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Part of personal development is figuring out what you want to do and pursuing that path; but the problem with doing what you want is you sometimes make less money or work for a smaller company that doesn’t cover an important aspect of your life – your health. No health insurance is not such a big problem for routine check-ups; it’s a bigger problem for accidents and emergencies. Here are some tips to get by with no health insurance in any situation:
Use it While You Have It
If you are graduating or changing jobs soon, schedule dentist, eye, and general exams before your health insurance runs out. This will keep you up-to-date for roughly a year before you need these examinations again.
Opt For More Affordable Care
Alright, so it’s too late to schedule appointments before your health insurance runs out. You can still get your teeth cleaned and your eyes examined for free or for a fraction of the cost through local professional schools. In some cases, like for pap smears, you can actually get paid to play patient for a student exam. Look for optometry, dentistry, nursing, or medical schools in your area. Many schools are found in large cities, so consider traveling for a broader range of services.
Want to know how to get the best student doctors? Meet them at bars, restaurants, or other social events. I’ve heard from many professors that the students who have the best grades struggle through the lab practicals, and the students who make the best doctors are the ones with decent grades and strong social skills. This is because most of what students learn in professional schools is completely inapplicable to patient care in the real world, and the students with mediocre grades are the ones who spend more time practicing relevant skills.
Learn About Alternatives
There are many ways to get insurance aside from going through your employer, which means that when you don’t have an employer you can still get insurance. Here are some places to look:
- Part-time education - some schools offer affordable insurance for part-time students, so if you’ve been thinking about a degree, maybe now is the time
- Part-time jobs - some companies, like Starbucks, offer insurance to their part-time workers. This could be an option for a freelancer or start-up entrepreneur, since many will want to work part-time anyway as they are building their businesses
- Individual insurance - Paul Pilzer wrote a book a few years ago called The New Health Insurance Solution: How to Get Cheaper, Better Coverage Without a Traditional Employer Plan
, which explains how private individual insurance plans can be cheaper than employer plans if you and your family are healthy. Paul is an economist who has served as an adviser for two US presidents and I love his book and him because he advocates for a free market on health insurance plans
Minimize Health Risks By Transferring Liability
Health insurance covers you in accidents when you mess up, so to minimize your risk you can either stop messing up or delegate the tasks you are likely to mess up at. As much as we’d all like to do better, the latter is a better option for most people.
The best example I can give of this is driving a car versus taking public transportation. If you end up in an accident while driving your car and it is your fault, you have to pay for your own hospital bills. If you are taking a bus and the driver gets in an accident that is his fault, the bus company is liable for any injuries you sustain.
Another example is food preparation. If you cook meat at home and get food poisoning from it, you foot the hospital bills, but if you eat out at a restaurant and get sick, you can probably sue the restaurant.
So I’m not advocating for everyone to take public transportation, eat out at restaurants, and sue businesses. But the reason you get health insurance is to mitigate risk; so not having health insurance means you have to take personal responsibility for minimizing your risks, and that means getting creative. Look for ways you can put yourself under someone else’s insurance as much as possible.
If You Must Take a Risk, Make it Life-Threatening
The strategy outlined above doesn’t work if the business makes you sign away your life in the event of an accident on their part; so if you are going to do something that risks your health, make sure there are only two likely outcomes – you come away with no serious injuries or you die. That way you don’t have to pay medical bills if you get injured; you’ll just be dead instead.
A great risk to take when you don’t have health insurance is sky diving. The chance of a serious injury is .06%, and the other outcomes are no injury, minor injury that can be fixed with a first aid kit, or death. So to celebrate your journey into no health insurance land, plan a skydiving trip.
If you have any other tips, please leave a comment!
Monica O'Brien is the Director of Digital at Fizz and author of the book Social Pollination, which helps businesses leverage social media for crazy growth!
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Clearly I don’t use my available (Canadian) healthcare system as much as I should, and it hurts because I AM paying for it in several ways, taxes included…
…it seems I’ll only see the benefits when I have a major accident, or do any sort of checkups – which clearly also don’t happen enough.
I guess having paid-for healthcare isn’t like getting a gym pass. When I get a pass I feel obliged to use it to make sure I’m paying for good reason. Where medical checkups are concerned, and having a healthcare plan – I still don’t feel compelled to use it. Probably not paranoid enough.
…like you said, I guess I’ll have to wait for some sort of real injury or illness. Unfortunately.
Any tips for those of us without insurance who have chronic life-threatening conditions like cancer, diabetes, arthritis, and so on?
torbjorn, I don’t know much about the Canadian health care system, only that it may or may not be better than the US system, according to who you talk to.
jrandom42, my advice would be to try Pilzer’s book, The New Health Care Solution. It’s linked above, and it has been out for a few years so you can probably pick it up at the library. I’m not sure if it can help, but it’s worth a try.
