Uninsurable

One of the stranger life lessons, to my mind at least, has been the way life insurance companies have balked at insuring me. It's the asthma.

Even though for a long time I pretty much never ended up in the hospital. Insurers don't count ER visits for asthma, they just want to know if you've been hospitalized. Despite my lack of hospitalization no one wanted to insure me. This was before all the adrenal stuff started acting up so I was quite shocked. I didn't feel like a huge risk.

We did eventually get life insurance and I've held onto it with a death grip. If I lose it,  I will likely never get another policy.

If you know any young'uns with asthma, give them a heads up on life insurance. They need to lock it in when they are 20 or else they won't get any (assuming they continue to have active asthma like I have).

This all came to mind last night as we worked on the annual benefits selection from my husband's employer. It's interesting to see how the crappy expensive health plan we have is actually very expensive for our employer as well. It's the most expensive plan they have when I thought the whole point of the crappiness was to save them money.

Huh.

I think this means that program will probably be taken off the plate at some point and throw us into chaos as we scramble to choose from  the crappy, ugly, horrible health plans that are left. ( I swear, a managed HMO would be a death sentence for me.)

Anyway, this year the employer is offering Group Critical Illness Insurance. This is gap insurance that helps pay for uncovered medical expenses for approved 'critical illnesses' such as heart attack or cancer. It wouldn't help with a severe asthma episode, but would come in handy if I had a stroke.

I'm all for it assuming it works as advertised (which is always a concern when it comes to insurance). The last few years I've realized how quickly a relatively minor health issue can destroy you financially. Exhibit A: Asthma and adrenal problems. Exhibit B: Toddler with special needs.

I used to say pithy things like 'debt dictates your future' to my younger siblings hoping to help them avoid all the many mistakes I've made. And now I realize that health does too. Both are serious financial constraints and can quickly turn into financial disasters.