this post was submitted on 04 Jul 2023
13 points (78.3% liked)

Asklemmy

43816 readers
814 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy ๐Ÿ”

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

  1. Open-ended question
  2. Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
  3. Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
  4. Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
  5. An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_[email protected]~

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Hello,

I have a question about the healthcare insurance in US.

I have heard that it is tied to your employment and the company provides for it.

So here are a couple of questions:

  1. Is there no way for an individual to get their own personal insurance and not be dependent on the company?

  2. What about freelancers, business owners and retirees? Do they forfeit their insurances?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[โ€“] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

All states offer Medicaid below the income threshold. Those that have not accepted the expansion payments from the federal government have a much lower income cutoff than those that have accepted it.

[โ€“] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

From what I know that is not the case. I am by no means an expert (and honestly I'm hopeful you know something I don't that can finally help me get treated) but I have tried to get it and have never been eligible in the state of Georgia. Again, I'm not an expert, but my doctor even recommended to me (half jokingly) that if I wanted coverage and could not afford Ambetter then I should just have a kid. These are even the requirements listed for Medicaid on the Georgia.gov website.

You may be eligible for Medicaid if your income is low and you match one of the following descriptions:

You think you are pregnant.
You are a child or teenager.
You are age 65 or older.
You are legally blind. 
You have a disability.
You need nursing home care.

Even when I had no income at all because of health issues I was only able to be treated via hospital indigent care, not Medicaid.

Edit: In fact, even information regarding the Medicaid expansion seems to line up with my experience as well.

"Under the expansion guidelines, Medicaid eligibility is extended to adults under the age of 65 with incomes up to 138% of the federal poverty level/FPL (133% plus a 5% income disregard).

Pre-ACA, Medicaid was generally never available to non-disabled adults under age 65 unless they had minor children. And even then, the income caps to qualify as a parent/caretaker were very low."