Health reform for High risk patients

snommintj
snommintj Member Posts: 601
edited March 2014 in Colorectal Cancer #1
I've been doing my homework on this new health bill. This thing is a beast to read. I have a law dictionary beside me. The words and the meanings are getting all jumbled in my head. As best I can figure, there is money now for the uninsurable. About 6 billion dollars has been set aside for us. If you haven't been covered by any insurance for 6 months you should be able to sign up under your states High Risk Pool. If your state opts out then you will be able to sign up for the federal High Risk Pool. The maximum out of pocket patient expense is $5650. So you will be looking at about a $500 monthly premium. The amount of coverage will be similar to your states medicaid and the federal will be similar to medicare. These plans will by no means be perfect but for those without coverage will be a huge benefit. If you have crap insurance that doesn't cover squat then your gonna have to drop it and be uninsured for 6 months.
In 2014, you will be able to choose any plan you want. There won't be any exclusions based on pre-existing conditions. I seriously have no idea how that is gonna work. Either premiums are going to skyrocket, or companies are just going to refuse to pay.

What I think would work best is a universal coverage. Everyone is responsible for their first $10,000 (each man, woman, child) then the rest is insured by the govt. As far as the first $10,000 goes, hospitals have to treat and finance.

Comments

  • C Dixon
    C Dixon Member Posts: 201
    #2
    Are you sure the Out of
    Are you sure the Out of Pocket includes the premium? That usually means what we pay to providers, not the insurance companies.

    Thanks,

    Catherine
  • snommintj
    snommintj Member Posts: 601
    #3
    C Dixon said:

    Are you sure the Out of
    Are you sure the Out of Pocket includes the premium? That usually means what we pay to providers, not the insurance companies.

    Thanks,

    Catherine

    Don't hold me to it
    The way I read it, it seems as though the premiums will be capped at around $5500 for individuals and $11,000 for families. Now, I don't know if the plans will include deductibles or not, but it doesn't appear to.
  • geotina
    geotina Member Posts: 2,111 Member
    #4
    snommintj said:

    Don't hold me to it
    The way I read it, it seems as though the premiums will be capped at around $5500 for individuals and $11,000 for families. Now, I don't know if the plans will include deductibles or not, but it doesn't appear to.

    Health Reform
    I gave up trying to read the reform. Do you know if the premiums will be on a sliding scale dependent upon income. I would think that most average families, $11,000.00, might be out of budget. Take a single mom/dad with a couple kids, well $11,000 is something they might not be able to afford with mortage, day care and the like.

    Tina
  • snommintj
    snommintj Member Posts: 601
    #5
    geotina said:

    Health Reform
    I gave up trying to read the reform. Do you know if the premiums will be on a sliding scale dependent upon income. I would think that most average families, $11,000.00, might be out of budget. Take a single mom/dad with a couple kids, well $11,000 is something they might not be able to afford with mortage, day care and the like.

    Tina

    premium help
    Right now there isn't anything other than a promise to help with the premiums. The law requires this program to begin enrolling by July 1st. There currently isn't any additional money set aside for help with premiums. That will probably change when the program starts enrolling.

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