You can also look into what your state offers in terms of private health care plans. If you have health problems, you should definitely have health insurance – there’s no escaping that. The difficulty is trying to find something affordable, and for that you should look to the experts.
This is a very resourceful post, good job!
For short-term situations, people should also look into COBRA, which basically extends your current coverage after you leave your job at the group rate for a few months. I don’t have a great understanding of it so I might be getting some stuff wrong, but here is the fact sheet from the U.S. Dept. of Labor.
Jacci, Cobra is something to consider too. I guess I left it off because I just received a Cobra statement and the monthly premiums are 5 times what I was paying. Definitely not an option, for me at least.
Ha, good to know, I totally thought the rates would be lower. That is definitely steep.
Yeah, I definitely thought the rates would be much lower too. I was completely bummed to find out they weren’t… may as well get a private plan.
Okay, my daughter got a referral to a cancer treatment center and everything looked good, until her appointment was blocked and I had to go see the billing dept. They wanted $150,000 up front before allowing my appt. Wonderful. she’s gonna die because I can’t afford the treatment. What a great land America is to allow such a thing.
Think I’m alone in this? Check out the Wall Street Journal 4/28/08 on Cash before Chemo.
jrandom42, I’m so sorry to hear that. I am with you that our health care system needs a serious makeover. But I’m not sure what the solution is.
Hello jrandom42, am sorry to hear that, their rates is not lower when compared.
Got some things straightened around. Most of this is because of her treatment for leukemia when she was 3. Got them to come down by a third. Still, as a recent college graduate with a pre existing condition (she’s 27 now), she’s pretty much untouchable by any public or private insurance plan. We’ve managed to come up with some cash by taking out a second mortgage, but it’s rough on all of us. She’s been clear since she was 7, but apparently that makes no difference. The hospital has advised us to sell everything, but coming up with $100,000 just to get her in to be seen for treatment is obscene, and there’s no way we have that much in assets.
To top it off, the oncologist thinks it’s all my fault. She claims that if I hadn’t in an area that had been sprayed with Agent Orange, she wouldn’t be having these problems. Gee thanks, guess that’s what I deserve for serving my country.
Hi Monica,
This post really speaks to me. I had health insurance while I was working my corporate job, and now that I’m an entrepreneur, I feel kinda scared not having any insurance to protect me.
I really can’t take a part-time job at starbucks because being an entrepreneur takes up 99.9% of my time. I do want to start taking the bus or train to LA, but the public transportation here in SoCal is horrible.
I will however take up sky diving! I’ve always wanted to go and now I have a reason to go do it.
Jun, I hear ya. No health insurance is no fun. And I am so happy you’re planning a skydiving trip now! I should get on that.
Don’t overlook the Freelancers Union…
Once my own company gets up and running I plan to enroll. While not quite as good as my company policy that I have right now.. you could potentially save a lot if you have costly monthly subscriptions or save you a lot in the case of an emergency or accident…
http://www.freelancersunion.com
Great post. I recently joined the ranks of the uninsured as even with Cobra health insurance would be way too expensive considering my successfully unemployed status! Thanks for the list.
Matt, great point. Susan Johnston brought that up as well over at Brazen Careerist. I didn’t know of that, thanks.
Adam, I agree, when I saw the prices of COBRA I realized it just wasn’t an option for me. Too expensive, not worth it when I’m young, healthy, and minimum risk. Luckily there is a three month grace period to enroll in COBRA, so you “sort of” have a backup if you get into an accident or something. Good luck!
Qvisory just launched a health insurance product in partnership with Aetna specifically to help young Americans get health coverage. It’s definitely worth checking out!
I like your layout. Have your web guy hit me up.
@ jrandom42
The best way is to find the cheapest medical insurance. I have currently been without any health insurance for over a year now and I do not want to risk that any longer! The is, of course, money. The insurance offered through my job is pretty good, that's include the dental.
@ jrandom42
The best way is to find the cheapest medical insurance. I have currently been without any health insurance for over a year now and I do not want to risk that any longer! The is, of course, money. The insurance offered through my job is pretty good, that's include the dental.
I guess it was very big deal if you don't have health insurance but Is it hard to get the health insurance?Is their and requirements?
I guess it was very big deal if you don't have health insurance but Is it hard to get the health insurance?Is their and requirements?
My sincere opinion is that I prefer to have a nice health insurance plan and give up on my high risk auto insurance. My health is more important and being healthy allows you to work and make money so you can pay the doctors if at some certain point you have to.
You can survive without insurance. Of course it's better to have one, but unless you're going to sky dive or race your car everyday, you can manage. There's a whole line of online drugs to fit your needs, and I don't think it's necessary to visit the doctors so often, because you can get paranoid.
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