Health insurance

[seabrookhiker]

What are you doing for health insurance during your thruhike? COBRA? Your spouse's insurance? Major medical policy? Going without?

[leaftye]

My policy is independent of work, so I don't think to do anything...I think.

[AggieAl]

I recently posted the attached on another thread.

For those who care I am the director of the Insurance and Risk Management Center at New Mexico State University and owned an Independent Agency for many years.

[seabrookhiker]

Thanks Al! That's really useful.

[Doooglas]

I'm 100 percent covered"almost" anywhere on the planet.
Not covered in the US of A.
Nooooooo problem.

[Hatfield]

I know someone who thru hiked, had cobra, and had to go to a hospital twice. It did not cover them at all and they had to apply for indigent status. Just a waste of money to pay for insurance that doesn't do anything. If you're going to pay for it make sure it will cover you out of state.

[Panzer1]

If you can afford insurance you should get it, otherwise go without it.

Panzer

[DAJA]

Being Canadian, it always seems strange to buy health insurance when we go to the states. Actually it feels wierd to even think that I need to worry about it. Regardless we always purchase travel insurance for $15/month providing us two million in coverage including a medical flight back to Canada, where we no longer have to worry about costs, coverage. Really as it should be, we only have to worry about getting better.

[Cocoon]

I have private health insurance so I will just keep paying for it like usual when I hike. If you search you can get health insurance pretty cheap unless you have pre-existing conditions.

[Toolshed]

I know someone who thru hiked, had cobra, and had to go to a hospital twice. It did not cover them at all and they had to apply for indigent status. Just a waste of money to pay for insurance that doesn't do anything. If you're going to pay for it make sure it will cover you out of state.

It wasn't actually COBRA that didn't cover them. COBRA is an acronym for Comprehensive (or Consolidated or
Congressional, depending who you speak with) Omnibus Reconciliation Act of 1986 (though in my job, I used to work with COBRA, I now work more closely with SSA1927, OBRA 93, OBRA 90 and FHCA of 1992).

COBRA allows many people who have been terminated (voluntarily or not) to extend their current employer born health care coverage for 18 months, but requires the individual to pay full tilt for them and their dependents. (if you are paying $200/month for your portion of coverage, you might have to now pay $1200 to continue your employer benefits) There are some restrictions on employer size and self-insured....

So, what more than likely happened is that they:
1) either thought they had COBRA but did not apply within 60 days and were denied coverage (You have a full 60 days to accept or waive COBRA entitlement, regardless of timing of any medical event) or
2) Their employer had a plan that provided local coverage (In-Network) with local hospitals/medical facilities and a small organization of doctors, but had Out-of-Network coverage that had a very steep deductible and copay.
I have seen HMO's In-Networks with zero deductibles and Out-of-Networks with $4,000 to 8,000 deductibles. The common logic is that the financial disadvantage of Out-of-Network virtually forces 100% of employees and dependent to the smaller In-Network facilities/physicians, guaranteeing a larger patient population and allowing the employer to negotiate lower premiums.

Hope this helps....

[AggieAl]

I know someone who thru hiked, had cobra, and had to go to a hospital twice. It did not cover them at all and they had to apply for indigent status. Just a waste of money to pay for insurance that doesn't do anything. If you're going to pay for it make sure it will cover you out of state.
I doubt that this was the reason his claim was denied. When you are on "COBRA" you have the exact same coverage as all of the employees have. This would include "out of network" emergency care.

[fiddlehead]

I remember when i paid for health insurance.
I had an accident and they wouldn't cover (said it wasn't considered an emergency because i waited more than 24 hours to get to the hospital.)
I had been paying them good money for about 7 years at the time.
I haven't had any since.
That was in 1988.

of course there are lots of past threads on this subject.
I suggest the OP do a search on whiteblaze and see many opinions.

[Different Socks]

I won't have insurance when i go on my "dream adventure" in 2 years.

Along the same lines: Has anyone read the last page of a recent Newsweek? It said that starting in 2014, when you file taxes, you will be required to show proof of health insurance. Otherwise there will be a fine of a few hundred dollars that increases each year you file taxes and don't have insurance.
For those 1000's of people that can't afford it now, how will they be able to pay a fine and have insurance to avoid the following year's fine?

[Blissful]

\
Along the same lines: Has anyone read the last page of a recent Newsweek? It said that starting in 2014, when you file taxes, you will be required to show proof of health insurance. Otherwise there will be a fine of a few hundred dollars that increases each year you file taxes and don't have insurance.
For those 1000's of people that can't afford it now, how will they be able to pay a fine and have insurance to avoid the following year's fine?

This will happen if the health care bill passes, among other assorted things tucked away in there.

[Pokey2006]

I won't have insurance when i go on my "dream adventure" in 2 years.

Along the same lines: Has anyone read the last page of a recent Newsweek? It said that starting in 2014, when you file taxes, you will be required to show proof of health insurance. Otherwise there will be a fine of a few hundred dollars that increases each year you file taxes and don't have insurance.
For those 1000's of people that can't afford it now, how will they be able to pay a fine and have insurance to avoid the following year's fine?

Not to get into the whole debate...But I can say that in Massachusetts, where this is already in place, Exemptions were made for people whose income fell under a certain limit. I know, because I was exempt from the fine the last time I filed taxes in Mass.

As for the original question, I hiked without health insurance a few years back. Though when I went trekking overseas, I did get travel insurance. I am hoping to have the funds to get insurance for my hike this year, since it really is a risk and it's nice just having the peace of mind to know you're covered if you get sick or hurt.