Call me naive, but, I just really figured everyone had health insurance. Either thru their employer, Medicare, or Medicaid.

Does anyone truly not have health insurance??

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I know some people who have chosen not to have it.

They make too much to qualify for government assistance, he's self-employed and she a SAHM, they are into homeopathic medicine, and just don't want to spend big money on monthly premiums to have reduced rates on visits to an MD when they don't go to MD's anyway.

If they were in an accident or someone in their family got cancer, I don't know what they'd do.

I'm sure there are many who truly don't have it. That would be a top priority for us, but for some whose employers don't offer it or who are self-employed and would have to foot the entire premium themselves, it's not.

An ER has to treat anyone who walks in the door in need of medical care, but that doesn't mean they will be treated for *free*.

Myself and my husband have no insurance at all!!!

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My mother does not have health ins. It's not offered though her work and private ins. is way beyond what she can pay.

Unfortunately she broke her arm last month and needed surgery. She now has 10k in bills, but believe it or not that's less than she would have paid for a years worth of health ins.

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Me ! I can't afford it. I'm a cancer survivor and for this I have been Punished Per insurance companies wiling to cover me. DH's job offers a family policy to the tune of " 850.00 a MONTH for us.

Needless to say, I don't go to the doctor unless I'm on death's door. Last time I had my yearly I had to have blood work done it cost us out of pocket 759.00 to the lab, 550.00 for the Breast exam, 100.00 for my pap and 252.00 for the doctor's visit...

I have ONLY been to the ER 2 times in 10 years. 1st was for Ecoli and the other for a reaction to some cough medicine the doctor gave me. The 1st ER visit was 1350.00 plus 259.00 for the doctor 2nd was for 721.00 and 259.00 for the doctor. I "applied" for a program that the intake lady told me to apply for ( helps pay the bill or reduces it or something like that ) got a letter telling me I didn't met the requirements for the help Go Figure !!

So yep can say I'm 1 of the ones you never thought had NO coverage at all, everything is paid for in cash from doctor visits to Rx's. My many thanks for beating cancer !.

My daughter's best friend and her family have none.

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Same here also, If we do a family policy with me, DH company only pays 10% of the cost or 85.00. If I stay off of the policy they pay 100%..
DH's policy pays 80% of visits, 100% for ER and 100% w/ 250.00 co pay for hospital stays and Nothing for rx's, Add me it drops to 20% for visits, 20 % for ER and up to 15,000.00 for Hospital stays with 500.00 co pay and stays the same with rx.
Family policy is 850.00 x 12 = 10,200.00 a year.
DH makes right at 30,000 a year thats 1/3 our yearly income for insurance.

None here either. Not offered through DHs work, too expensive to pay out, we make too much to qualify for state aid.

When DH worked for our church we paid $800 a month. At $100 a Dr. visit, it is MUCH cheaper to just go when we need to. The kids still get their annual check up (as do I) and that is all we ever used it for anyways.

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Please try mentioning the Hill-burton act when you use these facilities or find a hospital that does, The act requires the dr and hospitals that receive grants under the hill burton act to treat for free the uninsured and needy for free for 20 years. See if this helps you. It just mightI know many people who have used this over the years.

Neither of my DD's have insurance, and it is so scary. Thank goddness they are young and healthy. They are to told to be on my policy, and private cost way too much. Scary!!!!

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Yeah, we have it. And we have very good coverage. And we pay a LOT for it every month. However, when DS was diagnosed with cancer, we pretty much got hosed. Call me bitter if you will, but the kids who had NO coverage, came out a lot better off financially than we did, given the hospital's "Good Will" policy. Our insurance paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for his coverage. But we still had co-pays that added up left and right. But we had moms in the clinic boasting about how they had no co-pays, and how they couldn't wait to go shopping for black Friday deals-laptops, video games, etc. So they come out of treatment for free, but us w/ good insurance, hard working individuals are still up to our butts in debt from treatment. Almost would have been cheaper for DH to quit his job and for us to go on welfare-how pathetic is that?

We have insurance, but pay through the nose for it. I have two teens and just cannot stomach the idea of not having coverage when/if needed. Basically, I work to get insurance for myself and two kids (husband is covered through work --not a great policy, i.e. pays $50 per Rx copay (hallelujah for those $4 walmart and target scrips)and have gas money.

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Yes I know many people without insurance. We get our insurance through my dh work but every year it goes up $150 a month. I am scared that there will come a time when we can't afford it any more.

They say that thousands and thousands of people don't have health insurance. I'm not sure why you think that everyone is covered by an employer, Medicare, or Medicaid. There's millions of people who don't work or insurance isn't offered if they do, aren't old enough to receive Medicare, or poor enough to receive Medicaid. That's probably most of America!

I absolutely have no health insurance.I feel I really don't need it.The last time I "stupidly" went to the ER, I had already diagnosed myself,and had done all the research I could and already knew that only taking care of myself with time would do any healing.But because I was insecure of my own diagnosis I went to the ER, where the doctor diagnosed me with what I already knew I had and sent me home with pills that did nothing for me except make me gain weight,damage my kidneys,and put off any healing that needed to take place.
And for that 5 minute diagnosis and prescription paper ,I have close to a $1,000 bill.
Never again!

