How to Maintain Your Health Without Insurance

While the Affordable Care Act has decreased the number of uninsured citizens living in the United States, many people still face the challenge of maintaining good health without insurance. Careful attention to your physical and mental health will help alleviate some of the burden of living without insurance. When the need for medical care arises, you will need to understand the affordable options that may be available to you.

Part 1 - Living a Healthy Lifestyle

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→ Eat a healthy diet. Consume a diet low in saturated fat, trans-fats, cholesterol, sodium, and added sugars, and high in fiber. Eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat dairy products. Your specific caloric and nutritional needs will depend on your age, weight, sex, and physical activity level. As a general guideline, the United States Department of Agriculture recommends:

→ Between two and three cups of vegetables

→ Between one and a half and two cups of fruit

→ Between five and eight ounces of grains

→ Between five and six and a half ounces of protein (lean meats and fish, eggs, soy, legumes)

→ Three cups of dairy

→ Between five and seven teaspoons of heart-healthy oil such as olive oil or canola oil each day for adults

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→ Maintain a healthy weight. Lose weight if you are overweight. Keeping your weight in a healthy range for your height and body type will decrease your risk of chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and arthritis in your weight-bearing joints, all of which can be very expensive to treat without health insurance.

→ To determine whether your weight is healthy for your height, use an online body mass index (BMI) calculator. A healthy BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9.

→ Limit sugar and highly processed food like junk food and fast food. This will help maintain your weight.

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→ Exercise regularly. Aim for 30 to 60 minutes of exercise, four to six times per week. Joining a gym or exercising with friends might be a good way to keep you motivated.

→ Keep in mind that any exercise is better than none at all. Consider minor behavior modifications that can improve your cardiovascular health and strength, such as choosing parking spaces farther from the entrance of your workplace or the site of your errand, walking to accomplish tasks whenever possible, or taking the stairs instead of the elevator.

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→ Get plenty of sleep. Adults require between seven and nine hours of sleep every night to maintain optimal health, but many Americans do not get the recommended amount of sleep. Buck the trend and ensure that your body has a chance to restore itself each night.

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→ Avoid alcohol and tobacco. Smoking causes 440,000 deaths per year in the United States alone, as well as a wide variety of expensive chronic illnesses. Excessive alcohol intake produces liver damage and increases your cancer risk. Limit alcohol consumption to no more than two drinks a day if you’re a man, or one if you’re a woman.

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→ Protect your skin from UVA and UVB rays. Limit your sun exposure, wear protective clothing and hats, and wear sunscreen with a strength of at least SPF 15 (be sure the brand blocks both UVA and UVB rays).

→ Avoid indoor tanning or the use of sun beds. This practice exposes you to harmful levels of UVA and UVB rays and substantially increases your risk of skin cancer. People who tan indoors are up to 74% more likely to develop melanoma.

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→ Practice safer sex. Limit your partners, always use a condom, and get tested for STDs regularly.

→ Many community health centers and public health departments, as well as clinics like Planned Parenthood, offer condoms, prescription birth control pills, and STD testing for free or on a sliding scale.

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→ Limit your risk of injury. While you cannot prevent all injuries, you can take some simple steps to reduce your chances of some common injuries.

→ Always wear a seat belt when in a car and a helmet if you are riding a bicycle, rollerblading, or playing a contact sport.

→ Take it slow at the gym and make sure that you understand the proper technique for all new exercises you try.

→ Stretch your muscles before exercising.

→ Avoid risky activities, like rock climbing or downhill skiing, that might lead to an injury.

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→ Maintain your mental health. Good mental health will not only improve the quality of your life, but it may also help protect you against disease. Research has shown a correlation between mental health problems and chronic conditions such as heart disease and cancer.

→ Stay connected to friends and family. A supportive network of family and/or friends can help you cope with stress, solve problems, provide important perspective, and offer love and acceptance.

→ Talk to your loved ones about any problems you might be having. Even if a problem can’t readily be “fixed,” sharing with another will help you feel supported.

→ Learn coping strategies to deal with stress. Exercise, take a brief nature walk, write in a journal, or teach yourself breathing exercises to interrupt the mental cycles that produce stress.

→ Do things you love and laugh a lot. Research has found that laughter lowers your stress level, reduces pain, and boosts your immune system.

Part 2 - Saving on Regular and Preventative Care

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→ Get cancer screenings. Regular screenings increase your chance of being diagnosed with cancer early, which means the disease will have less of a chance to spread and there will probably be more treatment options available than there would be if the disease were discovered later. Many screenings are offered for free or for low costs at clinics around the country, so do some research to find out what's available near you.

