Not having health insurance can be scary and financially challenging.
Health insurance is a luxury if you cannot afford to make the monthly premium payments, which can sometimes be as much as monthly housing costs. For some, health insurance is not financially feasible when all other monthly living expenses are paid for. Living without health insurance can further compound financial strain as medical costs are extremely high. Programs funded and administered through state governments, such as New York, help bring health insurance to those who need it.
New York has two income-based health insurance programs.
Instructions
1. Gather all information about your income, expenses, assets and debts. Have this information ready to go prior to starting the application process. Income-based programs require verification in order to qualify. Family Health Plus is the program through New York State that is for lower income residents that earn too much money for Medicaid but do not earn enough to afford private health insurance.
2. Access the Family Health Plus section of the New York Department of Health's website to obtain an application (see References). Read over the application and make sure that the information you gathered is sufficient. Do not sign the application at this point.
3. Find an enrollment facilitator or social services agent and schedule an appointment to complete your application. Listing of local agents are available through the Family Health Plus section of the website.
4. Continue with the application process and wait for acceptance in to the program. If your income has been determined to be too high for the Family Health Plus program, take your determination letter and all documentation and apply for the Healthy New York program, which is a different income-based health insurance program through the State (see References). Repeat Step 2 for the Healthy New York program.
New York State
Insurance Department
Albany
One Commerce Plaza
Albany, NY 12257
1-866-HEALTHY
HealthyNY.com
5. Stay in contact with agents that are processing your application and respond to their requests and inquiries in a timely manner to avoid processing delays. Keep a file of all information received from the State of New York. Make copies of all documents sent with your application so that you have a file ready to go should the agency or agent processing your application ask to have a meeting with you.
