The Grown-Up Reality of Losing Health Care Coverage

A few nights ago, I got together with some of my close girl friends for dinner and catching up. It was a great dose of laughs and good conversation, until someone brought up healthcare. Instant mood changer. We vented together about crazy premiums, all of the unknowns, the challenges of finding affordable options as small business owners, all of the confusing terminology, etc.

And then we all laughed at each other and wondered how in the world we’ve gotten so old?!!! We even digressed to talking about putting robes on our Christmas list. Robes! Before you know it, our GNOs will be spent discussing Poly-Dent, knee-highs, adult diaper absorbency, and who owns the trendiest cane.

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Regardless of how old you feel, you can’t change the channel on the television, browse a news site on the web, or even go a day without hearing a conversation about health care reform for 2014. Political preferences aside, there’s no denying that things are changing in a drastic way. Personally for Brad and I, it means losing our current coverage like millions of others across our nation. This means with very little notice, we have to somehow try and make sense of all these new terms, apply for new coverage, and have something in place in just the next few weeks.

Honestly, it’s all too overwhelming to process and complicated to understand on our own. Health Savings Accounts, PPOs, Open Exchange, Off the Exchange, Primary Exclusive Providers, Out of Pocket Max, etc. are terms I don’t use around the kitchen table with our family of six. We needed someone to sit down with us and explain some of our options for this coming year in a way that we could comprehend, and assess the best alternatives to what we currently have for insurance. We also wanted to explore our future options as we anticipate growth in our small business and other potential family medical needs.

Because we trust Dave Ramsey’s ELP referral program, we filled out a simple form to discuss our options with a health insurance professional (for free), and within a day we had an appointment made with someone locally who came to our home to discuss our options. Our ELP was prepared with several plans for us to consider, welcomed any questions, and was a patient teacher to help us wade through all of the unfamiliar terminology. We appreciated his honesty and easy-going conversation through the process, and then allowing us time to process our options after he left.

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Even if your policies aren’t changing for the 2014 calendar, expect major changes next year. Currently, there are endless unknowns about how this reform will affect policyholders and their health care, so it’s definitely something to pay attention to, and know your options (even if it makes you feel elderly).

Personally, we have a little bit of work left to figure out what we’ll do for coverage for this coming year, but I’m so thankful we were able to seek professional advice, and have our options explained in laymen’s terms. Although the changes are frustrating, confusing, and even disappointing, I’m thankful for the best healthcare in the world. We have been blessed as a family with amazing care during my pregnancy, when our boys were in the NICU, specialist referrals, and our amazing family physician. My hope is that nothing compromises the amazing care we are so fortunate to have experienced due to the dedication of our medical community in this country that we call home.

How about YOU? Is your insurance coverage changing this coming year? Have you talked to health insurance professional about your options? Are YOU asking for a robe this Christmas? 😉

{Thanks so much to Dave Ramsey’s Endorsed Local Providers for sponsoring this blog post and allowing us to share our personal financial story.}