Bureaucratic idiocy at its finest (heath care)

[Ravin]

Get this: because of a change in the income limites for medicaid in my state, we lost medicaid coverage for DD. Kidscare, the state's CHIP program, however, will not cover her unless she's been without any insurance except AHCCCS (medicaid) for 3 months. She was still on my work insurance, which hardly pays for anything, has a high deductible and a lot of out-of-pocket, which is why we had medicaid as secondary ins. Consequently, I have to let her coverage on my work insurance lapse (I had planned to anyhow; I was paying too much for not enough, given our income and that we qualify for AHCCCS/Kidscare), and leave her UNINSURED for 3 months before I can get her onto Kidscare.

 

Fortunately, I'm putting myself on a health plan with an HSA. I can, if need be, use the HSA to pay for a dr. visit for DD, if she gets sick between Jan 1 and April 1 (when she'll qualify for Kidscare again). We already owe the pediatrician $25 for the hearing test that wasn't covered by the covered well child check (hearing is the only issue DD has ever had; the rest of the exam was largely unnecessary, really) back before we got her on medicaid earlier this year. If something major happens, we're just SOL, I guess.

 

So, she's not allowed to be seriously ill or injured any time between now and April. Stupid bureaucracy.

[Renee in NC]

Keep this in mind - if something catastrophic happens, Medicaid will kick back in after you reach your "deductible" and they go back 3 months. The deductible is generally the amount your income exceeds the limit times 6 months.