What options do I have for health care as a poor person?

[Anonymous]

i am 29 living with my parents, i have always been healthy, but since recently I have been a persistent lower back pain , i wanna go to the doctor, right now i am unemployed , I think that I qualify for madicaid acording to obamacare expansion in m y state of Illinois, but will there be a copayment or a deductable? or is it a percentage of expenses that madicaid covers?

Updates

+1 y

thanks for your help all, I have to make a low co payment, the only problem is that the apointment will be on sep 18, I don't know if by finding a different doctor who takes medicaid it would be possible to skedule it a little sooner

Updates

+1 y

but maybe all goverment doctors on medicaid are the same in terms of how long it takes to see them. is it true it doenst cover dental only it does for children

[Anonymous]

How long have you been unemployed?

I was recently covered under Medicaid in NJ due to not having health insurance for the past 3 1/2 years (and nobody tell me to get a job because I worked 6 days a week, overtime every week and still didn't have any employer offered health insurance for a good portion of that 3 1/2 years).

When I lost my job I had started going back to school. Normally that would mean I could have been covered under the school. But when it was clear the Affordable Care Act wasn't going to be repealed, NJ passed a law that said it was no longer required for students to have health insurance, so the school immediate dropped their health insurance offering. Back to square one.

Then this year the healthcare law took effect. I signed up under the marketplace in October 2013, nightmare. Ended up having to resign up in like feb. 2014. That went without a hitch and I was covered under Medicaid in NJ. There's no copay or deductible or anything because they assume (rightfully) that I have no income so I'd have no way to pay any of that stuff.

If you make under 133% of the federal poverty line a year you qualify (137% since they give some moving room). If you've been unemployed for a while you probably won't have much issue.

[Asker]

thanks, I have only had temporary jobs for tax season this and last year feb through april.
I was reading on how it works, and I have some idea , but since I don't have to pay anything due to unemployment; not even a monthly fee or anything like that? is there certain places you can only go to? I also applied for a state program called Illinois health connect

[Opinion Owner]

You'll have to read on the rules in your state but usually you either qualify or you don't. No monthly fee or anything. You choose your primary care provider (PCP) based on the insurer you choose. Around here under medicaid there were 3 different insurers. After I got my insurer I got a list of PCPs and chose one. That was that. As for networks, yes. That's how they limit costs by keeping things within the network. You have to look into who is or isn't in your network.

[Asker]

hey thanks for the answers, yea actually the thing that i thought was the state coverage was the same as medicad for Illinois, they said when called on the phone that there is always a copayment but that it is usually very low, what is the highest you've had to pay?

[Opinion Owner]

I have no copay. NJ FamilyCare doesn't require any copayments for anything. In Illinois, you can find the costs here: https://www.familycareillinois.com/cost.html

[Asker]

hey man thanks actually IL health connect and medicaid were the same thing, I made an appointment, the co payment is very low, the only problem is that for the appointment with the pcp they assigned me won't take place until September 18, i know that if you change the PCP. is that worth doing in order to find a doctor who skedules an earlier appointment?

[44467]

check your state obamacare website (there are several levels of coverage you can choose from all varying prices/services).. if you don't sign up you'll be paying penalties!

[MildlyOriginal]

No he won't, stop lying. Even if he didn't qualify for Medicaid, if a health insurance plan costs more than 8% of his yearly income (100% it would given he's unemployed) then he is exempt from any sort of penalty.

[44467]

haha lying? F off bitch. You're assuming he has been unemployed for sometime, the way i read it he was recently unemployed. Either way OP good luck. there are definitely options out there.

[Anonymous]

With Medicaid there is typically no co-pay and everything is free. As long as its deemed medically necessary. It shouldn't cost you a thing.

Find out if you qualify for it. Most low income people across the country do.

[ThatBritishLad]

Become a citizen of the United Kingdom?
... Oh wait, Conservatism... Never mind :l