"AskTony" column archive

This Web site contains a compilation of more than a thousand consumer finance columns written by Tony Novak from the 1980s through 2006, updated and reformatted for maximum usefulness today. New material was added after 2010.

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Blue Cross for Diabetics

originally posted: 11/22/2006 reposted: 2/18/2011 This post has not been recently reviewed or revised by the author and may be out of date. If you notice an error or are in doubt, please send a new question by email or ask for an update. Email asktony@tonynovak.com.

Q: Was so happy to see your website for diabetics needing affordable health insurance. According to the American Diabetes Association Literature that was sent to me and this site it says that Blue Cross Blue Shield gives policies to diabetics. I just got off the phone with them and they say they don't. Do you know of any health insurance companies in the state of Florida that gives coverage? It seems according to this state that a diabetic should just lay down and die and have no medical attention or medications if they are diabetics. I find this quite sad.

A: Unfortunately the topics I cover in my writing at www.FreedomBenefits.com and elsewhere are usually only stop-gap measures. The long term fundamentals of health insurance for diabetics remain the same: Every diabetic qualifies for comprehensive health insurance. This coverage is usually (but not always) available trough a state program mandated by federal HIPAA law and administered by a Blue Cross affiliate company. In Florida, the provider varies county to county. This insurance is very expensive; most diabetics cannot afford to pay for it on their own. If they did, they would soon exhaust their financial resources. This medical coverage will be provided through a Medicaid at no cost once assets and income are deleted. Most people in this situation need to take definitive action to plan positioning themselves for the best medical care through Medicaid while retaining whatever small amount of financial resources are possible. In the absence of this type of professionally-assisted financial planning, most diabetics will wind up impoverished with the state being their largest claim to any assets at death.

Summary

More resources:

International health insurance listings at FreedomBenefits.com