I just found out I'm so screwed on health care under this stimulus bill

[prolesunited]

It's all in the fine print.

I've been closely following the passage of this because this is the last month my buyout subsidizes health care under COBRA. Our premiums for just my husband and myself go from $430 a month to $1,065 a month. We both have pre-existing conditions that require ongoing care and meds so going without insurance is not an option.

So when I heard about the subsidy in the bill, I breathed a sigh of relief. We have some time, maybe we can ride this out until I can find a new job. We've been frugal and not over-extended. Our house is small and old. We both drive 10-year-old cars. I garden and hang the laundry out to dry. I try to take care of my health, but sometimes you can't win the battle against genetics.

And now we are screwed. I lost my job at the end of August. You are only eligible if you lost your job September or after. One freaking week! And now we are forced with health care premiums higher than our mortgage and escrow payment.

I just don't know what we are going to do. There are dozens of houses in our neighborhood for sale and not a single one is moving. And then what? I feel like we are on the brink of losing everything.

[Muttocracy]

1. National health care is so overdue

:hug:

[bkkyosemite]

2. I am so very sorry. My husband and I are just a little over the limit for some help too. It is not

right what has happened to you and I'm sure many others.

[terisan]

3. Contact your congressional representative and ask that a bill be introduced to

include people in your situation.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

5. Good advice..............

Start the push right away for an amendment. It's a long shot, but it's worth a shot.

This stinks in every possible way. I am so sorry.

[Juche]

4. Damn. Sorry

Losing out because of a couple of weeks difference.

Can you go to a government clinic and/or buy meds from Canada? Maybe you can save some money that way.

I've had mental health problems (aka pre-existing conditions so they can jack up the rates) in the past and my job doesn't offer insurance, so I am currently uninsured. Back in 1993 about 75% of jobs offered healthcare. Now it is around 56%. And the healthcare is worse (higher copays, deductibles, doesn't cover families).

Our healthcare doesn't exist.

[McCamy Taylor]

6. This is so awful! Health care costs have forced us to put a mortgage on our house that was paid for.

And my husband and son are on the state's high risk pool insurance meaning their premiums are higher than any commercial insurance. We are just barely hanging on until they stop playing political football with health care reform.

I am so afraid that the Congressional Dems are going to pretend that they need a 60 plus Dem majority in the Senate to do anything and wait until after 2010. If they do, they are chicken shit liars. There are enough desperate Republicans in the Senate who would be afraid to vote "no" on health care reform, esp if Kennedy got up and demanded it, that they could push it through this year. But even the Dems have taken a lot of money from the Medical Industrial Complex and I worry that they do not have the will to do it and they would rather blame the GOP and use it as a campaign issue in 2010.

If the Dems do, it will blow up in their faces.

[prolesunited]

10. I need to call to see if we can get an adjustment on the mortgage

to lower it a bit. We haven't missed a payment, but I don't know how I'm going to make all the math on this work. I really don't think refinancing is an option at a current (lack of) income.

Our state offers a buy in on insurance, but you have to be uninsured for six months first to even qualify and I'm sure all the slots are likely nearly filled.

With so many people in the same boat, I'm sure we could get reform passed now. So many working families like yours are getting a raw deal.

Here's the irony in all this. I had some minor internal bleeding that showed up in a routine screening so I had to get upper and lower GI tests (and now have $1,000 more in bills to pay off). The cause, an inflamed stomach lining likely due to stress and the possibility of developing ulcers.

[MADem]

7. $430 a month to $1,065 a month

Holy shit. That's....unconscionable.

[Jackpine Radical]

17. My wife & I pay $1733 a month for health care just for us.

When I get on Medicare, it will drop to about $1500 a month because I'll have to stay on the plan to keep her covered.

[MADem]

20. Holy shit. That's insane. That's more than a lot of people MAKE every month. NT

[Jackpine Radical]

23. Yeah, it more than eats up the little pension I got from the state

when I retired after 20-some years. I think I'll probably have to work forever.

[prolesunited]

26. That's absolutely crazy.

Is that what you found on the open market for pre-existing conditions? At that rate, would a health savings account or catastrophic only be a better option?

[NYC_SKP]

8. The Stimulus is not a Health Care Bill, I'm hoping for separate legislation later.

That's my hope, while it isn't going to help us tomorrow, the stimulus package is a stimulus package, health care reform will have to come to us differently, I think.

Best wishes, hang in there, I'm in a similar situation, have to pay for my own.

