He Bought Health Insurance for Emergencies. Then He Fell Into a $33,601 Trap. Junk Insurance.

[appalachiablue]

- Cory Dowd bought short-term insurance, thinking emergencies would be covered. But when he needed an appendectomy, his policy only paid $1,682 while Dowd owed over $30,000 to the hospital. Credit: C. Watson.
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- ProPublica, by Jenny Deam, May 8, 2021. Since the Trump administration deregulated the health insurance industry, there’s been an explosion of short-term plans that leave patients with surprise bills and providers with huge revenue.

In the spring of 2019, Cory Dowd suddenly found himself without health insurance for the first time. A self-employed event planner, he had just finished a Peace Corps stint that provided health benefits, but he was still more than a year away from starting a graduate program that would provide coverage through his university. So, like countless others in an online world, he went insurance shopping on the internet.

But the individual insurance market he was about to enter was one dramatically changed under President Donald Trump’s push to dismantle Obamacare, offering more choices at cheaper prices.

Dowd is well-educated and knew more than most about how traditional health insurance works. But even he did not understand the extent to which insurers could offer plans that looked like a great deal but were stuffed with fine print that allowed companies to deny payment for routine medical events. Not bound by the strict coverage rules of the Affordable Care Act, the short-term plans that Dowd signed up for have been dubbed “junk insurance” by consumer advocates and health policy experts.

The plans can deny coverage for people with preexisting conditions, exclude payments for common treatments and impose limits on how much is paid for care.

Dowd, like millions of other Americans who have flocked to such plans in the past three years, only saw what looked like a great deal: six-month coverage offered through an agency called Pivot Health, whose website touts the company as a “fast-growing team obsessed with helping you find the right insurance for your needs.”

Monthly premiums for the two short-term plans he bought were surprisingly cheap at around $100 a month each, with reasonable co-pays for routine doctor visits and treatments. Best of all, the first plan he bought promised to cover up to $1 million in claims, the second up to $750,000. That should more than do it, he thought. Dowd was 31 and healthy but wanted protection in case of a medical emergency. He signed up and began paying his premiums without closely reading the details.

Then he was hit with the very kind of emergency he had feared. And he wasn’t protected after all...

Read More, https://www.propublica.org/article/junk-insurance

[SWBTATTReg]

1. Shaking my head (SMH) at this horrible turn of events. Another 'gift' from our 'great' leader djt,

eh? What a scumbag (or scumbags) that proposed such insurance knowing full well the perils that they were offering to their customers. Instead of calling their offerings 'health insurance', they should call it by its rightful name, 'Peril Insurance'.

[appalachiablue]

2. Criminals. I recall hearing this was in the works

a few years ago. Thieves deliberately targeted people like this bright young man. Isn't 'deregulation' great?! And Freedumb!

[nature-lover]

3. Happened to my daughter. No maternity coverage. Thanks to Biden opening the exchange, she's good.

The exchange is open through August 15. Anyone can get coverage.

My daughter did not qualify for discounted premiums, but this marketplace policy will save her a few thousand in maternity and delivery costs.

Her old policy was not an emergency only policy. She thought she had full coverage since it covered some of the basics.

Lessons learned.

[BigmanPigman]

4. When I had to wait to file my taxes

I discovered that my ACA monthly premiums were reduced by over 50% from May-Dec 2021. I just called Blue Shield to verify the change in my bill and he said this was correct. I get tax credits with Covered CA since I am low income. Under tRump I had to pay more and more. This is due to Biden. I would make sure I have the current rates (May 15th was the day it started). I'll save $1,200 over the rest of 2021 due to reduced premiums. This is part of The American Rescue Plan.

I did the math several years ago and I crunched the numbers that I paid for health insurance over my lifetime and it is over $100,000. I doubt any other country has this problem with insuring their population.

[nature-lover]

6. Thanks! I'll have her check it out.

It put a damper on the baby excitement when they found out about the lack of coverage. All good now.

[hatrack]

5. And here's the Twitter account for Pivot Health . . . .

They seem nice.

https://twitter.com/pivothealthllc