I visited a Dermatologist today to check out a painful spot that had developed on my lip. It came up in conversation with his assisstant that I was a nurse. She glanced at my chart and remarked "I see you dont have insurance, and you're a nurse? How can that be? Surely you realize how important insurance is." My response "I dont buy into the insurance business and Im prepared to take the finacial risks that that may entail". She rolled her eyes and went on about her business. This is not the first time Ive caught flack for being a nurse and not having medical insurance, as if my involvement in the healthcare field should somehow guarantee that I be excluded from the millions of Americans living without health insurance.
The truth is, my employer does not offer coverage for part-time employees (which I choose to be due to family obligations). I could be added on to my husbands work policy on which he carries himself and our daughter but at a price of over $700 a month (heck he would practically be working for just insurance!). I could get my own policy to the tune of $150 a month and pay outrageous copays for every visit and Rx. But Ive found that barring any major emergency/Dx that Im coming out much better NOT having insurance. The dermatologist gave me a discount for paying cash so my bill was only $60 (an insurance copay would have been $70). When I get sick I go to urgent care where they also give cash discounts, I pay $86 whereas hubby and baby have an urgent care copay of $200. I go to the health dept for my yearly GYN visit and BC pills to the tune of $90 (as based on my income) whereas when I had insurance I paid $35 per visit plus $25 a month for Rx. Im saving a ton of money not being insured. Now I know that if anything major comes up Ill have a ton of bills to pay out of pocket, but thats why they make payment plans. I just cant justify paying $1800 a year for a healthcare discount program (i.e. Insurance)
And just because Im a nurse does not mean I should have to have insurance!
I visited a Dermatologist today to check out a painful spot that had developed on my lip. It came up in conversation with his assisstant that I was a nurse. She glanced at my chart and remarked "I see you dont have insurance, and you're a nurse? How can that be? Surely you realize how important insurance is." My response "I dont buy into the insurance business and Im prepared to take the finacial risks that that may entail". She rolled her eyes and went on about her business. This is not the first time Ive caught flack for being a nurse and not having medical insurance, as if my involvement in the healthcare field should somehow guarantee that I be excluded from the millions of Americans living without health insurance.
The truth is, my employer does not offer coverage for part-time employees (which I choose to be due to family obligations). I could be added on to my husbands work policy on which he carries himself and our daughter but at a price of over $700 a month (heck he would practically be working for just insurance!). I could get my own policy to the tune of $150 a month and pay outrageous copays for every visit and Rx. But Ive found that barring any major emergency/Dx that Im coming out much better NOT having insurance. The dermatologist gave me a discount for paying cash so my bill was only $60 (an insurance copay would have been $70). When I get sick I go to urgent care where they also give cash discounts, I pay $86 whereas hubby and baby have an urgent care copay of $200. I go to the health dept for my yearly GYN visit and BC pills to the tune of $90 (as based on my income) whereas when I had insurance I paid $35 per visit plus $25 a month for Rx. Im saving a ton of money not being insured. Now I know that if anything major comes up Ill have a ton of bills to pay out of pocket, but thats why they make payment plans. I just cant justify paying $1800 a year for a healthcare discount program (i.e. Insurance)
And just because Im a nurse does not mean I should have to have insurance!
I have not read any of the posts yet. Apologize if this is a repeat but I have just have to jump in ....
Agree thenurse was inappropriate but who the he// ends up footing the bill when something catastrophic happens, you drown in debt and then file for bankruptcy. Us is who..John Q Public in the form of increased costs for those of us paying extra to make up for the care that the hospital writes off for non payment. All because you don't want to pay for insurance. It's crap like this that has landed us in this nightmare of what we call healthcare.
Ive found that barring any major emergency/Dx that Im coming out much better NOT having insurance.
Wouldn't it be wonderful if you really could bar these things? Of course the problem is that you can't. That's the whole point of having insurance!
My sister was a perfectly healthy 27 year old one day, and a cancer patient with a brain tumor the next. She declined for 7 long years before she finally passed. I have no idea what the medical bills added up to - because thank GOD her husband had insurance -- but I'd be willing to guess it was easily into the multiple millions.
Of course you're free to go without health insurance -- that is your choice. And I agree that it wasn't appropriate of the dermatologist's assistant to comment on it. But of course it's completely appropriate to comment on it here, since you've chosen to post it here. I sincerely hope you never need the insurance you're choosing to forgo, but I also sincerely believe that you should reconsider and at least get a plan with a very high deductible to cover those catastrophic illnesses or accidents that unfortunately you cannot bar (as rn/writer suggested).
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
Well, by posting it here, it's sharing said business?
I meant more that it isn't the receptionist's business to comment and roll her eyes at the OP. I'm assuming she paid for the dermatologist's office visit up front. It isn't my nurse colleague's business either unless I choose to talk about it.
I am in no way saying it's a good idea to skip insurance because you're playing the odds. I guess that was the point most people here are reacting to while I was remembering two other threads on the topic that have some pretty depressing stories about what can happen when an employee or retiree is subjected to the vagaries of people who agree that it really is the employee's responsibility to figure out a way to get covered regardless of what the employer or insurance company chooses to do -the implication here ...
In a way, it IS kind of like, "uninsured people need to just figure out a way to get covered"....I know I had to. Having to deal with that bill per month is better than facing one umpteen times higher than that, should something unforeseen happen to me.
