Three thousand a month is about right for private nursing home care--or was. Some of the upscale places can cost even more. If you can afford the insurance--it makes good sense--if not you may want to consider other alternatives. A family member, in Louisiana, now deceased, gave away his property--everything--to the kids and retained usufruct until his death. That solved part of the problem of worrying about nursing home expense to the extent of his possibly losing the results of a lifetime of work--if leaving it to your heirs is what you want to do. I believe at the time that the exclusion period was six months, i.o.w. the property had to have been out of his ownership for at least six months or they could go back and reclaim it. That period of time may have changed. Only a good lawyer is going to know for certain. Cash is a different ballgame altogether. Single premium life insurance policies can sometimes provide a means of transferring any cash that isn't deemed necessary to maintain a lifestyle--if leaving it to your heirs is what you want to do. If there's a sizeable amount of cash involved then you can use this as leverage to insure that those gaining the real property "behave" since the beneficiary can be changed up until practically the moment of death. Talk to a financial planner (a CPA with experience in the field) and a lawyer.

>>In answer to your question, though, exclusions aren't something on your medical record that future insurers would know about. It's an administrative thing that your insurer would have in their records. >> I'm not so sure about that. First of all, EVERY insurance application is added to the MIB (Medical Information Board), a clearing house run by insurers, for insurers. Second, I've never seen a full insurance application that did not ask, "Have you ever been rated on any insurance policy?" (or similar question). Now, it's perfectly true that what one company might rate you for, another company will not. But that your answers become part of your insurance application, is certainly true. AND, every insurer has the right to contact any other insurer who has a policy on you, to look over the medical information you submitted. It's one of the waivers you have to sign before they'll even consider the application. When I worked for a major reinsurer for 13 years, we didn't often request additional medical information from other insurers - but there were occasions when we needed to do so, and we exercised our legal right to do it.

Dedtired...I too had to pay the same the year before Medicare. When on Cobra it is required that the HI take you and cannot deny due to pre-existing conditions. Was with mine for 5 years, but they just kept kicking up the premiums to the last year at 759 a mo. At 65 I found a supplement plan for $90 a month, they pay 100% of what is left after Medicare regardless of the need. Signed for 3 years option to keep the monthly cost. Every year after the 3 it goes up now about 20%, but the coverage remains the same. This year could be the last to afford them. No other insurance will cover me if I lose this. So I'll be in the same situation as many of you. A broker told me that with specific medications and/or condition, a company adds about $50 per item to the monthly cost...if they will even accept you. Health Insurance is for the wealthy or healthy. I'm with all of you, what to do without insurance and am floored by the many posting here without. I know what my medical costs will be for a year and weigh that in to the insurance cost to me...for now. Have mentioned more than once to others that if my IQ was even 1 level down, would never figure any of this out. And the older we get the worse it is to know what to do. Medicare changes are two thick books and one had best know what is and isn't. They have taken away 2/3 of the approved medications. When I asked the pharmacy about one of mine, he said it was due to too many falls from the elderly using it. Jeesh, I use it to keep from falling. We are all in trouble health wise, growing older with all the new research to resolve so many conditions isn't going to do any of us any good. Health insurance will be too costly to utilize great advances. Admission I do not understand what is being created for health coverage by the gov. It eludes me with crazy details. OT. Our state now has a law that if you are stopped for anything when driving or get in an accident and taking a medication that cautions driving while using it, they can charge you with a DUI. I'm waiting for a DUI law because of my age.

In the last year or two, all of my prescriptions went up in cost and one went off the formulary and was not covered. Their appeal required me to jump through a number of hoops, including having tried at least 3 other drugs in the same class unsuccessfully, and even with the appeal and approval, the "covered" cost was higher than both Costco and GoodRx. Over $500 for a generic -- got it down to $150. I'm glad it isn't something I need all the time, but when I need it, I need it and I've had so many problems with other meds insurance has forced me to try that I am unwilling to go there again. Bpath, the change in hospitals occurred this week -- they were there when I signed up during this open enrollment period and gone yesterday. I understand that they may change year to year, but once open enrollment has started, I don't think the plans should be allowed to make such significant changes. People make potentially life changing choices based on what they find in their searches -- and it never would have occurred to me that the providers in and out of network could be changing even as I am making my choices. That one change is not enough for me to change plans, I plan to verify everything next week in case there are other changes that would be.