Clinics, Fan Clinic, Richmond Community, various public health departments and the Bon Secours CAREVANS.
That may sound like quite a few options but when you factor in limited hours, volunteer staff and mostly out-of-the-way and even down-right dangerous locations,the options become very narrow.
Many of those clinics (Fan Free, health departments) tend to specialize in STDs and birth control issues or children's vaccinations. Some of Crossover's clinics are in crime-ridden neighborhoods. The CAREVANS take only a limited amount of clients per session and will take children and the elderly before working, yet equally ill, adults. The CAREVAN that week may be way across town. It may be weeks before it comes anywhere near my neighborhood again.
Have you ever stood in 95 degree heat for three hours waiting for medical care for high blood pressure and then been turned away because the clinic quota is full?
I have.
Have you ever had to be screened for both finances (4 pay check stubs, W-2) AND American citizenship/ID (Drivers/State ID/Social Security card) weeks before seeing a doctor? If you are uninsured you probably have experienced this indignity.
I waited two months just to get an eligibility screening and then another month before I could get into see an actual doctor. My blood pressure is 160/92 and I am still waiting to see that doc.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
Mary - I'd be happy to set you up with a Health Savings Account. I too was uninsured for about 8 years (by choice) and was lucky.
An HSA is a low premium, high deductible that works like an IRA, where money you do not use rolls over every year and builds into a nest egg that you can use for any health related expense in the future.
Jon,
I investigated HSAs when they first became available.
I do not, as a wage employee, make enough money to qualify for the current health savings accounts.
HSA have an income threshold you must meet in order to begin the account.
And the gap between that threshold and the income limit for medical programs such as Medicaid and other lower income assistance programs is several thousand dollars. I fall over the limit for Medicaid and under for HSA.
Also, health savings account cover drastic conditions, hospitalizations, etc., not the day-to-day conditions for which most folks see a doctor and for which I need care today.
Using my current income and with current medical care prices, I would have to save for YEARS before I could get enough money to cover even one small hospital bill.
But thanks for the idea & offer.
If I ever need a HSA, I'll drop you a line. Mary EL
Hi,
I am limited in my income and have found most hospitals have a sliding scale for low income people. Mine is though Unity hospital in rochester,ny. 80% off doctors/hospital/dentist. Check hospitals for grant programs, and sliding scale programs, also here if you call social services you can apply for Healthy NY if you work or family/child health plus also if you work and these premiums can be free or low cost.
No one has ever offered me advise ...years went by paying what I could and finding out later these programs existed all along...
Good Luck if you tell me where you live I could try to check around and see if I could find anything :)
Post a Comment