Chronic Health Conditions Discussion and Support

That's what I recently joined. It's no panacea, though! The deductible is HUGE, BUT the plan I joined pays at 100% once the deductible is met. Well, 100% for "in-network," but there's lots of that around here. I joined when I was diagnosed with what we thought was ovarian cancer. I'd been going without up until then -- and NC didn't get the federal plan until a year ago. Up 'til then, it was just the NC high-risk plan, which was awful. I'd been getting by using freebie care through "Project Access" here (a wonderful program) and going to the local community health clinic for general care. Even with insurance, I've stuck with community health -- I love my primary there (a very talented nurse practitioner) and the drugs are WAY cheaper than regular pharmacies. I have 10 prescriptions/month that would cost about $300/month elsewhere. They cost me about $85/month at community health. Since my deductible is so high, I'm much better off just paying cash for most of my meds and handling it that way. I really have the insurance for catastrophes, as the probable ovarian cancer was. It literally took about 2 weeks to be approved for it AFTER the diagnosis of probable ovarian cancer. (I got lucky....the large tumor turned out to be "low-malignant" with no spread.)

So, I'm rambling at this point (REALLY tired).....that would be my advice. I have MASSIVE medical bills at this point -- I really don't advocate going the no insurance route. Even if one has catastrophic, it's something that prevents losing everything one has to medical bills! The monthly cost of the insurance is higher than I'm comfortable with, but everyone I know who has private insurance says my fees are WAY lower than they pay.

It all sucks -- I'm also a single-payer advocate. The medical costs in this country are shameful, and most of it's due to lobbyists, private corporations & their political puppets!