Frustrated about costs of health insurance while waiting for Medicare eligibility – can’t get coverage!

Hello Redditors – this is my first post here. Please be kind as I learn the ropes. I am a 62-yo woman in Missouri, looking desperately for health insurance I can afford. Not happening.

Due to lower back pain and increasingly limited mobility and strength, I had to quit my job in May 2022 – and could not afford COBRA at $900/month. Tests done before I left my job revealed a crushed disc in my lumbar region. SSDI Disability was approved quickly (with onset established Dec. 2021 and payments started in June 2022). This summer, I slipped in the mud and injured my hip and lower back even more. No insurance, so no treatment. I’ve been navigating the pain as best I can but it’s getting worse.

I understand that federal guidelines require me to wait 29 months from the onset of disability before I am eligible for Medicare. That’ll be May 2024. Meanwhile, insurance plans on the Marketplace, AFTER my tax credit, start at about $400/month with $10-15,000 deductibles before the plan pays anything. I can’t afford this! I do not qualify for Medicaid due to my husband’s income. Short-term plans (off-market) aren’t any better, as they do not cover pre-existing conditions and deductibles are even worse (restarts when I have to re-apply after 6 months).

An insurance agent I found online offered an indemnity plan that would cover what I need, no deductibles, no exclusion for pre-existing conditions, and it’s affordable – but my application (through said agent) was denied “due to a build”. My agent isn’t returning my calls or emails now, and the company rep I spoke to didn’t know what “build” meant. Promised she would get back to me in a day, and that’s been a week ago with no response. I am so damn frustrated I could cry. My back pain isn’t helping, either.

What I really need is a plan that would cover pre-existing conditions, low (under $2500) or NO deductible, premiums less than $300/month, and allow me to see my doctor and specialist, get proper tests done, and get treatment including surgery and therapy if warranted. Also cover emergencies, preventive care and of course, hospitalization. I have a few prescriptions, but cost is minimal under Good RX, so I wouldn’t need drug coverage and I can skip dental and vision if I can just find a decent, affordable health plan.

I’ve spent countless hours scouring the Marketplace and other plans offered in my state, to no avail. My husband, also disabled and under age 65, has a marketplace plan with ZERO deductible and ZERO cost premiums. He managed under my employer’s health insurance while I was able to work, until Medicare kicked in for him. I don’t know what I can do other than complain to legislators.