→ The CDC recommends screenings for breast, cervical, colorectal, lung, prostate, skin, and ovarian cancers. The screenings you need will depend on your age, gender, family history, and other risk factors. Talk to a doctor or read the CDC's recommendations to determine which screenings you should get.

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→ Keep your immunizations up to date. Check local public health departments, community health centers, and free clinics to see if they offer free or low-cost vaccinations to people without insurance.

→ Even adults require a tetanus-diphtheria booster every 10 years.

→ The federal government's Vaccines for Children program is a great option for uninsured individuals under the age of 19 who need vaccines.

→ If you can't find a clinic that offers the vaccine you need at an affordable cost, check with the manufacturer of the vaccine to see if they offer any assistance to uninsured individuals.

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→ Find a federally supported health center. In the United States, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) maintains a database of health centers where you can obtain subsidized medical treatment. These centers provide check-ups and preventive care, treatment for illness, prenatal care, immunizations, dental care, and mental health services.

→ There are nearly 150 medical centers around the United States that are required by the federal government to provide free or reduced-cost services to those who meet certain income restrictions and are unable to pay for treatment. These facilities are known as Hill-Burton facilities.

→ Attending to your mental health is just as important as attending to your physical health. If you are unable to find a federally supported health center that will offer you the mental health services you need at a price you can afford, try using referral services such as Mental Health America or Network of Care. You may also be able to find affordable therapy with a supervised graduate student studying psychology or psychiatry at a local university.

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→ Get help paying for your prescriptions. Many prescription drug manufacturers offer programs that help people who need their medications but cannot afford them. If you're not able to afford your medications, make sure to ask the company if they can help.

→ There are also a wide variety of prescription savings cards available that can save you a lot of money. Some of these cards require a membership fee, but others are completely free.

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→ Get affordable dental care. Getting regular dental care can help prevent more serious and costly problems. Oral health also has an effect on your overall health, so taking good care of your teeth and gums is essential.

→ Do a search and call around to see if there are any dentists in your area that offer services on a sliding scale.

→ See if you can get dental care from students at a local dental school.

→ Discount plans carry a monthly premium in exchange for discounts on dental services, but are often more affordable than traditional dental insurance.

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→ Consult a nonprofit. There are a wide variety of services offered by nonprofit organizations around the country. These organizations may be able to offer you access to the care you need at no cost to you, or they may be able to refer you to clinics that can offer you affordable care. Do a search to see what kind of organizations exist in your area.

→ Nonprofits such as NeedyMeds compile data on low-cost health care providers and options for obtaining prescription medication. Use the search tools provided by NeedyMeds or other nonprofits to find free, low-cost, or sliding-scale medical care providers in your region.

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→ Determine whether you are eligible for government benefits. The U.S. government and many state agencies provide assistance programs for low-income individuals in need of medical care. If you meet certain income guidelines, you may qualify for Medicaid or subsidies for a health insurance plan under the Affordable Care Act.

→ Consult the U.S. government’s official benefits site to determine whether you are eligible for federal benefits. Seventeen federal agencies have pooled their efforts, allowing citizens to search one database for information regarding their eligibility to participate in over 1,000 benefit programs.

→ Conduct a search to determine whether you are eligible for assistance programs offered by your state, county, or city.

Part 3 - Dealing With Emergencies

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→ Plan ahead. If you are uninsured, it's a good idea to make a plan about what you will do in the case of a medical emergency. This will allow you to get the treatment you want as quickly as possible without having to worry about whether you could have found a more affordable option somewhere else.

→ Research the various hospitals and medical facilities in your area, and find out which ones offer the best services to people without insurance.

→ Putting some money aside for medical care can be very helpful if you are able to do so.

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→ Get the treatment you need. If you need medical care, don't put it off or try to deal with it by yourself, as this could make the situation much worse and much more costly in the long run.

→ An emergency room cannot turn you down because you are uninsured and unable to pay for services. In case of a true emergency, go to the hospital immediately, and then ask the hospital staff or a nonprofit agency for help paying for the emergency room

TIPS

→ Be careful about diagnosing yourself using information you find online. This may work for minor injuries, but you should always consult a real doctor if you have serious or ongoing symptoms.

→ Medication might be expensive, but it is also really important, so try to find a way to pay for it. Failing to take medications for chronic conditions, or even for acute conditions like infections, can cause your condition to become much worse.

Warnings

→ You will be subject to a tax penalty if you are uninsured in the United States. To avoid this penalty, see if you qualify for any of the subsidies provided under the Affordable Care Act.

→ While health insurance may be expensive, having coverage will keep you from getting into serious debt if you are diagnosed with an illness or are involved in an accident. Make sure to consider these possibilities when you are deciding whether or not to purchase insurance.