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Health insurance is one thing they need to fix in this country. We have always had it through our employer. We have had to pay part but it is not high. We have used it too. Two years in a row my husband was sick to the tune of $148,000. That was the insurance part. We paid about $5,000 out of pocket costs for those 2 years (plus premiums). My 3 kids have had various surgeries and hospitalizations too. We spent about $150 a month on meds. It would be about $500 a month without insurance.

I have never been without health insurance, and only took a job without it because I was covered under DH. I am trying to get an understanding as to why people do not have health insurance. This has not been such a big issue for me since it didn't effect me, but, I'm trying to gain a knowledge of what others are dealing with.

I guess "back in the day" company sponsored health insurance was a given???

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My SO is disabled and does not qualify for any of the governement programs (in process of fighting the denied disability application).

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Laura

There are LOTS of people out there without health insurance. DH and I went for 10yrs without any type of health insurance whatsoever. And DH had severe sleep apnea for most of that time (and probably even the high blood pressure then, too) but we didn't know it for many years because we (and particularly, he) rarely went to the doctor. DH was self-employed and my work did not offer insurance. DH and I did not qualify for any type of state aid. We "fell through the cracks", as they like to call it. We didn't make enough to be able to afford health insurance on our own, and yet made too much to qualify for any assistance. I would get my annual pap & pelvic at the Health Dept for cheap.... but, other than that, we'd have to be near death to go to the doctor. Thankfully, they let us make payments when we had to pay for DH's CPAP, which was about $1200. The sleep study was another $300 up front.

I was, however, able to get free medical coverage through the state for DS until his 19th B-day. The guidelines for children to qualify for state aid are much more lenient than state aid for adults. But thankfully, DS has never had any major health issues. He's been without health insurance for almost 3yrs now, but he recently got hired full-time (with great benefits) at Zappos.com. He'll soon be at his 90 days, and his insurance will then kick in.

Where DH works now (and the past 3yrs), his health and dental premiums are paid by his employer. For me to be included on his policy costs us close to $350 a month. And even with the insurance, DH's Rx co-pays are $84 a month out of pocket.

.

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I think it WAS common. Every company I knew had it but then but insurance fees rose and employers discovered that people would still work for them even if they didn't offer it. It costs companies so much to offer it and the price of insurance through the private sector is so sky high that most people just can't pay it.

My company insurance almost lapsed seven years ago when I took an extended leave of absence and Blue Cross wanted $480.00 a month to insure me privately - and I've never been sick a day in my life! No pre-existing conditions, no claims, no health problems ever AND that was for just me! That $480 didn't cover my husband or children. I had to go in part time just so I keep my company insurance. If I stayed on part time, I only paid $6 per paycheck for my family to be fully covered. If I left indefinitely, I'd have paid $480.00 just for myself and I couldn't afford it. That's over $5000 a year and it would have left my husband with nothing - my husband's company did offer insurance but charged $75 a month and his didn't include dental so mine was a better deal and I had to stay on the payroll. I know 4 people who want to retire but can't afford to lose their insurance so they're still working. We're afraid not to have insurance because paying cash for just one operation could break us financially. My FIL's heart attack and artery surgery cost $84,000.

I'm scared of losing everything I've worked for all my life if something like that happens so I still work just to be eligible for company insurance. I signed a contract with my employer way back when and it was the best deal I ever made! My contract states that I will pay $25 a month for full coverage for myself, my husband and any minor children and my company contract states that my premium can't ever go up. No matter what the insurance company charges them, my employer has to eat the difference and my share remains the same. Where will I ever find a deal like that? So I stay on.

The reason people are going without is they just can't afford insurance. If it cost that much 7 years ago, it must be even higher now. The people who have insurance want more benefits (husbands now want to take weeks off when their wife has a baby!), the doctors want more money, the employers want to make a higher profit and the insurance companies want to make a sky high profit and raise premiums all the time. With everybody wanting more money, it leaves hundreds of thousands of people with nothing at all and I feel sorry for them. If I retire early, I might be one of them!

People can buy medical insurance on their own. When my sons came off our insurance whe asked at our local hospital what insurances that they accept. They gave us phone numbers of places to call.
You can do a google search for medical insurance in your area.
Edited to add link: https://www.ehealthinsurance.com/ehi...o18811&sid=BUY

As with any type of insurance the higher the debuctable is the lower you monthy payment will be.
Some of the same insurance companies that handle car insurance, fire house insurance, also offer medical insurance.

Quite frequently such coverage was due to the influence of employee unions which have been in decline since the 80's.

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Ana
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Not everyone can get medical insurance, my DH went 5 years without health insurance because no one would cover him because of his heart disease. He has insurance now only because he got his SSD and is on Medicare.

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GO #24 JEFF GORDON

That is true some may have a harder time of finding insurance. But al least people should at least try to their own to get insurance if your company does not offer it. Laws are now starting to go into effect that people can not be turned down for insurance, you still might have to pay more for it.

In Walmart the other day the cashier was telling another cashier that she was dropping her medical insurance because she wanted to buy a new car and needed the money to made the car payments. I asked her what kind of car she was buying it was a 2008 model. Will I feel sorry for this type of person when she needs the medical insurance and can not get it...NO.