Hi,

I was laid off from my job and am unable to afford the COBRA.  I am single and self-supporting.  I applied for health insurance  with another carrier and received a refusal letter today stating that it was specifically because of mastocytosis.

Our state does not allow you to become eligible for special assistance for people with pre-existing conditions until you have gone without insurance for six months.

This is all very discouraging for me.  Any suggestions as to what I could do?  Going without any health insurance is really scarey, but I absolutely can not afford the COBRA.

We had to pay Cobra for our son, and that was expensive!

If you have car or household insurance, your company might offer a health insurance policy that covers major medical only, for a lower price.  It depends on the policy, but they'd cover anything catastrophic, sometimes with a larger deductible.  There might be one that accepts you, but excludes mastocytosis for a period of time.  

The other possibility might be to look for an HMO of local docs that might accept you until you can get into the state program.  Doctors in some places are grouping together like that.

The Rx "club" at Walgreens (and other pharmacies) costs about $5.00, but it'll give you a very reduced price on meds, if you can take the generics.

Depending on your assets and which state you live in, there may be medical assistance $$ available.

If your insurance isn't gone yet, you might want to consider having all your check-ups before it expires.

I don't know if you've worked enough or are disabled enough to qualify for Social Security Disability, and it will take too long to apply to help in the short run, but if you do qualify, you then also qualify for Medicare.  It might be something to consider.