It is not about affordable insurance, it is not about help with COBRA; it is about access

[question everything]

to health care.

Earlier this evening CNN was featuring a couple who lost their jobs and are paying close to $1,000 a month for the former employer's COBRA. Both are older and have pre-existing conditions which, an expert commented, will make it impossible for them to get another health insurance. (Unless they get a new job and join the group insurance offered by the employer, of course). Which means that they will have to go to the emergency room, and then will be billed and eventually will have to file for bankruptcy.

Is this the system that we want?

[Mz Pip]

1. Pre-existing condidtions

Ugh. That can pretty much eliminate a whole lot of people who are trying to get individual.

I knew a young woman who tired to get individual health insurance after she got out of college. She was denied because she had had surgery on bone spurs on her foot that she got from ballet. Bone spurs fercrissake. she was 23.

Another woman I know was denied because 17 years previously she had a seizure following a head injury from a car accident. One time. Nothing for the next 17 years.

who hasn't had something wrong with them????

[question everything]

2. At 23!! Most people who lost their jobs are a lot older

and as you get older you get "pre-existing" conditions. Many will refuse coverage for any kind of medications that you take, even allergy shots.

[4lbs]

4. Pre-existing conditions are the main reason a lot of people aren't allowed to pay say $150 monthly

from private insurance.

I tried to apply for a $150 monthly plan from Blue Shield of CA. However, because of a pre-existing condition dating back to 2000, I was denied.

I was forced to pay 2.5x that monthly as part of CA's MRMIP (Major Risk Medical Insurance Program) for 75% the coverage I would have gotten under Blue Shield.

With Blue Shield, I could have gone to my preferred doctor just a mile away from where I live, and if needed, the hospital that is just a block away.

Instead, with MRMIP, I've been assigned a doctor and hospital in a HMO that is 5 miles away.

Blue Shield told me that once 10 years passed since my "pre-existing condition" was diagnosed, I no longer have to declare it on my application, nor will it be factored into any acceptance.

So, until Summer 2010, I'm locked into a much more costly plan with less coverage. Guess who is the administrator of CA's MRMIP program? Blue Shield. Ironic.

[question everything]

5. So nice of them to "erase" this after 10 years

Perhaps they've figured they milked you enough. Or perhaps California mandates it.

In many cases, the "Blues" continue to dig as deep as they can to find a reason to deny coverage.

[kickysnana]

24. Credit Union CS Rep was denied because her Mother died young.

She is 28 and has no health problems at all.

[Captain Hilts]

3. THANK YOU. I can't get health insurance because I'm unemployed. That's IT. Unemployed. nt

I was about to write a check for $2000 to buy some insurance once and they wouldn't take it. They said I was eligible only for 'short term' insurance that has to be renewed every six months. Insurance that will cover a broken ankle and not much else.

[question everything]

10. You may want to contact your state health agency

to see what they suggest.

I hope something will come out. This really stinks.

[fujiyama]

6. How is COBRA practical in the least for most people?

Another thing that amazes me is how fucking ignorant people are about health care - when they have jobs. It's the typical, "I've got mine, the hell with everyone else" thing. And it's not just republicans. It's a very American short-sighted attitude.

Seriously, I've spoken to a few who still worry about the system becoming "too socialist". Another friend of mine said, "I hope Obama doesn't touch it because nothing will get done anyways. The economy is the first priority". Well, I told him, no shit the economy is number one, but health care ties in directly with it. What's the first thing that happens when you lose your job? Your fucking benefits are gone.

So of course, due to political cowardice and fear of destroying a bad system, we continue down this same wretched path. How long is it until people realize how fucked up the "health care" system is in this country? A lot of people still just don't get it. Do people really believe there is something great about living in the only industrialized nation with no universal health care system? Is this something to be proud of? Until people see relatives diagnosed with ailments like cancer and fear the very real possibility of them being turned down due to "preexisting conditions" will people actually get it. Even then, some are still stupid and just stubborn. Single payer - or start getting there. No more bullshit. It's time for the current thing to go. These insurance companies should pay.

[question everything]

8. The first half of Romeny's and McCain's was good: disconnect health insurance

from jobs.

The second half was bad: expecting every one to purchase own insurance. Yeah, good luck McCain with history of skin cancer.

But if employers were out of the equation, then more would have realized that a universal system is the only one that we should have. And it does not have to be like Canada or the U.K. I've heard that the German and the French are better.

Of course we should support such a system with our taxes and, like education, let the ones who want to purchase their own cover do so, while still being taxed for the universal one.

Jobs in the health care were considered recession proof. Many, who lost their jobs in other areas enrolled in health care training. But when the number of the uninsured continues to grow, and when more and more are unable to pay their bills, then hospitals, too, start laying off people.