:patriot:

[bertman]

13. You're right, NYC_SKP. Just wait til the Reichwingers get their dander up over socialistic

medicine. It'll make their hissyfit over the stimulus bill look like a nasty scowl in comparison.

[NYC_SKP]

14. It'll be ugly, but at least they won't be able to accuse us of holding up the economy....

...which is what would happen if we tried to add things to the stimulus package.

Sometimes it's good to keep these things separate.

And we've got both houses, we can get quite a bit accomplished!

:patriot:

[Jackpine Radical]

18. Do WE have both houses?

Or do the insurance companies? Think Daschle.

[NYC_SKP]

19. We're going to have to shame the bastards into voting the right way...

And you make an excellent point. :thumbsup:

If we want it we call out the fuckers, including the Dems, in public.

They've got to be exposed.

[Waiting For Everyman]

9. I don't get the point of putting arbitrary limits like this in relief bills.

Every single housing measure in the past year has been the same way, every one of them rendered useless to most people it's designed for.

Everything for everyday people is loaded with weasel-clauses. (The classic example is the so-called tax deduction for college tuition - by the time you get done with the worksheet, you can deduct a pittance of the actual cost paid.) Where's the logic for it? Are you less in need than someone who was laid off a week later? Those laid off earlier are in MORE need, if anything.

[prolesunited]

11. No kidding.

We are hanging in there longer.

[Coyote_Bandit]

12. Long-term unemployed here

or self-employed if you think the desk in the corner of the spare bedroom that doesn't generate enough income to pay even the minimum bills really represents job creation.

There is not one damn thing in that stimulus bill that will directly benefit me - unless I want to go buy a new car.

Health care? WTF is that? I haven't seen a doctor for any reason in over a decade.

I too am losing everything. I am living the Amerikkan nightmare.

Good luck to you. You are not alone.

[McCamy Taylor]

15. It might be time for a march on Washington by folks that got no jobs....

[old mark]

16. PA has a state insurance plan for lower income people under

Medicare age. Problem is there is a waiting list of a year and a half at least, but you can buy it till you qualify for the free insurance.
I had bypass surgery and NO one will cover you after that except blue cross for about $800 a month, which I don't have.

mark

[stray cat]

21. The stimulus bill fails to help you out - the economy screwed you.

Best wishes - a week really stinks.

[Vinca]

22. My husband and I are both self-employed and haven't been able

to afford insurance for 5 years. I was dismayed when the COBRA coverage was included for those recently out of a job, but nothing was there for those of us still plodding along hoping not to die a slow, agonizing death before some kind of national health plan appears.

[prolesunited]

25. That's just not right

They keep throwing out that number of 45 million uninsured, but you have to wonder how old that is and how many millions more it is by now.

[CitizenPatriot]

28. I agree that those of us who are self-employed

(aka, the American Dream) are getting screwed. Not eligible for unemployment or cobra....so, when the work dries up, that's it for you.

And not everyone who is self-employed owns a business- there are all of the contract employees (not a real job, according to michael steal) -- writers, producers, camera, etc. What was once a thriving business has gone down the tubes.

[Vinca]

29. To add insult to injury, if you happen to have enough money

to buy health insurance and can't worm your way into any kind of group, the premiums are much higher than everyone elses. And heaven help you if you aren't 25, in excellent health with a "clean" medical record. At this point I doubt anyone would sell me health insurance at any price because I've had Lyme Disease.

[CitizenPatriot]

30. Yeah, we couldn't get it on our own because of medical condition

even though it was over ten years ago.

cobra was 700/month and then it ran out after 3 months.

but since we owned a home, tough luck. you have to pay all of your emergency care, etc because you aren't poverty level yet. Michael Moore's Sicko really made this country look lame, having people sneak into 3rd world countries for medical care? how friggin sad.

[dkofos]

24. I have to ask, would you be spending more than $1065 a month on your meds?

[prolesunited]

27. But it's more than just meds

And, yes, I take stuff for which there is no generic equivalent, like Advair, inhalers and diabetes test strips.

A routine exam and blood tests recently would have cost $800 and last month I had upper and lower GI tests to find the cause of bleeding. I still don't have it all sorted out, but I think the total for that is running more than $8,000. Three years ago, I had to have surgery and had a number of other issues in between. My bills that year ran about $50,000. Thanks to insurance, though, I've only paying a portion of it. And, of course, these problems also make me uninsurable.

Also, it you look at your bills, if you don't have insurance, you end up paying double or triple the negotiated rates. It's crazy. Those least able to pay end up getting charged the most.