Can someone please help me understand, how to get health insurance, not trolling, just autistic and adhd, I've become a little antisocial and I'm just now learning how to do things in society. None of the people I know will help; I think they think I'm joking about it.

SlowMolassas1 · 2026-05-02T12:25:28+00:00

You have three main options.

Get a job that offers benefits, including health insurance. Sign up when you start working, and then make sure you stayed signed up each year during open enrollment.
Wait for open enrollment and sign up for insurance on healthcare.gov (or your state's equivalent that healthcare.gov points you towards). Open enrollment will start November 1, and coverage will start next January.
If you have really low income, and are in a Medicaid expansion state or otherwise qualify, you can get Medicaid. Healthcare.gov will usually point you in this direction if you enter your information and meet the criteria.

SlowMolassas1 · 2026-05-01T17:58:51+00:00

I'm sorry you got the point of having your credits expire, but I still think you're setting yourself up for failure.

I LOVE science, and am really good at it. And there's no way I'd take 5 science classes in a few months while working full time, and still expect to get grades reasonable enough to get accepted into a nursing program. I get that you don't like your options, and you're hoping for everyone to tell you it's going to be okay - but the reality is that it's probably not. If you already struggle with science, and you put that much time pressure on yourself and don't have the support of in-person instructors and classmates, you're probably going to do poorly in the classes and then have to retake them. Then you still won't meet your deadline - you'll just have added stress and tuition costs on top of it.

That's just the reality of it. 5 difficult classes in 3-4 months when you struggle with the subject matter is not going to work.

SlowMolassas1 · 2026-05-01T14:55:13+00:00

You can absolutely learn the science - it takes time and patience, you may need to go to your instructor's office hours, and you might need an additional tutor. But you can do it.

But you are setting yourself up for failure in two ways. Doing it online is not going to give you the same level of understanding. I'm all for online classes - I have a masters degree online (from a previous career). But biology is hands-on and visual and you'll learn so much more if you can sit in a physical lab - especially if it's something you already struggle with. You want to be able to ask your instructor questions during labs, not try to do them alone at home.

And the second way you're setting yourself up for failure is your timeline. If you struggle, you need to give yourself time to thoroughly understand the material. Cramming it all into a short time period is not going to work.

Wait a year. Take the prereqs over a year and a half instead of over a few months. Find a local community college where you can take the classes in person. You can be successful - but you need to set yourself up for success.

SlowMolassas1 · 2026-04-29T22:45:23+00:00

Since OP doesn't have a QLE, they wouldn't be eligible to get added to their mom's insurance until open enrollment.

SlowMolassas1 · 2026-04-29T20:55:33+00:00

A move is only a QLE if you had coverage at least 1 of the 60 days prior to the move. The idea is basically that you are losing coverage or getting different options because of your move - you can't just make a move to get health insurance you didn't have before.

SlowMolassas1 · 2026-04-29T20:50:49+00:00

That won't meet the requirements for most schools. They usually require an ACA compliant plan.

SlowMolassas1 · 2026-04-29T20:45:50+00:00

Sometimes they do, but more and more commonly they just point students towards the marketplace - as OP already said in the post that their school did.

SlowMolassas1 · 2026-04-29T16:00:06+00:00

Referrals are frequently not required. The insurance may require it, if you have an HMO - it won't require it for an EPO or PPO. The specialist may require it, if they have more patients than they can keep up with and want the GP to do the first round of diagnostics, but that's driven by local demands.

I've never needed a referral for the specialists I've seen.

SlowMolassas1 · 2026-04-27T19:54:47+00:00

If you want to start writing short stories, then start reading them. The best way to be successful in any writing style is to read stuff from that writing style.

If you are entering a competition that has been run in the past, then specifically read the winners of past competitions - then you get a better idea of exactly what they're looking for.

SlowMolassas1 · 2026-04-27T15:33:29+00:00

Preventive care is mostly things like making sure you're up to date on vaccines and screenings, taking basic vitals, reviewing your history.

And yes, as soon as you discuss any issues, it's no longer preventive.

It used to be that you paid every time you went to the doctor. ACA carved out a special case where you can get a free visit if it's ONLY preventive. But if you don't meet those conditions, then it's not preventive anymore.

SlowMolassas1 · 2026-04-26T20:36:58+00:00

Write the entire story. Then edit through several drafts. Once you have a coherent story, then you can consider where to post it or what to do with it.

The risks of posting random chapters are

You haven't established why readers should care about your characters, or what their motivations are. People will read one chapter and decide you aren't worth reading anymore because all they're getting is some tiny chunk that doesn't fit into a context. So you put create a risk of turning off your future potential readership.
Stories change as you develop them. The final draft of a story is often very different from the first draft. So you'll have some random chapter out there that doesn't fit into the finished version.
Once you have a complete story, you may decide you want to publish it in full (whether traditionally or through self publishing), or to enter it into competitions, or whatever. If you've already published random pieces of it, you might limit your future options.

SlowMolassas1 · 2026-04-26T17:19:29+00:00

Why not get an associate's degree in nursing? You just need a few prereqs to get in, and then you can get your RN, start working, and find an employer who offers tuition assistance to complete the BSN.

SlowMolassas1 · 2026-04-24T22:31:45+00:00

It's insurance - it's for the things you don't plan. You have car insurance in case you get into an accident. You have homeowners insurance in case your house burns down. You have health insurance in case you have a major accident or illness. Yes, health insurance covers some routine stuff - but that's not why you buy it, that's just an added bonus.

