Quote from KavonTrebor:
More of the American Way of Health Care:
Carole Santa Rosa, CA
I can't afford my health insurance anymore. In 2002, after being uninsured for many years, I managed to get myself some health insurance with Blue Shield of CA. I signed up for a high deductible plan ($2400) and also set up a Health Savings Account to put money aside income tax free to pay for what my insurance wouldnât cover. Naively (and in hindsight likely stupidly) I shared with Blue Shield that a 2.9 cm fibroid was found in my uterus in 2000. (Do you know how small that is?) I have had NO problems whatsoever and this is quite common/normal for many woman. Anyway, Blue Shield refused to insure me at their Tier 1 rate and put me at Tier 3, 56.25% above the Tier 1 rates. In 2002 this didnât seem so bad it was $69 a month. Well, I have yet to meet my deductible in any year since I have had the insurance. That means I have paid for EVERYTHING out of my own pocket. Blue Shield has continued to jack up their rates on me once or twice a year now to where I am now paying $411 a month for exactly the same insurance. That is a TRULY UNBELIEVABLE increase of about 600% from what I was paying in 2002. My income has not increased 600%!!! I donât believe health insurance costs have increased 600% in that time either. I am now spending $411 a month on insurance and putting $250 month into a Health Savings Account to pay for what my insurance doesnât cover. Thatâs over $660 a month to insure an extremely healthy 42 year old. It is now at the point this outlay is seriously hurting me and I have to find some other option for myself. (Moving to Canada is looking appealing!) It is unconscionable to me that we have an ENTIRE industry that has to make a buck on the care provided to a patient by a practitioner. This should not be a profit making venture!!! We do not need a distributor/middle man for this transaction. I have two clients who just turned 65 and who are quite excited they now have health insurance. Well, what is someone at my age supposed to do for the next 25 years? I have another friend who just got sick with cancer and had catastrophic medical insurance. The insurance company told him cancer wasnât a catastrophe and they wouldnât cover his treatment. He had just missed the deadline for filing for Medicare. Please, I encourage you to support reform that can help self-employed individuals like myself have affordable health insurance.
in this country any person that recieves their insurance from their employer really has no insurance. all you have is an employee benifit. any illness that causes you not to be able to work puts you in the street with no insurance and no possibility of buying private insurance even if you have the money because you will be rejected because of a preexisting condition..