If you’ve recently lost your job or are self employed or work as a freelancer, you may not have health insurance. You’re not alone. Hundreds of thousands go uninsured due to financial reasons.Others may be staying in jobs they hate “because I need the health benefits” and they worry about what to do if they make a transition. You’re not alone either. Good health is a huge priority. Without that, everything else can fall apart.I’m a strong advocate for taking preventative health measures. But part of taking preventative measures is making sure you see your physician for annual general checkups along with followups, and seeing a physician when you know something is wrong.Since it can be confusing navigating where to go to obtain health insurance during such times, I thought the following might help.The American Diabetes Association has put together a very helpful resource guide for you. I’ve used New York here, since many of you reside there but you can get the same information for ANY state by clicking on your state on the red map on their website.NEW YORKThe following information details health insurance and assistance programs available to uninsured people in New York.If you currently have health insurance or have just lost health insurance coverage within the past 60 days, visit the health insurance section of the American Diabetes Association website for options available to you.New York Insurance Department – (800) 342-3736Residents of New York cannot be turned down from purchasing an individual health insurance policy regardless of any health conditions they may have. This is called guaranteed issue. In addition, residents cannot be charged a higher rate for their policy because of their health status. This is called community rating. The New York Insurance Department may be able to help you locate names and phone numbers of possible insurers who will sell you this type of policy. Please contact them for more information.If you are having a problem with your state-regulated health plan and you are unable to resolve it with the plan directly, file a complaint with the Insurance Department. They may be able to provide you with assistance in reaching a conclusion.New York Health Insurers Guide AvailableThe New York Consumer Guide to Health Insurers provides information about the wide range of health care options available in in the state and enables New Yorkers to compare commercial and non-profit health insurers as well as health maintenance organizations (HMOs) on a variety of factors, from services offered to overall consumer satisfaction. This guide can assist you in finding the best health care plan for you and your family.New York Medicaid – (518) 486-9057Medicaid is available to anyone who meets income and eligibility criteria. Even if your income meets the criteria, you must fall into one of the eligibility categories in order to qualify. Contact your state Medicaid program for more information.Healthy New York – (866) 432-5849The goal of the Healthy NY program is to provide health insurance coverage to eligible uninsured working individuals and self-employed individuals. This program is also available to small businesses that are not currently offering health insurance coverage to their employees. You must meet certain income eligibility criteria to qualify. Please contact Healthy New York for more information.Child Health Plus (CHPlus) – State Children’s Health Insurance Program –
(800) 698-4543Child Health Plus is the health insurance program designed to provide health insurance to children and teens under age 19 whose family may have too great an income to qualify for Medicaid, but who may not be able to afford health insurance. Visit the Web site to find out if you or your child meets the income guidelines.New York Family Health Plus – 1-877-934-7587Family Health Plus is a health care program for uninsured adults between the ages of 19 and 64 who have incomes too high to qualify for New York ‘s Medicaid program. Family Health Plus is available to single adults, couples without children, and parents with limited incomes. Individuals must meet residency and certain immigration qualifications to be eligible.If you or your loved one is unable to see a physician due to the cost of care, there may be a local community health clinic in your area. These clinics generally are free or require a very small fee for patients to receive care. Find a clinic in your area.For those with preexisting conditions, there are advocacy groups working on your behalf. If you have trouble finding one, message me and I’ll send you a link.Also, if any freelancers have had a good or bad experience with certain health insurances, please message me as it’d be helpful to know which ones are working well and which are not.Hope this helps.Quick Link to Map for Health Insurance in other States:
Tag Archives: nutrition
Nutrition Supplements – Are They Really Necessary?
In my grandparents day, the word “organic” didn’t exist in their vocabulary. They had there own garden where they grew most of the fruits and vegetables that they included in their diet. They kept a few chickens to provide them with eggs and all the garden waste went on grandpa’s compost heap to rot down and be dug back into the soil. Everything grown was organic, nutrition supplements had never been heard of and the air was a lot cleaner then too, except in the industrial cities, or during the winter months when coal fires kept the homes warm.The world has changed a lot since then. Because of technology and increases in world populations, farming practices changed as well and new methods were employed to increase crop yields. Chemical fertilizers were spread on fields instead of manure, pest control chemicals were introduced and over the years the new ways of farming began to reveal their flaws.The food doesn’t taste as good as it once did, and even though today’s apple looks pretty on the outside, it lacks a lot of the nutrients and minerals that keep us healthy. This is true of most of the foods produced today, although there is a growing move to return to “organic” farming practices.You might ask your grandparents if they ever took nutrition supplements! I bet they didn’t because they didn’t need to. Their food was complete in itself, and the nutrition supplements world wasn’t yet born. Sadly, those days have long gone. Now you have to seek out “organic” food if you want the most nutrition at your dining table, and pay substantially more for it.So what does all this mean to you? It means that the food that you buy today, lacks the nutrition that the same food once had and in order to make good the deficiency, certain nutrition supplements are required. You could buy everything from an organic food store, but then your food bill could easily double or even triple. Check out your local supermarket to compare prices and you’ll see what I mean.How do you know if your lacking any minerals and vitamins? That’s a good question that’s not always solved by a quick visit to the doctor. Most GP’s have only a rudimentary understanding of nutrition because it encompasses a small part of their medical training. A Naturopath has probably delved into the subject in more detail and is probably better qualified to make a diagnosis. This is not something that the layperson is able to judge for themselves although most of us do, popping down a cocktail of nutrition supplements because we feel we might be short on something. It’s not dangerous, after all you don’t need a prescription,Unless your getting a regular balanced diet of organic foods, nutrition supplements are going to make up for the deficiencies. If you have the advantage of knowing what these deficiencies are, through professional testing, then you can make qualified choices of which nutrition supplements to take, otherwise your best route is to select a balanced chelated multi vitamin supplement. Balanced and chelated because most nutrients work together to provide better absorption and utilization in the body. If you follow the “I’ll give it a shot” school of medicine, you’re probably wasting your money.We’ve seen how the nutrition supplements industry was born from changes in farming practices. Food quality, from a nutritional perspective has decreased, hence the need to add nutrition supplements to our diet.