Laura

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troutbend
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Laura
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Estes Park, CO
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Hotel - Hospitality

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This Oughta Be Good

Politics & Legal > Health Care Bill
 

Health Care Bill

With all the inflated rhetoric and distortions, it's hard to know how something like the new health care bill is going to affect people like us until its provisions start to take effect.

We paid $9600 for private health insurance last year, a policy we've had since 2005, and the premiums go up quite a bit yearly, so we've increased the deductible to $7500.

A recent letter from the insurance company informed us that our health plan is considered 'grandfathered' so we will not be able to get maintenance care such as mammograms or annual wellness checks without co-pays (aka 'expense sharing').

We will, however enjoy the benefit of no lifetime cap on our benefits. In other words, if we need expensive care over a period of time, the insurance company can't say 'you've used up your benefits.'

Also, they say they can't rescind our coverage except for outright fraud. This provision was part of the Obama plan because the insurance companies make/made a frequent practice of denying coverage because according to them we didn't inform them of all of our pre-existing conditions at the time of application. For example, if I had a heart attack, https://mybloggers.com/cgi-bin/blogapp/bnr.cgi?i=1232728085they would say 'no coverage for you because you forgot to tell us you went to a dermatologist for a mole check 7 1/2 years before you applied for this insurance.'

We have yet to see how these provisions are going to raise our annual premiums, but I'm sure they will.

I'm hoping that protections like these do not get taken away.

I can understand that the 'every American is required to have health insurance or pay a tax penalty' provision is controversial, it certainly doesn't afford my family any relief as to the cost of our coverage, and the states think it will be too costly to insure those who can't pay their own way, but I hope that it is modified, rather than the entire health care reform act thrown out.

By the way, people have asked why we don't self-insure, meaning that we do without insurance and count on being healthy, but there are a lot of good reasons why not, including a lapse in health care insurance can really cause problems getting coverage down the line: everything becomes a pre-existing condition.

posted on Jan 7, 2011 7:19 PM ()

Comments:

An advantage to living in Canada (despite the long wait
lists), it's free. Insurance is for dental & drugs.
comment by crazylife on Jan 9, 2011 8:46 PM ()
Every time they want to discourage us voters from doing something about our health care system they point out how you-all have waiting lists, but we've got some of our own waiting lists: I knew a guy who broke his leg and had to wait a week to get it seen to because there was a nursing shortage and no beds available on the surgical floor. Can't get much worse than that, I'd say.
reply by troutbend on Jan 9, 2011 11:55 PM ()
What the health reform plan really needed to even the playing field was the public option, which was nixed by insurance lobbyists and their congressional cohorts, hence the mandate that became part of the bill, and the extended timeline for implementation, which allows insurance companies to keep raising premiums. But I'm grateful for what we got in the reform package. More is still needed.
comment by marta on Jan 9, 2011 6:37 PM ()
Yes, I can see the fine hand of the insurance companies and special interests in there looking out for their profits. The present health care bill doesn't do a whole lot to make my life any better, it's part of the plot to annihilate the middle class.
reply by troutbend on Jan 9, 2011 11:58 PM ()
I should care--if not for me, for my children. But, like you said, until I'm directly affected, I just go with the flow. It's all medicare with a weak supplement for me now.
comment by solitaire on Jan 9, 2011 6:02 AM ()
Farmers struggle as it is, but as small business owners they should be able to deduct their premiums.
reply by troutbend on Jan 9, 2011 4:47 PM ()
My group plan for myself and employees just took a 30% leap in price, and also cut a bunch of services. Had to upgrade our plan. I feel as if I'm indulging in luxuries, when I think of what other people are having to do.
comment by drmaus on Jan 8, 2011 9:42 AM ()
I expect our premiums to go up by at least 30% this July. Being in a group plan is the best way, if you can get it, because in general they have to insure everyone in the group, no matter what their individual health problems are.
reply by troutbend on Jan 8, 2011 1:14 PM ()
I am one of the fortunate few when it comes to healthcare. Teacher
retirement pays half my premium, I have medicare advantage and it is cheap.Ted is covered by the V.A. plus the Indians. I had no health care
until I was sixty, I just optimistically went without which you sometimes
get by with.
comment by elderjane on Jan 8, 2011 8:21 AM ()
A former friend of mine was bragging about her wonderful group healthcare plan provided by the University of Colorado. She kept saying 'It's sweet....It's a sweet plan ... it's so sweet' and she's a retired pHd professor who prides herself on having a good vocabulary. Finally I asked her if it was saccharine sweet or modified corn syrup.
reply by troutbend on Jan 8, 2011 1:10 PM ()
I hate insurance. It just seems like you pay them monthly just so they can screw you when you need them most.
comment by kristilyn3 on Jan 8, 2011 7:58 AM ()
It really is a form of extortion. You don't dare not have it, but they'll do anything they can to not honor the contract.
reply by troutbend on Jan 8, 2011 1:07 PM ()
A useful explanation. Ed paid for private insurance for years -- it was very costly. It provided for catastrophic care but the premiums were out of sight. He finally gave it up after getting on Medicare. The company isn't writing that kind of policy any more and that's why he hung on to it so long.
comment by tealstar on Jan 8, 2011 6:06 AM ()
Our initial thinking was that this private coverage would carry us to Medicare, but the closer we get to being old enough, the more I realize that Medicare probably isn't going to be all that great by the time we get there.
reply by troutbend on Jan 8, 2011 1:12 PM ()

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