Gasp! An uninsured Nurse (rant)

[optimist]

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!

[Do-over, ASN, RN]

While I was unemployed and in nursing school I got a policy that basically covered catastrophic illness/injury. I think my deductible was $10k. I was living off my retirement savings, and the cost was about $130 a month. It also covered well-woman and had a decent prescription plan. I paid cash for my specialist check-ups.

I might have gone without, but I know firsthand what a sudden illness can cost. I had to have emergency surgery to repair one of my eyes as a young adult. With pretty good insurance I still paid about $8k out of pocket (co-insurance). I can see, and I am not bankrupt - Praise the Lord!

[Altra, BSN, RN]

Nurses and others who work in health care in the US see daily the fragility of life and health, and the ramifications of the insurance/payor system as it currently exists.

For an educated health professional to deny/ignore the reality of these, and assume "it can't happen to me" ... is kind of shocking to me. That is a significant level of denial. How does OP view his/her patients - actual sick people?

I also find it psychologically interesting to see the OP assert that if some unfortunate event occurs, s/he will deal with it ... when s/he is in a position to know just how financially catastrophic such an unexpected occurrence would be. Even a self-limited illness/injury requiring surgery or a brief ICU stay will easily incur a debt of a half million dollars. Is OP's family really in a financial position to handle that kind of financial hit, no sweat?

Or does s/he assume that payment arrangements will be made to suit him/her ... at the financial expense of the very health care system which currently provides OP with a paycheck?

" ... 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. ... "

Apparently so. Classic ... what goes around, comes around.

[Altra, BSN, RN]

I would be willing to bet that the majority of nurses in the US do not have health insurance.

Can you explain what you are basing this statement on ... and how much are you willing to bet? I'm a gambling kinda gal ...

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

moved to our social & health care coverage activism forum.

[nicurn001]

While I am prepared ( I just couldn't bring myself to say happy ) to pay taxes to cover the healthcare needs of the indigent and those who genuinely cannot afford to pay for their healthcare ( I even understand if you have a choice of either paying for food for your children or healthcare insurance , making the choice for food ).

I cannot tolerate those who choose not to be insured , when they make their decision like the OP , there is only one word that fits this situation they are parasites , who will tell us how well they are doing without insurance , but not how they will meet their obligations if they ever incur the expenses of a medical catastrophe. Those who make this decision based only on the financial benefit to them of this decision not to have healthcare insurance are simply transferring their responsibility / risk to us , we in turn have to face higher insurance premiums , hospital bills and taxes to insure them .

[rn/writer, RN]

Please, keep the discussion civil. You may disagree with the OP's choices, but there is no need for name-calling and personal attack.

Thank you.

[MunoRN, RN]

Maybe the eye rolling by the other Nurse was a little much, but yes, some education is appropriate.

I agree that our for-profit insurance system is not ideal, in fact I think it's the most embarrassing thing about being an American, but that doesn't relieve you of any responsibility for not transferring your insurance burden on to others.

I think you mistakenly see health insurance as a way of paying less for office visits and prescriptions, when really that's only a minor part. Every 30 seconds in the US a bankruptcy is filed due to health care costs. That means the bill doesn't get paid by the person who lacked health insurance, instead it gets added on to everyone else's insurance premiums. So if you don't have catastrophic insurance, you're basically on everyone else's insurance plan, essentially stealing money from them.

I wouldn't complain about $1800 a year in premiums considering the average American family pays over $13,000 yearly. Nobody likes paying that, but it's the responsible thing to do if you believe it's not fair to transfer those costs to others when you're capable of paying your fair share.

[rn/writer, RN]

I cannot tolerate those who choose not to be insured , when they make their decision like the OP , there is only one word that fits this situation they are parasites

According to your definition, they would more correctly be potential parasites. They would not be drawing on public funds until or unless they had catastrophic bills they were unable to pay.

Every 30 seconds in the US a bankruptcy is filed due to health care costs. That means the bill doesn't get paid by the person who lacked health insurance, instead it gets added on to everyone else's insurance premiums.

It isn't only the uninsured who are filing for bankruptcy. It is also those who did have insurance that was either inadequate or that left them with huge copays and large gaps in coverage or that wiggled out of covering expenses by labeling treatment as experimental or using some other loophole to avoid paying.

