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Today’s guest post is presented by Barbara Waltz, one of the founders of 247QuoteUs.com, an online resource blog and insurance quote comparison guide. Barbara is an insurance agent with over a decade of experience in the industry so listen up! She knows what’s good ;)
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This morning you likely woke up, had some breakfast , started up the computer to read news or blogs, got ready for your job and left on your way perhaps stopping at Starbucks or some other coffee place. If this was your morning, you are not alone, it is pretty much the daily routine of middle class America. We still have it quite good despite the economic downturn and while you may have cut down your vacation from Florida to a long weekend away or stopped going out to dinner as much, your life likely has not been forced to change. This is actually pretty much the story of one of my lifelong friends Robert, he lived in a decent home, drove a decent car, and lived a pretty standard life. While it may seem like we are invincible in our SUV’s or nice apartments, we still fall prey to health problems, such is the case with Robert.
I have known Robert since high school and seen him go through college, get married, and so on and we are still pretty close. About 18 months ago he came to me to tell me some devastating news, I was actually the first person he told, he had swelling in his lymphnodes and wanted to get checked out, he found out he had non-hodgkins lymphoma (NHL). He did not know what to do or how to really tell his family. Sadly, like a growing portion of the US, Robert had no form of health insurance. At one point he had coverage from work but was forced into part time work and lost his benefits not long before this.
As a friend, and someone in the know about the industry, he confided this with me but obviously it was not something we could sit on for long as he needed to be treated in order to fight it. If caught early, it is something that can be treated but 35% do not make it past five years after being diagnosed.
The treatment for NHL is very costly and depending on the type of tumor people will receive chemotherapy, radiation therapy or some combination of the two. With insurance, the costs for these treatments and being out of work takes a drain on a family’s budget, without insurance the costs rack up into the thousands and force drastic measures to be taken. There are some “safety net” government and public organizations in place but these are few and far between. Fortunately for Robert, he got into some of those programs and that greatly helped to reduce the cost of the medications. Within his social network he managed to get put in touch with doctors and facilities who would treat him at a price that could meet his budget. Robert and his family did have to make some cut backs in order to foot the bill, they sold off their house and moved into a condo and got rid of his car as well as countless other little things to help out their budget. He has been very lucky however in the good fortune he has come across from his friends and family but more so that the treatments have so far gone well.
As someone who has worked in the insurance industry for quite a while, I see and hear stories like this quite often. Some people drop coverage because they want to have a little bit more money to spend each month, others being forced to live without coverage due to job losses, the situations may be different but the risks that you run of not having any coverage at all can be extreme. While many individual health insurance policies tend to be pricey, it is possible to get affordable health insurance that is strictly for major health issues. That will mean you still have to pay out to see the doctor for your sore throat but you can have the peace of mind of knowing that you are backed if something major ever arises. For better or for worse, the US has a free market health system which allows for some of the best medical care in the world but unfortunately only for those who can afford it.
Luckily for younger people, it is very affordable to get some sort of policy even those that are not just for catastrophic coverage. If you have a policy in place, it is a good idea to look into what is covered by your policy in order to ensure you are covered the way that you should be. Depending on the coverage taken, it may be possible to save money month to month on premiums by trimming down some unused benefits or increasing copays if a strict budget needs to be adhered to. For any questions regarding your policy there are numerous quality resources online (blogs and guides) that cover FAQ’s and contacting a local agent is always helpful for immediate answers.
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PS: Need more convincing to get insured? Reference back to the gallbladder fiasco of ‘08 …
