Thank God our family has Health Insurance

[gopiscrap]

My 13 year old daughter had a massive seizure while at school today..it was the first one in 72 months but still it was scaryemotionallly byut what I didn not have worry about was: ...an ambulance ride 1200...ER admit 400 ex rays and cat 2500 and doctors 300 this came to about $4,300.00 and counting. Just think if I didn't have health insurance on her? Instead it will cost me about 90.00 but why should my child get this kind of care when my neighbor'schild doesn't. What is it with out country that we are the only industrialized nation that doesn't provided medical care? IT SHOULD BE A RIGHT..I shouldn't even be having to talk about this!!!! UNIVERSAL SINGLE PAYER NOW!!!!!

[MadMaddie]

1. I am glad your daughter is okay.

You are right every child should be covered in this country!

[Merlot]

2. Well, yes it's nice it "only" cost $90 - but what are your annual premiums?

And I hope your daughter is ok. It is sad to think about another child going through that and not having insurance. What would happen?
Would they just not take care of the child? I can't even think about it with out getting upset.

[LAGC]

3. Sorry about your daughter.

Is she doing okay now? Do you know what the source of the seizures is?

[gopiscrap]

6. We don't know the source

She had seizures when she was little and we had a conversation about putting her on meds...the doctors then said no because they said it has bad side effects and amyway a lot of kids grow out of them by the time they are 5 or 6...sure enough at 5 she had her last one until two years ago...then she a big one and now 27 months later this one. Nothing is scarier than having to ride an ambulance with your to to the ER. Now we see a bunch of nuerologists again. As for the premiums on the health care insurance...it'sabout 4900.00 a year plus the co-pays etc...

[Ms. Toad]

9. Our family insurance is more than 4 times that . . .

and at least going forward, it's still a cheaper than paying my daughter's bills directly.

But I know where you're coming from. Thank God I am lucky enough to have insurance and to be able to afford the copays - BUT No child (or person, for that matter) should have to worry about not being able to get the health care s/he needs because of lack of money.

[Suich]

4. I hope your daughter is ok, gopiscrap.

$1200 for an ambulance ride?????? Why?

:hi:

[gopiscrap]

7. That's how much this private ambulance company

charges for those who don't have insurance..which in my opinion should not be allowed...an ambulanced of all things should be socialized!!!

[seemunkee]

5. Glad she is getting the care she deserves

I know where you are coming from. I have very good insurance and know how lucky I am. EVERYONE should have the same quality and availability of care.

[SheilaT]

8. And of course, she now has a pre-existing

condition will may never get insurance on her own after she ages out of your coverage.

Of course we need Universal Single Payer Now.

[Ms. Toad]

10. COBRA and then HIPAA after that

guarantees that she is entitled to convert the family coverage into an individual policy, at a minimum . . . no guarantees they won't make the cost of doing so unaffordable, though.

But that's no solution for someone who doesn't have a work/family plan to convert when the (later) pre-existing condition first shows up - and it's no solution for when they price it out of reach.

[SheilaT]

11. HIPAA is only about privacy

of your medical records. It does not guarantee coverage. And COBRA is only a way to pay the premiums for your health insurance after you lose your job, and at that the period is only about two years. It does not allow her to convert family coverage to an individual policy.

Your daughter WILL age out of your policy at some point. Under the current system she will then need to have a job which provides health insurance, or pay for it herself. This is the entire problem with our system. NO ONE is guaranteed coverage, except those on Medicare, and not all doctors accept it, and it doesn't cover medication, and so on.

[Ms. Toad]

12. Sorry - wrong acronym - HIPPA

HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) is what guarantees issue of health insurance once you establish a year and a half of "creditable coverage."

COBRA isn't a way to pay the premiums - it is a guarantee (if you are at an employer with a large enough employee base) that you can continue to have access to health insurance once your employment ends for a brief period. HIPPA kicks in after all COBRAs expire (both federal and - if it is available - state). HIPPA guarantees issuance of insurance as an individual policy - so long as you don't have a gap of more than 63 days and follow a bunch of other somewhat complex rules that are difficult to find. It has not been implemented well.

Here's a decent summary of HIPPA guaranteed issue: www.goldeen.com/HIPAA409.pdf (Note the same acronym mistake in the file name that I made - it's hard to keep them straight, since they are so similar and both became effective relatively closely in time.)

The problem with HIPPA is (at least) three fold: (1) to be entitled to issue guaranteed issue you have to have had creditable coverage in the first place for 18 months, either directly or as part of a family policy (so if you are starting from scratch you are out of luck), (2) you have to understand (and not make any mistake in following ) the complex rules, and (3) you have to be able to afford to pay the premiums (which HIPPA doesn't limit - in Ohio, they are currently $14,000/year for a 19 year old).

As weak as HIPPA is, it did guarantee coverage for a significant additional population. Unfortunately since most people don't know about it and couldn't afford it if they did know about it - it hasn't had a wide impact.