QUOTE]
...One lady who works for $35/hr 40hrs a week at a major boston financial firm had to go get surgery that will cost her $15,000. The fact she is out of work will mean she gets no pay for the 2 weeks she misses as this job we placed her at. they will not oust her and grab some new long-term freelancer to take her place (although this has and can happen, sadly enough) but she has to pay to get most of her hospitaliziation needs taken care of. Our plan she is signed on to will only cover about $3k of it, meaning this gal has to pay the other $12k on her own!

And that's working full time--at least in terms of your being there 40hrs a week!

She had no opportunity for the real "full time benefits" because said company does not hire "full time" employees anymore due to budgetary and overhead concerns.
Now she makes some decent money and can save some of it, but even so, 12k is 12k.

how can SHE get by with something the rest of us are clueless about--and how much work would a working mother of 2 who needs surgery and devotes herself to her career and family have to do in order to get as savvy about these alternative health plans?

How much work will it take for someone like her or me to be as savvy as we all may be about cool mile tricks and tips that most clueless people have no idea about nor trust? ...

MM[/QUOTE]

Is she clueless or is her healthcare approach beyond your mental capacity? She had one expensive surgery over how many years of savings by not buying health insurance? It sounds like this is not the first year she was without an insurance plan. She is many thousands of dollars in the pocket than many of us. Why is the focus on the year she has to pay?