?

I'm not sure of the specifics of what kicks in when, but it should make it easy to buy insurance and subsidize you guys. Someone on DU should know.

Or you could move to Mass, where we already have ObamaCare (it was called RomneyCare when we got it). Actually, you'd likely qualify for free insurance through our state's MassHealth program, which gives you a choice of plans from different insurers, and pretty much all docs accept it. But I know that Mass is an exception when it comes to these types of things, unfortunately.

I'm really, really sorry that you need to deal with this nonsense. The US has become such an uncivil place.

I think it will get better.

We are a video/film production company, we use this, we have tons of independent contractors:

http://www.fracturedatlas.org/site/liability/?module=insurance

I'll see your Threepenny Opera and raise you a Thin White Mahagonny Duke:

Until the sequester there were pre-existing condition pools your wife could have gotten into. Unfortunately, the sequester cut off new enrollments in the policies in order to make sure they had enough money to cover all of those already enrolled. That is the big reason we have needed health care reform - anyone who has any kind of pre-existing condition cannot find coverage at all (or cannot find it at a reasonable cost). Come 2014, more people will be in the pool and insurance companies can't deny coverage for pre-existing conditions - which means coverage will be available and at a lower cost (the max for a family in California - the only place rates have been announced - is $364/month - and as low as $17 for a single low income person).

There are short term policies that are quite cheap, but they won't cover pre-existing conditions. They will cover other things (subject to deductibles and co-pays. So that will cut down expenses for all other things. Do a search for short term insurance.

You can try applying to the drug manufactures - many offer compassionate care, or discount cards. Physicians sometimes can be generous with samples.

Hospitals also generally have to offer some charity care, tpically income based.

Finally - if all else fails - try to negotiate with each care provider to get the insurance company rate. That will typically be around 90% for doctors, 60% for hospitalization, and 5-10% for labwork. (I don't know the rough proportion for medicine, since I never see the billed rate for drugs - only the discounted rate.)