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Need Health Insurance for your kids?


Adding children to one's family is mostly an exciting, yet frightening, new experience. While most parents take a little time to adjust to the new situation at home, some are simply overwhelmed with the need for health care for their children. Especially at a young age, children need regular care and checkups by doctors and without proper health insurance, the bills or the prospects of facing large bills can be daunting.
This article examines various ways of mitigating risks and providing health care and insurance coverage to all children.
First of all, if you already have insurance - most likely through your employer or if you're self-employed, simply call your insurance company or benefits coordinator in your company to enroll your children in your plan. Your premiums will likely go up as a result of this action, but you're covered now.
What if you don’t have health insurance or can't afford it? Do not take the risk of limiting care to your children. If you can't pay, you have a couple of options:
  • Negotiate a rate with your doctor. Yes, you should not just haggle at the used car dealer, but it maybe worthwhile to ask your doctor for a break too. You'll be surprised how far this can go.
  • Negotiate a payment plan. You may be in financial dire straights for a limited time, so see if you can negotiate a payment plan to get out of debt. In order to qualify, applicants must have income of at or below 200% of the poverty level. In dollars and cents that means that a family of three (yes, include the child) would qualify with a combined income of $36,620 per year. Not bad.
  • Single mom's would qualify with under $29,140 per year.
  • Illegally in the country? No problem - as long as your child is a US Citizen, you can still get insurance under most SCHIP programs.
The application procedure is different for each State and each State requires different types of information before you can enroll. That's why it's important to get the background and get ready. Check out our manual for more information.