Health Insurance Challenge
We need your Help!
As everyone is aware, health insurance is a challenge on Fishers Island. If you get your health insurance through your employer on Fishers, you can see most doctors in CT.
However, if you buy insurance from the New York Exchange (ACA/Obamacare), you can only use that insurance in New York state. Most ACA/NY insurance doesn’t allow you to see Dr. Chris Ingram here at IHP (how nuts is that!). The cost of ACA health insurance, combined with the cost of the travel to see a NY doctor, combined with the inconvenience from taking unpaid days off from work, often discourages people from buying the insurance in the first place. Why pay a lot of money for something that is almost worthless?
ICB is working to figure out how to help people with this health insurance problem. The idea of creating a “pool” to buy group insurance for uninsured Islanders won’t work for many reasons. (One reason, for example, is that people would have to be full time employees of that “pool.”)
The other option, that seems within reach, is to get our NY legislators to allow Fishers residents with ACA insurance to use their NY state ACA insurance in CT. The CT doctors have to cooperate on this, too, so there is a 2-state challenge here.
The first step in making any progress is to find out how many people on Fishers are interested.
Therefore, here is the one important question we need people to answer for us:
Would you buy ACA insurance on the NY Exchange if you could use it in CT?
If you are interested, please respond so we can get an accurate headcount.
We welcome your response in a number of ways. Response Deadline: November 30th.
- Respond by email to ICB: ficommunityboard@gmail.com
- Respond by email on the link on FishersIsland.net
- Drop off your paper response at the Community Center
_______ Yes, I would buy ACA insurance if I could use it in CT.
_______ I might switch from the insurance I carry now to NY/ACA if I could use it in CT.
________________________________ Your name (optional)
