POZ Community Forums
Main Forums => Someone I Care About Has HIV => Topic started by: brokensister on February 24, 2010, 12:59:30 am
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DID YOU INSURANCE BEFORE YOU WERE TESTED POSITIVE OR HOW DID YOU GET INSURANCE. IF SOMEONE COULD PLEASE PLEASE HELP ME. PLEASE
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what?
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Ok what I am asking is about health insurance. My brother has none and Im sure its gonna be hard to get anything now. I am wondering waht some of you have done or are doing for health insurance.
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Ok what I am asking is about health insurance. My brother has none and Im sure its gonna be hard to get anything now. I am wondering waht some of you have done or are doing for health insurance.
what your brother needs medically is care. truthfully EVERYBODY, has some preexisting condition.
some HIVers receive care thru ASOs, but most people thru insurance. ASO's and every type of public/private charity have seen monies dry up! it's a bad time.
if you're in the the US, each state has different regulations (blue states, better patient protections). If your brother can work, and he can manage to obtain and keep employment (for a minimum of several months) with an employer who provides "group coverage" he would be covered without regard to his individual health. This is a good way to get into the insurance game. If he leaves he could then either self-pay thru COBRA or gain other employment (again with benefits) or he'd be out an awful lot of money. The idea is to get insurance and NEVER become uninsured so HIPPA laws exempt his subsequent insurers denying him care for specific "preexisting conditions" for the first 6 months of treatment.
i am self-insured thru a private insurance ("self-insured"); i have great MDs and affordable copays for "meds" but the premiums and co-pays are thru the roof.
i hope everyone reading this has considered taking some action (phone your Senator, White House, etc) to get meaningful health care reform in our country---no more "waiting to see what Obama gets us". We're in crises. example of action:
http://pol.moveon.org/virtualmarch10/action.html?id=19076-17331306-cvKH5Kx&t=1
Good Luck and Good Health!
-Steven (aka 8) megasept)
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here in florida - when i was unemployed i was able to get funding for my medical care (outpatient and labs) thru Ryan White funding. The publicly funded hospital also had charity care available. When i got employed and didn't have insurance, I was still within income range to get care (Here Ryan White is available up to 300% or 400% of federal poverty level). Now, with my new job, I have insurance coverage with low co-pays ($30 when i see my ID doc, $20 for my primary care doc and $20 for my Atripla prescription) Luckily my group insurance plan thru my employer didn't have a pre-existing clause, my previous employer's insurance did - which is why i stayed on Ryan White and was eligible for it. Best of luck to your brother -- have him check with local ASO. Hopefully, the US will get its act together and people won't have to wonder how they will get care if they get ill or even to stay healthy.
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Thank you two for the Help! Thanks alot
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Depending on what his particular situation is he might qualify for assistance. As others have mentioned every state has what's called ADAP/Ryan White and also Medicaid for low income.
As far as private insurance they can deny people for pre-existing conditions (although hopefully that will change in the near future). As far as how things now stand, even when they deny for this, if a person gets a job that offers coverage they can only impose the pre-existing condition clause for a maximum of one year, depending on how long the person has not had insurance in the past. So, if a person gets a job and they have not had health insurance for longer than a year, the new insurance at the job can deny for pre-existing for one year and after that they have to accept them.
Below is a link to ADAP and other HIV assistance info., you can also do a Google search putting in the name of your state and ADAP
http://www.atdn.org/