I know there was a post awhile back where people were talking about insurance, but I felt this deserved it's own separate post. Is there anyone out there who full-time homesteads without the benefit of insurance from a job? This is our goal and we have lightly explored self-employed insurance through companies such as Aflac, but the state we will be living in (KY), only has something like 2 providers. The state had passed legislation that ruled the insurance companies had to treat customers with pre-existing conditions the same as people without them. So most of the providers no longer insure in that state. This may be done away with eventually, but until then, any of you people who insure yourself (and I don't mean by 400$ a month Cobra insurance) please lend some advice. We would be interested in something like a major medical insurance that would cover anything catastrophic, but not simple doctors visits.

-- JC (survivors00@hotmail.com), October 19, 2000

Answers

The only thing that I can think of that is not going to break the bank would be something like Samaritan ministries (and a couple others, I just cannot remember their names)

The idea on these is that each individual or family pays a set amount each month say $150 per family and they pay for the needs. I am not certain how they work, but it usually covers most things. Even pregnancy, though thre is often a waiting time for that. Larry Burkett has one plan.

Is that helpful? Sorta like you were looking for?

Peace and blessings, Sarah

By the way-the ones I am thinking of are christians organizations. I do not know if there would be something like that that is not.

-- Sarah (heartsongacres@juno.com), October 19, 2000.

Thanks Sarah, anything is helpful. I have seen one other similar item, but it was a newsletter and you posted your needs and other people gave as they feel led. That is just too iffy for me. I want to pay a fair price for just a fair amount of insurance. Could anyone send specifics about what Sarah mentioned?

-- JC (survivors00@hotmail.com), October 19, 2000.

I live full time on my homestead. The only outside income I have is from renovating old homes and sometimes building new ones. The 'cash cow' work is intermittent. My farm work takes most of my time. Insurance is out of the question. I would have to work full time in order to pay for basic catastrophic coverage. Working full time at a 'real job,W-2's, FICA, etc.', defeats the goal of living on the land, so I don't have any insurance. Our local county hospital, like all tax supported hospitals in Texas, has an indigent program for poor folks if they need assistance. I do not qualify, because I own too much land (land poor like they used to say) and have too much money in the bank. So, if I get sick, I stay inside as much as possible, and recuperate. Critters still have to be fed, no matter how poorly I'm feeling.

I destroyed my knee 5 weeks ago, and it's still painful. Previous Dr. visits said I'd always have trouble. Well, it's troubling now. Cant see paying a specialist hundreds of dollars, and then only get a prescription for pain and swelling. Getting back to the work that needs to be done.

I know it's difficult without insurance. If you have kids, it can be a backbreaker. I consider myself self insured. The 3000$/year I've saved in insurance costs over the last 20 years have paid for my house and my land. If I get catastrophic, I'll drain my savings, and then whip out the credit cards. Good luck.

-- phil briggs (phillipbriggs@thenett.com), October 19, 2000.

We are self-employed & insurance (all of it) is the biggest thorn in our side. Our health insurance is through the National Business Association, (800) 899-6520 it's the cheapest we've found. Our deductible is $2500, it includes a drug card so that prescriptions are never more than $10. We have to pay quarterly & the premium is $477, which seems like quite a chunk, but over three months it's cheaper than what my husband had when he was employed with group insurance, however, the deductible is higher. Though it's through the NBA it's actually American National. You have to be careful, some companies will take your money but then not stand behind you for an expensive illness. Check out the companies rating, & talk to people who know a lot more about insurance than I do:-) I forgot to mention that our premium doesn't include maternity which cost considerably more. Good Luck

-- Lenore (archambo@winco.net), October 19, 2000.

We are self employed and our insurance is 320.00 a month, our deductible 1000.00 each per year, we are middleaged and premiums go up with age. We do have an insurance card for precriptions, 3.00 for generic and 12.00 for name brand, we save at least 120.00 by using the insurance card for our presciptions, allergies and migraine headaches are expensive to treat otherwise. I have heart problems so we don't dare be without insurance, don't want to lose the farm to the hospital for payment, we look at it just like the annual farm insurance payment, don't like it , but like the alternative even less!!! We use O.O.I.D.A. out of MO, they are a group of self employed truck drivers that provide group rates for all types of insurance, you don't have to be a truck driver to join, just a member. Their phone number is 1-800-715-9369 in case anyone is interested.