I would do a happydance in the street to have an $1800/yr or $150/mo health insurance premium even with a sizeable co-pay. Hospitals have traditionally had top-notch medical benefits. I never opted out when I was younger. Now they are trying to strip it down to the bone and make the lives of people in their 40s and 50s (pre-medicare age) miserable through cut benefits, slow claim responses, denials, appeals, and outright falsehoods resulting in a person being uninsured..
My current employer wanted $680/mo for me and 2 kids, on a take-home pay that makes it impossible even if you live on nothing but oatmeal and ramen.
I agree with rn/writer - a policy for catastrophic coverage is the bare minimum. There are lots of doctors who understand the dilemma people face and offer discounts. I've had docs offer to use the lowest visit code they could and not charge for stuff like $75 to blow into a peak flow-meter.
The study of the ebb and flow of money in healthcare is really complicated with doctors freely admitting they overcharge Betty because they know Paul won't pay anything. So I don't feel it is a moral failing if a family is saddled with huge debt numbers on paper have to file for medical bankruptcy. It's pretty prohibitive for lots of families to have a debt of $30,000 to pay off with monthly installments, too. I won't ask them why didn't they take on a third job to keep up with the shell game that has very little to do with them at all.
I'm talking about the rather superior and scolding tone some people here have adopted and the innuendo that uninsured people need to just figure out a way to get covered!!
The OP has made a choice not to be insured. She makes no claim that her options (beyond her husband's policy) are unaffordable, she chooses to not to have insurance, she chooses to gamble with her family's future. I really hope the rest of society doesn't end up paying for her irresponsible choices.
The truth is, my employer does not offer coverage for part-time employees (which I choose to be due to family obligations). I could get my own policy to the tune of $150 a month and pay outrageous copays for every visit and Rx. But Ive found that barring any major emergency/Dx that Im coming out much better NOT having insurance.
Of course the that employee was wrong for rolling her eyes at you....but....
What are you doing with that extra $1800/yr? I hope you are saving it. For example I had an appendectomy a few years ago. IDK what it cost....I was still on my parents' insurance. But I just read the average cost is between $15,000-$18,000. You realize for this common, every day one time emergency surgery that would equal somewhere between over 8 years to 10 years of those insurance payments to equal the payment of the surgery???
I'm gonna be sweating the couple of months it takes me to get insurance at my new job. I had my OB GYN give me some extra BC pills so I don't have to pay out of pocket. BTW you realize that when you get discounts that means my insurance has to cover that extra cost? It has to come from somewhere. Or when people aren't hiring nurses in hospitals because of budgeting problems? One of the problems is that a lot of people without insurance can't pay their bills. Just saying....
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
The OP has made a choice not to be insured. She makes no claim that her options (beyond her husband's policy) are unaffordable, she chooses to not to have insurance, she chooses to gamble with her family's future. I really hope the rest of society doesn't end up paying for her irresponsible choices.
I know. My reaction was over the top because of some recent painful experiences happening to people who have been responsible all their life and got the rug pulled out from under them. Therefore I reacted to the buttons that were pushed rather than the crux of what optimist was saying. I apologize to all for that.
Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
You are certainly within your rights to do what you feel is right. I myself went without insurance from the time I was 18 until I was 25, like I imagine many others.
But I have to wonder what would happen if you suddenly had a catastrophic illness. Would you really set up a payment plan for an amount greater than your mortgage? Or at some point would you cut your losses and just declare bankruptcy, thus shifting the burden off onto the rest of us consumers who do pay for insurance?
You can no longer declare bankruptcy for medical bills.
Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
Well, by posting it here, it's sharing said business?
Obviously, no one knows for sure what the OP would do in the potential face of hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical debt (heaven forbid, I might add). She DID say that she doesn't want to pay $1800 per year for an insurance plan....so the inference is there. The vast majority of people could not afford (and therefore default on) that type of catastrophic debt, so it's just a game of odds. That's all. Maybe it shouldn't be, but it reads that way. I think some people are pointing out that a monthly payment plan may be harder than the OP thinks; it does sound good and easy in theory, but the reality is different.
In a way, it IS kind of like, "uninsured people need to just figure out a way to get covered"....I know I had to. Having to deal with that bill per month is better than facing one umpteen times higher than that, should something unforeseen happen to me. I didn't so much get the superior/scolding tone from the thread, though....I think it was just surprise (it was for me at least). The fact that OP is a nurse only matters to me in that, we see more of what COULD happen, and we see it on a daily basis. I WOULD expect a nurse to have a different opinion/attitude towards it.
I'm not saying that makes it EASY, though, don't get me wrong there. I know it's tough, I'm living it too!
I agree. I don't think she has any more responsibility to be insured because she's a nurse. It's just that has someone who has a front-row seat to the miseries that can happen to people, it's inconceivable to me that a nurse would decide to go bare.
This is the kind of mentality ("Let it be someone else's problem) that I think people object to. I'm scrimping to make sure my medical debts are covered. I cannot afford to take on the debt of others.
Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.
Thanks for the interesting link about filing for medical bankruptcy and how difficult that actually is.
I would never BY CHOICE go without major medical coverage. On the other hand if myself or spouse was laid off we could never afford the 1200 bucks a month Cobra would cost us. I would just have to find the absolute cheapest catastrophic coverage and go from there.
Since the OP has yet to reply to any of these comments, I'm now wondering if the purpose of the original post was to stir the pot here at AN and get us all up in arms over this controversial topic...
Laurie52
218 Posts
Hopefully this is just sarcasm, but too many people feel this way and that's why health care is so expensive!