Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by HPNpilot on September 3, 2012 at 9:06am

There is one more useful thing in the law for parents with children : children can be covered on the parent's plan up to age 26 now, if they are still dependents. This is important while children are in college, before they get their own jobs with insurance.

Imagine the cost of a kid in college with diabetes AND no insurance.

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Permalink Reply by dejahthoris on September 3, 2012 at 12:23pm

Yes my adult non d child is still on our insurance because of that which is awesome because she has her own health issues. It has also closed the "donut hole" for my retired parents on a fixed income, thus saving them ALOT on their medications. Not to mention free preventative care which saves everyone money in the long run.

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Permalink Reply by acidrock23 on September 3, 2012 at 10:55am

One of my many problems with the Ryan plan is the suggestion that "we'll give vouchers to people to replace Medicare" as if insurers are going to insure say 60 year olds with stints, hyperlipidemia, HTN, T2, knee problems, etc. for $5-6K/ year.

Of course, the government can "step in" and mandate that insurers create products to cover this market but once they take that step, they are pretty much recreating Obamacare, with government controlling access to health care. $6K/ year seems like a lot for insurance but that's because the underwriting exposure for "heavy duty" cases is limited and spread around through employee health care and then "capped" because employers are basically done covering those folks at 65.

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Permalink Reply by Kathy on September 3, 2012 at 11:08am

No experience as a parent, but as a student that was diagnosed in college (living on my own, paying my own medical bills!). Your protection would be to know the existing laws of your state. As I found out, all of my student insurance would cover me, since it was a group plan. & when I finished school & was looking at insurances, all the southern states have the same requirement that Group plans must cover pre-existing conditions. Individual plans will cover pre-exisiting conditions if you were previously covered, & if not, then you have to go 6mths before coverage kicks in, but then you CAN get coverage. Knowledge not hysteria is the way to combat bad policy.

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Permalink Reply by Brenda on September 3, 2012 at 11:15am

I agree with you dejahtoris. I am beyond worry for my 27 year old son who is a professional musician. At this point in time, he cannot find any affordable health care. If he were to go onto public assistance, he could have some help, but that too would limit the mds he could see and would not cover his medical bills. As it is, he cannot afford testing strips, so tests infrequently. Out of pocket expenses for everything from insulin to sharps. None of us can afford an out of pocket health care plan at this time. Hoping that something will become available to him soon.
My daughter is 25 and also has diabetes. We didn't know this would happen, so am hoping people don't jump on the band wagon and ask me why we had another kid when one already had a problem - the older child was actually diagnosed 10 years after she was. The insurance coverage for her is a godsend right now. Just out of school and getting her feet under herself is hard enough without going through what is happening to my son.

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Permalink Reply by dejahthoris on September 3, 2012 at 12:42pm

Check healthcare.gov or pcip.gov which is the high risk insurance pool. I know the States are to expand medicare but the laws are just going into effect so not many people know about it. https://pcip.gov/

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Permalink Reply by Sam on September 3, 2012 at 4:27pm

I was diagnosed not terribly long after the Affordable Care Act passed. I, for one, do not find any comfort whatsoever with the new regulations. I couldn't afford private policies out of pocket before it passed, now the costs of such plans are sure to rise. Group plans (employer plans) had to cover preexisting conditions before, and they still have to. (with certain short term exceptions when coverage has been allowed to lapse-- there is no reason anyone's coverage should lapse between group plans with COBRA benefits.) This does get a little tricky for the self employed.... Extremely low or no-income people were covered by medicaid before, and still are, although funding for this will be cut in order to fund a massive and dysfunctional regulatory framework in the federal government now.

I have worked my entire adult life in an industry highly regulated by the federal government. I could never have even imagined the level of dysfunction that the federal government operates at until I built a career that involved dealing with it on a daily basis... based on that experience, I am certainly not very happy to see them getting involved in regulating healthcare.

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Permalink Reply by Natalie ._c- on September 3, 2012 at 8:47pm

Like, so who can afford COBRA payments when they are unemployed????

Many years ago, when I was working as a substitute teacher and had my son at home, I was taking home $800 a month (except during the summer and holidays, when I made nothing) and paying $400 a month in rent for a small apartment, and was considered too rich for Medicaid, because the upper limit for total income was $300 a month. So, seems like there are lots of low-paid people with no insurance who are too wealthy and live in too much luxury to qualify for Medicaid.

I want to see answers from people who know what they are talking about. It's really too bad that I could have done better financially (but probably not medically, because not many docs will take Medicaid patients) if I had been on welfare and not working. But that wasn't MY fault -- it's the fault of people who just have no idea of what it's like to be working poor.

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Permalink Reply by Sam on September 3, 2012 at 10:55pm

So, do you honestly feel that now, with the new laws that if you were again making only $800/month, or whatever that equates to adjusted for inflation to todays dollars, that you would be better off? I'm afraid the answer would be no, and even more afraid that if it was yes, it would be wrong.

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Permalink Reply by smileandnod on September 4, 2012 at 10:06am

I think the new law is defintely a step in the right direction. Is it good enough? No, it's not. But with fierce opposition from the Republicans and lobbyists protecting profits for providers, what do you expect.

And to reverse the question...what have the Republicans proposed that would solve this problem other than everybody should be able to self pay?

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Permalink Reply by MyBustedPancreas on September 5, 2012 at 10:22am

Not everyone can afford COBRA coverage when they lose a job or change jobs. I've been there and COBRA payments can run upwards of $600/month. For most people, that is simply impossible (as it was for me when I was 24 and changed jobs and lost health care coverage for 45 days as a result).

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Permalink Reply by Jim on September 3, 2012 at 5:04pm

Unfortunately they don't have much of a track record to fall back on. Social Security...broke. Medicare....broke...I can only speak for Illinois medicaid, but pretty much broke (since they can't print money they just don't bother paying the medical providers).

While reform needs to happen, putting all our hopes in the government could be a recipe for disaster.

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