This week I have had an unusually high number of calls from people that can’t afford or can’t qualify for health insurance. I have virtually nothing to sell these folks to help them out. The mantra of most of the older folks is, “If I can only make to age 65”. Medicare: affordable guarantee issue health insurance at age 65. When you are 64 years and 354 days old you are paying $800/month for health insurance. The next day when you are 65, the price drops to about $120. Go figure.
But before Medicare kicks in, these folks have to deal with reality and attempt to manage age and illness related conditions. There area variety of medical, dental, and prescription drug discount cards and programs that agents are willing to sell to the uninsured. However, most of the time there is very little savings when you account for the monthly subscription premiums, fees, and exclusions. Consequently, I have decided not to sell any of the discount cards because I don’t see the value to the client in most instances.
Even though my product bag is empty I still like to meet with these folks. There are lots of resources and avenues for the uninsured. Partnership for Prescription Assistance helps match folks with pharmaceutical companies to get their prescriptions at a reduced amount or free for a year. The Healthy Families program in California offers child only policies for less than $21 per month or less. California’s pre-existing condition insurance plan, PCIP, can be affordable for some folks that can’t qualify in the regular individual and family market. There is also Dr. Shomir Banerjee who makes house calls to for private pay.
None of these resource, and others that I am documenting on my website, are a substitute for health insurance. But until many of these folks hit 65, it is about making the best of a bad situation.