Guaranteed Healthcare

I was laid off from my job of three years in January 2007, shortly after the birth of my first, and only, child, and less than a year after the purchase of our first home. My husband is the owner of a small business, and I had carried the health insurance since we’d gotten married. Since it had always been my wish to stay home and raise my children, and we had a decent amount of money in savings, we decided that I would take at least a year off, and we opted to go with the COBRA plan to keep our current health insurance plan.

The economy began it’s official crash six months later. I began searching for work in January of 2008; the choices were (and still are slim) and the competition is fierce. Ninety-nine percent of the jobs out there are contract work – no benefits, no vacation, no 401K. While anti-discrimination laws supposedly protect me, who are they going to hire – the stay at home mom of child bearing years, or the single young guy?

Take a “lesser” job? It seems counter-productive to pay out for child care, receive no benefits, spend additional money on gas and clothing, and come home with only enough money to take my kid, who I’ve now not seen for 50 hours a week and left with strangers to raise, out for an ice cream cone. When my COBRA expired, I estimate we paid approximately $20,000 for health insurance and another $2000-$2500 in co-pays and prescription costs, all while on one salary. Without my extra income and the high cost of healthcare, we have been unable to continue to add to our savings, and are spending it instead...

The estimated cost to keep our insurance once COBRA expired, was $1400 a month. We had no choice but to let it go. (Interestingly enough, in those 18 months we paid for coverage, my husband had not been to the doctor at all, and I had only gone twice. I find it amusing that State Farm sends me a refund check every year for being a “good driver” yet these health insurance companies are literally just “collecting” from some, yet can deny any claim or care for people who need it.) This past year, I was informed of two alternate choices that may work for us. The first was the Health Care Tax Credit. As it turned out, we did not qualify for the credit, because I got laid off in the wrong timeframe and my job did not “officially” go “over seas.” My job was classified as “administrative.” Administrative positions were eliminated when my former engineering company started opening operations in India, Israel, and China. I’m pretty sure they hired some administrative folks over there, yet some how, I don’t qualify for the tax credit, but the engineers do.

The second alternative was “NJ Family Care.” The guidelines read that a family of three can earn up to $64K per year to qualify, and that only income, not assets, are included in that number. After applying, we were asked to submit mortgage statements (two months past due), utility bills (balance $1500+/three months past due- paying on it like a credit card), grocery bills, car insurance statements, proof of income, tax returns, checking and savings account statements (overdrawn and what savings?) Denied. DENIED, DENIED, DENIED. We received a letter stating that “an outside agency” determined we must have “unreported income” in order to support our household. Seriously?

Do they think I have money in some offshore account and am choosing to not pay my mortgage and electric bill? Should I use the shovel to dig up my buried treasure or clean up the pile of crap they just gave me? I am a 36 year old stay at home mom of a three year old child with severe allergies. I am educated and smart and dedicated to my family. My husband has a degree in finance and works hard for a living. We both come from good hard-working families.

We own two cars outright, but only insure one to save money. We put down more than 40% to buy what would be referred to as a “modest, neat home” in a decent neighborhood. We mow the lawn, plant flowers in the summer, open the door for trick or treaters in the fall and put up tasteful little white lights and a wreath for the holidays. Eating out for us is a pizza, we don’t take vacations, typically only buy for our child, and we actually have an “old fashioned TV” in our family room that is starting to get fuzzy and lose it’s color.

We want more children but can’t even try to get pregnant, because we are uninsured. I live every single day worrying that my kid will fall and break a bone, or that one of us will get seriously sick. Our ship is sinking.