F'in COBRA!

Chris Losinger

because having a lapse in health insurance is an absolute no-no, my wife and I had to go on COBRA (a govt program that allows you to continue your employer's health insurance after you lose the job). the first month, we paid a large amount of money. this month, the second month, the premium more than doubled. that's right, it went up over 100% in one month. why? the insurance company thought it was a good idea to more than double the rates, in one month, without warning. i swear, i'll mail-bomb the next person who defends the current US health care system. :| -c

A | B - it's not a choice.

ThumbNailer

Chris Austin

Sorry to hear it Chris. The same recently happened to my sister; just before they were susposed to have major sugery on her daughters leg.:(( They are prob going to have to spend a huge portion of their savings to handle the stuff now. Chris Losinger wrote: i swear, i'll mail-bomb the next person who defends the current US health care system. Funny thing is I used to be soooo anti socialised health care. But when the ones who fall through the "saftey - net" actualy have faces that you love you begin to question your assumptions. What Would Uncle Steve Do?. -Michael Martin

Stan Shannon

Chris Losinger wrote: i swear, i'll mail-bomb the next person who defends the current US health care syst Would'nt dream of doing that, but I will join you in mail bombing insurance companies. I received a phone call from the company I insure my home with last month and they politly told me my home was actually worth more than three times what we actually paid for it two short years ago. They promptly explained to be that my annual insurance coverage was going to quadruple. If there is any sector of our economy which seriously needs to be outlawed it is the insurance industry. Between insurance, lawyers and doctors our economy doesn't have a chance. "Any clod can have the facts, but having opinions is an art." Charles McCabe, San Francisco Chronicle

Roger Wright

I well remember losing my health benefits when I was laid off in May. COBRA coverage was $480 a month - how do I do that when I'm unemployed, and the only available jobs in the region pay $5/hour? I still can't afford any coverage, but I've located private insurance policies with nearly equal coverage for as little as $125/month. Check Google for companies that offer plans for individuals... It sucks, but until the local quacks start charging a fair price for their services, we don't have any alternative. On a plus side, if you're self-employed, one half of your premiums are deductible for income tax purposes, even if you don't itemize. Nobody wants to read a diary by someone who has not seen the shadow of Bubba on the prison shower wall in front of them!
Paul Watson, on BLOGS and privacy - 1/16/2003

KaRl

What do you think about Universal Healthcare Coverage[^] ?

Angels banished from heaven have no choice but to become demons Cowboy Bebop

Mike Gaskey

Some insight: when you're working for a company you will usually get group insurance. Group insurance is less expensive than individual because you and the others in the group are in the same pool of people whose experience is rated for premium purposes. The company you work for will cover anywhere from all the premium to none of the premium. Usually the employer will pay about 75% of the employee's premium, sometime the same for the family sometimes less. CORBA basically forces the insurance company to continue the coverage. Way back in the way back, the insurance company did not have to continue the coverage. A company (ex-employer) can choose to cover a part of the cost, but most do not. It sounds as though your's did, for the first month. The end result is that the premium still needs to be paid and you're on the hook for the full amount of the premium. Continuing the coverage, or some form of coverage, is important because if you or one of your family come up with a major condition you will not be able to get coverage. Try looking for a high deductible individual policy. Group health insurance tends to have a rich benefit structure. A rich benefit structure gets expensive when the insurance becomes an individual contract. A high deductible protects you against financial ruin but doesn't cover the small stuff, but it is a lot less expensive. By high deductible I mean $5,000 or $10,000. That means your insurance doesn't start kicking in until the bills hit that level. But if something severe hits you, like a heart attack, stroke or cancer, then you'll quickly hit the deductible and the insurance will kick in. After you get through it all you'll be able to negotiate the $5,000 or $10,000, that was not covered by the insurance company, with the health care provider. Check with an insurance salesman to verify, hope this helps. Mike

Roger Wright

KaЯl wrote: What do you think about Universal Healthcare Coverage[^] ? The Long Answer: Like many similar proposals, it looks great on paper. Unfortunately, no government program in my lifetime has ever solved the problem it was intended to fix; most, in fact, created worse troubles. A government-run, or -mandated program will always fail, or at best, fail to fulfill its promise. A need for a solution is clearly evident, as in this country at least 30% of the population has no access to medical care whatsoever. The well-employed, the independently wealthy, and the permanently impoverished have adequate coverage, but the productive poor - those in the minimum wage range - have nothing. The hundreds of thousands of jobs, perhaps millions, lost in the early 1990s were high wage, insured positions. They were replaced by millions of low-wage, uncovered jobs, though the government made a lot of noise about its record job creation rate at the time. The same process is being repeated in this decade, with the collapse of technical employment, and so the problem will only become more critical. Much of the cost of medical care is claimed by the industry to be caused by excessive malpractice insurance costs. These, in turn, are exacerbated by the unrealistic jury awards common in malpractice cases. Americans will sue at the slightest provocation; it seems that for every bad thing that happens, someone else must be responsible and pay for it. The absurdity only grows when juries award multi-million dollar judgments to victims who, in their entire productive lives, could never hope to earn $300,000. The combination of these 'blue sky' awards allowed by our courts, along with the loss of any sense of personal responsibility, and the ludicrous expectation of a risk-free existence that has gained popularity here in the past three decades, has led us to this unfortunate brink. I see no short term solution, but the moves being proposed to limit jury awards to reasonable values seems to me a good beginning. A government program, however, is the worst possible solution, as by definition, it won't be a solution. The Short Answer: It looks great, and it hasn't a prayer of working. Nobody wants to read a diary by someone who has not seen the shadow of Bubba on the prison shower wall in front of them!
Paul Watson, on BLOGS and privacy - 1/16/2003

Chris Losinger

Mike Gaskey wrote: It sounds as though your's did, for the first month not in this case. we called the insurance company and verified that they actually did raise the rates. my wife's previous employer might have absorbed some of that rate increase for their employees, but we got the full load. she's nearly mad enough to write to the governor. :) -c

A | B - it's not a choice.

ThumbNailer

KaRl

Thanks for both answers :)

Angels banished from heaven have no choice but to become demons Cowboy Bebop

Lost User

I'm afraid this brings back a news item I saw on tv in Toronto a couple of years ago. A US medical insureance company had been flasifying doctors reports in order to avoid payouts. These were the company's own doctors, not third parties :mad: The state system in the UK (NHS) needs a lot of work, but it is slowly happening. Elaine The tigress is here :-D