[CAVALLERI]

Me And My Family (5) Are Going To Relocate To Florida (north Port Area). It Will Be A While Before The Medical Ins. At His Job Will Kick In. Does Anyone Know The Best Way To To Go About Getting It In The Mean Time? I Can't Afford To Spend To Much Since Money Will Be Tight For A While. What About Medicial Throught The State?

[daniellefort]

Do you have insurance now? You should be able to continue paying on that policy for up to 18 months though you'll be paying the full premium. For us, we pay $129/wk for the family plan 2 adult/ 1 child but it doesn't matter how many kids you have on the plan. it's the same price for family plan whether you have 1 child or 5. we get BCBS through my husbands employment. Apparently if you buy your own policy, that's about the same price as his work only is paying 20% of the premium.

[CAVALLERI]

He As Ins. Through His Job Now - As Soon As He Leaves It Will Be Cobra And That Will Be Way To Much To Pay. Bcbs? What Does That Stand For?

[MyHomeIsInOcala]

BcBS is Blue Cross Blue Shield

[cariad]

If his insurance plan is a really good one, you may find that although COBRA is expensive, it may be less expensive and cover more than a policy you can buy-which probably won't cover pre-existing conditions. We are using COBRA. My best advice to you is read your current policy carefully, know what it covers, and compare with what else is available before you decline COBRA.

[tallrick]

It must be nice to have health insurance, i have an HMO.....the sausage factory!@

[bluemaddy]

The whole healthcare situation is ridiculous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know you can get lesser expensive health insurance sometimes through memeberships. You might have to pay an annual fee to be a member...but the insurance is cheaper. For example: nurses typically get their health insurance through the hospital they work for...but a travel nurse or an on-call nurse has to pay her own insurance (sometimes). If she becomes a member of a nursing organization she often can get lesser expensive insurance through the organization due to the large number of members.

I am an RN and take care of middle class patients every day that can't afford health insurance. I take care of small business owners that are on the verge of ruining their credit because they didn't have insurance and now have a sick family member.

It is down right dangerous to be a patient in the hospital these days. Nurses have too many patients with too much documentation. We can thank all the "lawsuit happy" people for the documentation. I am changing the topic of the forum and I apologize. I just want people to recognize that whatever president is elected Iraq is an obvious concern. We need to vote in a president that will enforce healthcare reform and improve our education system.

I hope you can find an organization that will assist you with affordable healthcare. Good Luck.

[Jammie]

Bluemaddy, I totally agree with you. My DH and I both have insurance policies through work, but we have no idea what we'll do once we leave our jobs and relocate. The insurance companies like the young healthy people, but once you hit mid-age and have had a health problem or two, they're pretty good at denying people.

So are there any other companies in Fla. that people can get or is BCBS the main one?

[daniellefort]

So are there any other companies in Fla. that people can get or is BCBS the main one?[/quote]


United Healthcare i've seen but BCBS seems to have the most providers available.

I personally don't like HMO's but it is probably cheaper than a regular open plan. At least get it even temporarily until the regular employee plans goes in effect.

[topropeprincess]

BCBS is definitely the main one in Florida. There is also United Healthcare like daniellefort said and there are also companies like Cigna but I am not sure if they do individual plans or if they only offer group plans. Another thing you can look into is Kid Care and Healthy Kids. It would at least cover your kids and at a lower cost. (floridakidcare.org; healthykids.org) Then you might be able to get away with a cheaper plan for you and your husband through someone like BCBS. I will say this though, BCBS has very reasonable rates. Closely comparable to that of group policies. It is worth a look.