Uninsured

Einar and I no longer have health insurance. We had a short-term, major medical plan that expired on June 30. We figured that was no big deal, as we are eligible to get on Dean Health Care's REALTOR group plan (since Einar works full-time for a realtor). So, we looked up all the information about the options, including coverage, deductibles, and monthly premiums. It looked okay - group coverage, with prescription coverage, for under $500/month for the two of us. Not as good as employer-offered coverage, but better than most individual plans we've found. We applied, confident we'd be approved. And we were approved! The letter of approval also included new rates. The plan we'd wanted - the only one that covers maternity - would cost $731.92/month for the two of us!! That is out of our budget. So now we're back to square one in a lot of ways. We're looking into GHC, and we'll probably forego prescription drug coverage. What a nightmare! I truly hope Congress is able to pass some sort of health care reform bill in the next couple of months.

As part of our investigation into health insurance, I looked into BadgetCarePlus, Wisconsin's health coverage for low income people. We make too much money to qualify for that, and if one of us quits our job or reduces hours, we'll qualify, but we won't be able to cover all of our bills. I'm sure we're not the only people in this situation. I suppose we could just skip health insurance altogether and do what a lot of people do - let the taxpayers pay when we show up at the ER and don't have health insurance and can't pay. Or maybe we should just move to a country with socialized health care, like Canada, England, or France.