Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Options For People Without Health Insurance

There are services available for those who don't have health insurance.


If you are one of many Americans who do not have health insurance, you might worry about paying the bills if you or someone in your family gets sick. While there is no substitute for having health insurance, there are various resources you can utilize to make sure you and your family get the proper care. As of May, 2010, it was too early tell the impact of the federal health-care legislation signed by President Obama in March of 2010.


Services


Certain services assist people in finding new, affordable health insurance or providing relief for those who have mounting hospital bills. For example, the Patient Services Incorporated provides financial assistance for those with chronic conditions or illnesses, even helping them locate affordable health care that will cover them. For those who qualify for the program, they will assist you with costs for a year. Other programs, such as eheathinsurance.com, aggregates and quotes local health insurance premiums. This site significantly helps cut down on time used searching for new plans.


Children


Even if you make too much money to qualify for Medicaid, all states offer State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), a service that covers children in families with incomes too high for government services, but too low to cover the costs of private health care. According to FindLaw, the qualifications for SCHIP vary from state to state. The level varies and depends on the number of people in your household. While benefits of SCHIP are different in each state, most kids on the plan are eligible for checkups, vaccines, prescription medicine and care in the hospital.


Drugs


Prescription drugs can be extremely expensive if you don't have a plan to cover them. However, many supermarkets, drug stores and places like Wal-Mart and Target offer select prescription, generic drugs for $4 per prescription. While not all medication is offered, many types of drugs are available, such as antibiotics, asthma medication, drugs for mental health, thyroid medication, glaucoma and drugs for heart and blood pressure. There are also programs available, such as Rx Hope and Rx Assist, that help people pay for the very expensive drugs they need.







Tags: health insurance, affordable health, available such, cover them, have health