[quote=SK in CV]Bearishgirl, you’re smarter than this. You know better than to believe political rhetoric, without doing your own research. I’ll leave my comment there.
Except with regards to the apparent discrepancy between your lauding both GINA and the elimination of annual/lifetime caps, and then criticizing the ACA for elimination of restrictions for pre-existing conditions. You both want it, and don’t want it. Can’t have it both ways. (There is, by the way, nothing within the ACA that requires insurance companies to charge the same premiums for those with pre-existing conditions. So those fat, out of shape, smokers you so disdain, can be charged higher premiums.)[/quote]
SK, I am FOR giving folks with pre-existing conditions the right to be covered. Prior to “Obamacare,” they didn’t HAVE that right. As you know, “pre-existing” conditions aren’t always the fault of the insured, or person seeking insurance. Sometimes it’s just bad luck, or the person (unknowingly) worked or lived in an area which exposed them to carcinogens. Or they became injured through no fault of their own.
It’s just that, for now, insurance companies are obligated to take this group if they apply. Currently, a carrier can set their premium in accordance with risk. When that ability “goes away” (in 2014), they will no longer be able to do so.
And where do you draw the line on premiums before the people who need them most can’t afford them? A 6-8 year Stage 3 cancer survivor NEEDS coverage but how much is too much to charge them for premiums? Is $1100 month too much? How about $1500?? I know we “can’t have it both ways.”
The reason I was expressing “disdain” over premium hikes or “gouging” is because I have never given my carrier a reason to do this to me. I have only used my carrier for “routine care” and two very minor “mishaps.” I believe they’re doing it due to “age-group average usage.”
Why can’t underwriting for health insurance be like that of an auto insurance company? For instance, I have a lower auto premium because I drive under 10K miles per year, do not have any points against my license and my vehicle is garaged at night.
I’ve had the same health carrier since 2004 but converted my group policy to an individual HDHP policy in 2006.
For health insurance scrutiny on application and “premium reset times,” I feel I have been “lumped in” with all my “compadres,” many of who loaded themselves up with a multitude of toxic chemicals between 1965 and 1975, smoked tobacco and/or cannibis products 30+ years (whether or not still smoking), drank themselves into oblivion, turned into a lifetime junk-food junkie, never exercised in their adulthood, dipped snuff for 30+ years, were longtime speed/meth/cocaine freaks, etc. I’m not perfect but why should my premium be based upon the “aggregate usage” for my age group instead of MY usage? By the time you’re my age, your past is catching up with you if it hasn’t already :=]
Health insurance pricing doesn’t seem fair to me. I can ill afford the premiums but must accept reality that they will continue to rise twice yearly.