I wouldn't complain about $1800 a year in premiums considering the average American family pays over $13,000 yearly.

It wasn't just $1800. The coverage for her husband and daughter were already costing them more than $8500.

I still would encourage the OP to get some form of catastrophic coverage, just to put a cap on the amount she would ever have to be liable for. That seems like the least of all the not-so-hot choices available to her.

[nicurn001]

According to your definition, they would more correctly be potential parasites. They would not be drawing on public funds until or unless they had catastrophic bills they were unable to pay.

a) It would not just be use of public funds , but raised insurance premiums and raised charges by healthcare providers / faclitities if I accept your above definition of when potential parasites become active parasites .

b)I don't agree with your definition of parasite , when I googled it this is what came up :-

"

par-a-siteNoun/ˈparəˌsīt/

1. An organism that lives in or on another organism (its host) and benefits by deriving nutrients at the host's expense.

2. A person who habitually relies on or exploits others and gives nothing in return "

I feel #2 is an apt description of what I am talking about .

NB I will make it clear , in my contributions to this thread I have tried to talk generically about those that choose to be uninsured , not about any potential / actual contributor .

The OP, Optimist is perfectly entitled to make the decisions she makes , but when those opinions are expressed upon a open forum such as this , don't be surprised if some disagree with that view , as long as we all remain within the TOS there is no problem .

[brandy1017, ASN, RN]

I'm not scolding anyone, I'm just saying for myself I wouldn't go without if I had a choice. One of the reasons I work where I do is for health insurance. I know others have gone to pool without benefits, sure I would love to be pool and have a say over when I work but I wouldn't go without the insurance to get it! Likewise, I wouldn't work at a place that didn't offer health insurance or wouldn't work part-time there if they didn't pay for health insurance. In this sense we have a choice and the person who started this thread had a choice! Unfortunately, there are many Americans out there who really don't have much of a choice because they work for companies that don't offer health insurance either because they can't afford it, many small businesses have been priced out of the market, or other companies that choose to short-change their employees and don't offer it even if they could afford it! We all know if you have any health problems or the slightest blemish private insurance companies refuse to cover you so unless you can pay for high risk state pool insurance you are out of luck!

Where I work the part-timers have to pay double on the insurance premiums and I've heard that is very common nowadays, although I know a rural hospital where I have family that work that decided to simply stop covering part-timers entirely. Perhaps the low paid CNA's, HUC's, techs etc would then qualify for govt state health care, but I'm sure the nurses wouldn't so I don't know what those nurses are doing. Maybe they have spousal coverage or maybe they'll increase their FTE or go elsewhere for work.

For the person that has a part-time job that doesn't offer health insurance and her husband's is too expensive; if it were me, I would get a different job with a company that at least provided reasonable health insurance, rather than go without! I think it is taking too big a risk with your health and your family's financial future!

I wish we had national healthcare, along the lines of unemployment insurance, where both employer and employee paid a tax to provide insurance for everyone! It would solve so many problems and I'm sure it would be more affordable for all concerned. It would create a level playing field, take the cost down for both employer and employee and there wouldn't be the gaps in coverage there are now!

I feel sorry for the people who can't get health coverage because their employer can't or won't provide it and they are too poor or too sick to get private health insurance and don't qualify for govt health insurance!

I'm not happy with Obama's plan to require everyone to purchase health insurance if the employer doesn't provide because I can see that will create an incentive for more companies to stop offering health insurance, just like the 401K which was meant to be a supplemental plan in addition to the company pension lead to companies ending pensions to save money. How much do you wanna bet we'll be paying our own insurance in a few years and working for no benefits, no health insurance, no pensions and lucky to get a 2% raise yearly, if we're lucky! It is very depressing to think about.

I don't understand why America is the only developed country that refuses to provide national health care! Also most other countries provide child care and college at a much lower price and that is why we are so much poorer and Europe sees us as a Third World country with our poor working conditions, lack of vacations, and benefits overall in comparison to the wonderful benefits that are provided in most of Europe, especially France, Germany and Britain. Even Canada is light years ahead of us!