health benefits

Hey guys, Anyone out there have one of those pesky "pre-existing conditions" that our benefits prefer not to cover? Well, I did, and it was time to fulfill a prescription (for a measly, oh, $150!) so it came time to find some alternatives! Anyway, my doctor turned me on to a "patient assistance" program. Basically, I searched online for the website of the company that manufactures the medication I needed and then sent them an email explaining my financial situation. I received a reply the next day complete with information on patient assistance programs and an application to be completed by my doctor and myself. A completed application, attached tax forms and a month of waiting later and I am happy to say I received a little medical card from the company giving me my prescription for FREE! Booyah! …read more

AmeriCorps VISTAs are covered for our health benefits (not insurance!) by Seven Corners ( (866) 699-4186 or www.americorps.sevencorners.com). Many questions can be answered on their FAQs page or in the Members Healthcare Guide (pdf). …read more

I thought I’d share the final results of my adventures in case anyone was interested.  It helps to know what happened first before reading this Part II, so click here to get caught up before continuing. Ready?  Okay… …read more

Being almost four months into my second VISTA term, I've never had any trouble utilizing our health benefits...until now.  I'm not an overly-ill person or anything, but I've used our benefits a number of times.  During my trip back to Indiana for the holiday, I managed to pick up a simple head cold (which also happened last time I went home, so I'm trying to determine the correlation).  Head colds are no biggie at all, but FLYING with one is no picnic.  As a result, I've developed a quite painful ear infection.  All I need is a prescription for the infection.  …read more

If you have any questions about the Americorps VISTA health BENEFITS (not insurance), check out the Seven Corner's website at http://americorps.sevencorners.com or call 1-866-699-4186.  Again, your questions will probably be very specific and better answered by those folks than me! …read more

i really hope we all keep up with our blogs, because i want to be able to keep up with all of you! ok, now for some "vista life" type stuff i've been thinking about / looking into:   *** food stamps *** according to stuff online, i don't think i am eligible for food stamps since i have too much savings (too much being more than the limit of $2,000). savings in an ira must be included toward this limit, even though according to wikipedia "a debtor in bankruptcy can exempt his or her IRA from the bankruptcy estate" and this seems like it should be a similar situation. …read more