-- Annie Miller (annie@1st.net), October 19, 2000.

JC, you're right about Kentucky, when they did the 'must carry' thing, they ALL left. We were actually hopefull for a little while. We will get insurance from my husbands work in a couple of months, but we carry the accident insurance now. It's 50.80 a month, and it pays YOU for emergency rooms, hospital stays, etc. Not illness, accident. But it is way more than the bills would be for say 1 month in the hospital. Now we would have to work out a payment plan with the hospital, but our household bills would be paid, and food and things. It's Physicians Mutual, and at least it is something. The only cheap ones are the Christian ones like they were talking about.

-- Cindy in Ky (solidrockranch@msn.com), October 19, 2000.

Good luck, JC. I, for one, would never be without insurance again if at all possible. I was 35, in my first year of nursing school, with three grade school children, and no insurance, when I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Seven years and ninety thousand dollars later, there are still bills from that period left to pay. I have no information for you as my job covers my health insurance now. It is worth it though, to have insurance, at least to me! GinaNM

-- Gina NM (inhock@pvtnetworks.net), October 19, 2000.

Just got health insurance through an online company call ehealthinsurance.com they are legitimate brokers of insurance. Many plans to choose from. I opted for a PPO which has contracts in both NE Alabama and Philly (son is in college in Phiily)...with a $5000 deductible, office visits are $25, and no prescription plan...premiums for family coverage are $181/month.Try the website and see if you guys can find a cheaper plan for you where you are...God bless.

-- Lesley (martchas@gateway.net), October 19, 2000.

Lesley, that's the cheapest I've ever seen for reg. health insurance. Is the $5000. deductable for each person or the whole family?

-- Cindy in Ky (solidrockranch@msn.com), October 20, 2000.

Cindy, it's per person. The name of the actual insurance company is Celtic Insurance. Here in Alabama, BC/BS runs the show, but apparently there are some smaller PPOs such as this one who have contracts nationwide and are able to slip in the door. We have no mortgage on our homestead and so we were particularly concerned about some catastrophic illness forcing us to sell everything. We chose a $5000 deductible for that reason, figuring that with that amount, we could always arrange a payback to the hospital that would not break us financially..less expensive than a new truck over five years of a loan.Not having a prescription plan is not a problem because I order antibiotics and antihistamines without a prescription over the internet from foreign pharmacies.When we have to go to the doctor and have either one of these, I just dip into my own supply. It is not cheap, but it IS cheaper..200 tablets of erythromycin for $24..a months worth of Claratin for $45 (I used to pay $68 at the pharmacy fot the Claratin)....where there's a will, there's a way.God bless.

-- Lesley (martchas@gateway.net), October 20, 2000.

I have e-mailed some of you direct and I am contacting two of the companies mentioned here so far because we desperately need health insurance!

-- Suzy in 'Bama (slgt@yahoo.com), October 20, 2000.

We recently got insurance with "Alliance for Affordable Services" wich is a collition of self employed and small businesses. We are paying $220/month for the family. No perscription coverage and a $5,000 deductible for hospital stays (per family member). But there is a seperate $100 deductible for accidents, and $1,000 for out patient stuff. This has been the only company that hasn't considered my husbands blood disorder an automatic denial.

You can get info at www.affordableservices.com .

-- Kathy (redfernfarm@lisco.com), October 25, 2000.

Don't overlook college alumni plans. Neither of us belong to our college alumni assoc. but we have the insurance offerred there. It is $80 month for me and $115 for my better half (older than me :).

The deductible is $2500 each and would cost us another $2000 if there was a (costly) hospital stay, so at worst it would be $4500 a year. We figure we can get our hands on that if needed and wouldn't put the house or land at risk. This company, American Insurance, did not require a physical.

-- Anne (HT@HM.com), October 25, 2000.

Check this link out: http://www.crown.org/library/viewarticle.asp? id=81395218

It's about medical cost-sharing plans.

-- hmm (h.m.metheny@att.net), January 05, 2002.