Perhaps, with so many people without jobs and health insurance, more will support a universal system.

[Captain Hilts]

14. Labor mobility is a Good Thing. Tying health insurance to employment discourages that. nt

[Juche]

7. I know

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/20/AR2008082001109.html

In 2007, nearly two-thirds of U.S. adults under 65 (116 million people) reported having problems with medical bills or debt, having put off needed care due to cost, or being uninsured or underinsured and consequently having high out-of-pocket medical costs relative to their income.



What is worse is that because about 90% of the economic growth and virtually all of the tax cuts go to the wealthiest 10% there is far less national income to devote to healthcare. By 2016 healthcare will likely cost $4 trillion (20% of our GDP in 2016). However if wages go up by 2% a year and healthcare goes up by 7% a year, its going to get alot worse. Sadly, the system we have now may seem good by comparison to what is ahead in the next decade.

[leftstreet]

9. We need a not-for-profit health care financing system

That's the only way to address access.

[question everything]

11. Supposedly the "Blues" are not for profit

certainly compared to UnitedHealth which was paying its former CEO close to $100 million annual compensation.

Still, if you read individual stories, like the one, above, from California, they are just as bad in digging for "pre existing" conditions as the others.

[regnaD kciN]

23. In Washington, both Blue Cross and Blue Shield...

...announced plans to change into for-profit companies, and are now known as "Primera Blue Cross" and "Regence Blue Shield." Don't know if they've actually made the switch yet, but they are certainly behaving as non-profit-in-name-only.

[Raineyb]

25. They USED to be not for profit

That has changed.

(Gee I wonder who's bright idea that was.)

Regards

[area51]

12. To the Greatest Page with you.

For the facts on single-payer, click here.

[question everything]

17. Earlier I talked to my dentist office - they have to deal with 500 insurance companies

This is a major reason for increasing of costs and for many physicians leaving the field - the need to hire extra personnel to deal with all the paperwork and the "codes" for services.

I can see why some physicians refuse to deal with insurance companies. The set a modest office visit, or are put on "retainer" and, I think, everyone comes out ahead.

[Bake]

13. COBRA is impossible for most people.

I know. I just lost my job (was told it will end in one month, with some severance). There's no way I'll be able to afford the premium to keep the med ins. No way in hell.

Bake

[Laelth]

18. Sorry to hear that, Bake.

I've been without health insurance since 2001. I'd like to be able to tell you that you'll get used to the constant worry and anxiety (wondering how your kids will make it if you get sick) ... but you never really get used to it.

-Laelth

[question everything]

19. I am sorry to hear that. For you, though, COBRA may be affordable

since part of the stimulus bill is to help with 65% of COBRA payments. Does not help to the ones who are already unemployed, or to the ones where the employer is out of business.

Either way, we need to eliminate the idea of health insurance. We need to be taxed additional - what 1.5% - so that there is health care available for everyone, regardless of our state of employment and income. I have always compared it to public education which is available for everyone, regardless of income and of employment and where the ones who want to, can purchase their own, private education.

[livetohike]

15. I pay a higher premium because of my migraines

I haven't had a migraine in over a year (knock on wood), but I was honest on my health insurance application and the result was I am in a higher tier than my husband :eyes:. When I complained about it, I was told, "You are lucky to get insurance. People with diabetes or heart ailments are usually denied"!

[prolesunited]

20. It doesn't pay to lie

If you file a claim for anything major, they will go over your application for anything you left out, like antibiotics for an ear infection five years ago. Related or not, they will say you lied on your application, refund your premiums (if you're lucky) and kick you to the curb.

[livetohike]

21. You're right. There was a 5 year timeframe on this application

for reporting hospital visits, etc. I mentioned the migraines in the medications section, but I only take it (self injections) when I have a migraine. They don't cover my medicine in their formulary anyway, so I don't know what I will do when I run out of the injections I have. I think they are almost expired :-(.

[Laelth]

16. I don't want insurance. I want health care. n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[regnaD kciN]

22. It is about EVERYTHING...

...not just affordable insurance, help with COBRA, access, or any one thing.

It's about being denied health insurance because you had acne ("pre-existing condition!") as a teen; it's about having to pay $1,000-$1,500 per month for private health insurance for your family even if you aren't high-risk; it's about employers cutting back on insurance coverage and insurance companies boosting premiums 20% in one year even for corporate employee plans.

Breaking it down into "it's not about A, it's about B" is only playing into Big Medical's plans for, if attention is directed toward B, they are free to pick everyone's pockets with A, and vice-versa.

It's about the whole damn thing. And the only solution is single-payer health care, or something very close to it.

[eridani]

26. Get rid of the damned for profit insurance companies

HR 676 NOW!