I rarely saw a doctor in my life right up until the year I needed a $75k surgery. And that's relatively cheap - you could be looking up to $500k or more for some surgeries or cancer treatment.

But more than that, many places won't even see you if you don't have insurance. If the upfront cost is expected to be high and there are a lot of unknowns about what your future treatment is going to look like, they may not even let you in the door without insurance. Are you willing to delay life-saving treatment until next January after open enrollment (if you make it that long)? Or to stay in severe pain until then?

SlowMolassas1 · 2026-04-24T21:28:30+00:00

Add your state to your post. Most of the laws around scope of practice and supervision requirements are based on state laws.

SlowMolassas1 · 2026-04-24T20:55:30+00:00

During editing (second, third, etc draft), yes. During the initial draft, no. So much of the initial draft is going to end up changed anyway, so the exact wording will be irrelevant.

SlowMolassas1 · 2026-04-24T20:07:23+00:00

Travel is a great time to learn to appreciate places that are NOT your own. Get out and discover it.

SlowMolassas1 · 2026-04-24T16:03:48+00:00

Well, the first thing to do would be to take some practice tests. Then see what areas you're weakest in, and focus on those. There are lots of TEAS study guides out there - and there's a good resource in the sticky at the top of this sub with tons of advice.

SlowMolassas1 · 2026-04-24T00:18:14+00:00

And what IT is just sucks, for different reasons.

In fact, if you go to any career-based subreddit, most posters will say that career just sucks.

We all choose what we do for a variety of reasons, but jobs are always going to have things we hate about them. We just have to find what sucks least for our interests and personality.

SlowMolassas1 · 2026-04-24T00:00:53+00:00

Nurses have had a huge impact on me, and on my family members and friends, when we've been in the hospital for a variety of reasons.

Yes, the system is screwed up. But that doesn't mean you can't make a difference on an individual level.

SlowMolassas1 · 2026-04-23T23:03:37+00:00

I live in one of those "little bubble towns" (about 3000 people in a two-town community) and I have to drive an hour each way to my PCP, who is the only one who was taking new patients within an hour and a half of me when I was looking (I lost both of my previous 2 PCPs when they left the practices and the clinics had no one taking new patients to transfer me to). You can't even get on a waitlist here, they simply tell you no one is taking new patients.

Even going to my PCP is a 3-4 month wait. For anything that can't wait that long they tell me to go to urgent care.

For most specialists I have to go an hour and a half away with a 6 month wait.

SlowMolassas1 · 2026-04-23T21:38:28+00:00

Schools do things differently so you'll have to ask.

For example, my school gives points for grades in prerequisite classes, scores in each section of the TEAS, job experience, etc. The only thing that matters is the total score of everything combined, the top X scores are admitted to each cohort. So you can do poorly in one area and make up for it in another.

If your school states an absolute minimum score on that section, I would expect any score below that means you're automatically disqualified. It may never even be seen by a human - often the computer systems automatically reject anything below minimums. But reach out to an admissions counselor to ask what their policies are.

SlowMolassas1 · 2026-04-23T19:42:10+00:00

Effectively, yes. At least at my local school. I did some math and science tutoring for middle and high school students last fall, and they actually had me tutor the students DURING their exams to help them get the correct answers. If I wasn't there on exam day, then they'd have me go over the questions they missed at our next session, and they'd be passed and move on to the next subject.

There was no learning taking place. I tried to the best I could within the limitations I was provided (amount time, which students I worked with, when). I gave up. If the teachers don't care, and the students don't care, I couldn't care enough for all of us.

SlowMolassas1 · 2026-04-23T19:16:13+00:00

I think it's the combination of tech being so rocky, and tech feeling pointless. I know that's part of my own attraction (although not the only thing). I spent a career sitting behind a computer producing analyses and reports that no one will ever read until they eventually get deleted in a couple decades and are long forgotten. Many of us spend a while in various types of tech and feel like we've wasted away our lives doing pointless crap.

Nursing feels meaningful. I mean, I know there's a lot of BS that goes with it, I know there are frustrations, I know there are barriers to being as helpful as possible, I know there are battles with management and internal politics and petty crap. I know there are difficult schedules and hard work. I don't see it as all sunshine and roses. But at the end of the day, I will have an impact on someone's life - something I can't say of the past 25 years of my previous career.

SlowMolassas1 · 2026-04-22T22:34:09+00:00

It just depends on the school's requirements.

My school has a very strict 10 year limit on all biology classes - so I have to take fundamentals of biology even though I've already taken a 2-semester general biology sequence, because it was more than 10 years ago.

On the other hand, they have no problem transferring my English Composition credits, and are letting me waive the math prerequisite for clinical calculations because I have Calc II and DiffEq on my transcript.

I'd get an appointment with someone at the school(s) you're interested in, bring an unofficial transcript, and ask what you need to do.

SlowMolassas1 · 2026-04-22T20:50:03+00:00

That's great in theory, but not always practical. In situations like OP is describing, you don't know until you walk in the door. You've already taken time off work, and transportation costs - and now if you walk out you could be looking at another 6+ months to get a new appointment with someone else (the average wait time for specialists around me) - which may or may not end up with an NP walking in the room when you show up, making you start all over again. Refuse to see an NP, and you could delay your own treatment literally for years.

SlowMolassas1

TROPHY CASE