u/friendlypupper

I had a qualifying event so I'm shopping for insurance mid-year. Looking at marketplace plans, it seems like the Bronze plans come out on top, even though I will hit my OOP max.

I'm a single 36 yo with income about 39K/year. I have some chronic conditions, see specialists somewhat often, and have some expensive prescriptions, so I thought a Gold or Silver plan would be best, but the math shows a Bronze plan would be more logical even though there would be higher costs in the first months. Platinum came out cheaper than Gold, but Silver cheaper than Platinum so I'm using Silver below for analysis.

For example:

Blue Shield PPO Silver premium $626.72/mo; $5,200 deductible; $9,800 OOP max =$17,320 estimated/yr; I'd probably *just* hit the OOP max.

Blue Shield PPO Bronze HDHP premium $440.28; $7200 deductible; $7,200 OOP max = $12,483.36/yr. I'd probably hit the OOP max within 3-4 months. I have some savings so I could make it work.

Is this really looking right though? I've always been told that for people with higher medical needs (like me), high premium, low deductible is the way to go. This seems counterintuitive and I'm worried I'm walking into a Red Wedding.

I'm not the most complex patient out there, but I see specialists often, have lots of imaging done, and some things I have going on aren't diagnosed yet.

I have the opportunity to get into either Sutter or UCD. I know both have their strengths. Wondering how things are looking these days after looking through some older posts. Anyone have insights to share?

Edit: I'm convinced, I'll bite the bullet on the premium and go to UCD. Sounds like it'll be worth it, at least until I get a diagnosis in my chart.

I'm trying to get all my ducks in a row before my Medicaid ends at the end of the month due to the tiniest income increase, and I have to move onto a different health plan that I'll be paying significantly more for than the income increase will cover. Hopefully it'll be better quality?

I had 2 appointments booked with my primary for this month well in advance to talk about issues related to my hypermobility treatment and symptom management. They were both canceled at the beginning of the month since she would be out of office, but they were able to get me in with an NP who sees her patients once I explained to them that my coverage will be changing and I need to discuss continuity of care. But the MA who works with the NP is pretty fucking apathetic and the NP, although he's trying to help, can't do much because he doesn't know much about continuity of care and doesn't seem to understand why I'm asking for extra refills to be sent on my meds. I've had insurance changes before where I've gone months without regular meds because the refills ran out before another appointment was available, or they needed prior authorization and the orders kept getting denied.

I tried to schedule an appointment for transferring the many referrals I have in progress once my insurance changes and the MA said it HAD to be scheduled with my primary and that the soonest appointment was end of July. I've been waiting to get into neurology since last June and wanted to scream because a new referral is going to take so damn long and I can't even get it started for another 2.5 months?? I called and talked to someone else and she's like, "your primary can see you in mid June or you could see the NP around the same time," and I'm like THANK YOU but also wondering WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON WITH THAT MA.

I used to be upset that I'm paying for PT out of pocket so I can at least see someone who specializes in EDS and won't progress me in ways that will cause injuries, but now I'm grateful because I can keep seeing them while my insurance change happens instead of waiting for a new referral.

Just one of those months where managing this condition feels extra like a full time job because of all the stupid insurance bullshit and weird gatekeepy clinic staff when you least expect it, requiring so many phone calls and so much advocacy and I wanna punch something but I'd probably injure myself so FUCK IDK I guess I'll write this post and then throw a pillow in the ground again and again and then do my PT exercises like a good little EDS-er.

I'm in my mid 30s and planning a career change into either school psychology, occupational therapy, or social work. Leaning towards school psychology. To get a better sense of how each of these professions are in reality (and in a grade school setting, for the latter 2), I plan to take an entry level job at a grade school where I can be in the environment and meet some people. I'm mostly looking at TA jobs, but open to others.

My strongest areas of job experience are in legal admin and entry level healthcare (like aide positions). I have a one year of experience working with preschool and school aged kids, and a certificate to teach preschool in California, but haven't used it and any contacts from those jobs are about 8-9 years old.

I'm building a profile on EdJoin and there are so many options on the "Credentials" tab. I don't have any of these credentials and I'm feeling insecure about my qualifications.

I thought I was all decided on who to ask to be references, but now I'm wondering if I should plan on asking someone from my brief child development era to show that I have *some* experience, even though I have plenty of transferable skills from the more recent jobs I've had.

Do you think it's better to have more recent references from unrelated fields, or an old reference from a related field for the types of jobs I'm looking at?