Health insurance question for self-employed and those with pre-existing conditions

[stray cat]

While all of us want a public option I think; the current proposals contain insurance regulations that prevent charging extra for pre-existing conditions, prevent companies from dropping you when you get sick, I think cap out of pocket expenses, and allows self-employed to buy into group type insurance which is typically much cheaper.

1. Currently, if you can get coverage - about what do you pay for it and can you even get coverage?

2. What is your opinion on not doing anything if we can't get a strong public option?

[Warpy]

1. I have never been able to afford private insurance

and now I can't get it at all.

Forget any "reform" that doesn't include a public option.

Unless those of us who have been the most victimized by for profit insurance companies can bypass them, nothing will change for any of us.

[ipaint]

8. I am in both of those categories.

20 years ago I would have settled for less. Today, after spending the majority of the last 3 decades uninsured I refuse to accept anything that leaves 17 million fellow citizens behind to suffer and/or die, foists the hardship of mandated payment on the backs of the working classes especially during a depression and allows for a massive transfer of wealth in the form of taxpayer subsidies to the wealthiest individuals and corporations that exist on the planet.

Funny how globalization is all the rage as long as business profits but looking globally for the best working health care systems to cover all americans and those same business elites go all out protectionist.

I'm sure the medical industry already has it best lobbyists lined up for those prime gov. regulatory positions. When the government proves it can effectively regulate the criminal financial industry maybe they can be relied on to regulate the medical industry. Until then the mandate will be the extent of reform. Just like the insurance industry stated back in June.



..."Insurers do not embrace all of the healthcare restructuring proposals. But they are fighting hard for a purchase requirement, sweetened with taxpayer-funded subsidies for customers who can't afford to buy it on their own, and enforced with fines."

..."The industry fears that the government would force lower fees on hospitals and physicians, enabling a public health insurance plan to offer consumers a better bargain.

That, they say, would make it hard for private companies to compete for customers. Insurers also fear that a public option could easily be converted later into a single-payer healthcare system.

Health insurers don't see a public plan "as the nose of the camel under the tent; they see it as the front half of the camel under the tent," said Robert Laszewski, a former insurance company executive and industry consultant.

"They are interested in 45 million new customers," he said, "but the first thing in everybody's mind is preserving their right to do business in a way that can be profitable and meet shareholder needs."


http://articles.latimes.com/2009/jun/07/business/fi-healthcare7?pg=2

[undeterred]

2. I am unemployed and I cannot afford private insurance.

But even when I was employed, employers like Manpower were "offering" insurance that they made no contribution to- and it was $6K a year, big deductible. I'm much better off just paying for what I can out of pocket, and hoping nothing really bad happens. I don't ever want to give money to a private insurance company again. If we can't get a strong public option we're just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. Health care costs will sink our whole economy.

[DURHAM D]

3. The rate depends on your age, gender and smoker/non-smoker.

I am speaking only if you don't have pre-existing condition.

If you have pre-existing condition and need insurance pretty much your only choice is to work for a corporation or government entity and get on their group.

I have an employee who has a pre-existing condition and his wife works for the state. He is on her plan. His monthly premium is $552. I pay it for him. That amount is for all spouses regardless of age and he is not rated up because he has a pre-exisitng. He can not get insurance any other way for less that about $1300 a month the last time he checked - that was several years ago.

[Coyote_Bandit]

4. Ummmm......

I pay about $3000 annually for what is nothing more than catastrophic major medical coverage. Those are fully taxable dollars that I use to pay the premium so add another 30% or so to the cost - making it closer to $4000. The policy carries a $10,000 deductible and a co-pay beyond that. I am the only person covered on the policy. I'm 40 something, don't smoke and have no documented pre-existing conditions. Of course, I haven't seen a doctor for any reason in well over a decade. That might be different if I were actually receiving routine and preventative care.

Personally I think anything less than single payer is doomed to fail. Long-term, any public option is going to become little more than a federal insurance pool of last resort. It has become apparent to me that I should not expect anything resembling meaningful healthcare reform during my lifetime. I expect to live an unnecessarily diminished and shortened life because of it. I'd like to be pleasantly surprised but the Dem leadership and legislative majorities don't seem to have much principle or humanitarianism or fight in them. Seems they can sell hope but they can't fulfill the orders. What good is that?

[drm604]

5. I'm self-employed.

I'm able to get Blue Cross by belonging to the *choke* Chamber of Commerce (please forgive me :cry:). I have a preexisting condition which is costly to maintain, but joining this way eliminated any questions. As a single male I pay about $580 a month (it just went up from $560 a month). I HATE belonging to the COC but I HAVE to have insurance.

The only requirement was that I was self-employed and that I could prove that by producing a schedule C from my last tax return. I am now my own group plan. I get letters from BC addressed to the "Plan Administrator".

I can't speak for other local COCs in other states. Some may have similar benefits and requirements, and some may not.

If we can get preexisting conditions eliminated I'll be very happy to be able to stop paying dues to the COC.

[KoKo]

12. We were lucky to get the Blue Cross in my state and every year we

have to go through "qualifiers" to prove we are part of small group as Business Owners. It's horribly expensive for us...especially with small business in recession like everyone else.

[Tracer]

6. For 13 years when I worked for a company ...

... I paid $0.00 for health insurance. That's right. Zero. Pretty good deal if you ask me. Of course, this was from 1978-1991.

Since then, I've been self-employed. For 7 or 8 years, I purchased health insurance. Each year, from a different company in an attempt to keep the costs down. The last insurance company quoted me a $10,000 deductible and something like $700/mo. It was a choice between paying my mortgage/property taxes or health insurance. Guess which won.

Luckily, I remained healthy until I qualified for Medicare (which has paid for my cancer treatments for the past 4 years).

Health care "reform" without the Public Option is an oxymoron.

[mmonk]

7. I recently chose one of those high deductable ($5450.00)

Health Care Savings accounts due to the hard ship of high premiums. It has limited my out of pocket expenses to a little over $14,000 but still has limits in the area of mental health and doesn't cover autism related issues for my son. Also, it doesn't change claims practices. I certainly don't want it mandated though. I'm looking for something that could be better for citizens.

[PassingFair]

9. My husband and I paid for health insurance for 15 years...

by 2003, the premium, for a family of 4 with NO prescription
coverage was $850/month and climbing.

At that point, I had to leave our home-based business and
get a "real" job, just to ensure that we could pay the mortgage
and have health care.

In 2003, I thought it would be just for a little while,
until the advertising business picked up again... :eyes:

I am still working for "the man", and my family agency is
just limping (and I MEAN limping...averaging about $10.000
in profit a year since 2003....).

At the time I went back into the corporate rat race, the
difference between premiums for a "catastrophic" plan and
a "comprehensive" plan was only about $150/month!

I HATE my job and being hounded by managers for 12 hours
a day. I would go back to hustling for my OWN business in
a heartbeat if I had a public plan to buy into for $300/month,
which is close to what I pay through work.

[KoKo]

10. Small Business Owners....

$20,000 a year for two healthy people but one had a bypass 10 years ago and is in excellent shape...but it was "pre-existing."

[Vinca]

11. My husband and I are both self-employed and both have pre-existing conditions.

We had to drop insurance 5 years ago when it hit $1200 a month with a $5000 a head deductible. That was before the pre-existing conditions and the last time I checked, a couple of years ago, it didn't sound too promising that anyone would sell us a policy even if we could afford it. That said, if we can't get a public option, I really don't see the point of this whole exercise. If big insurance wanted to clean up its act, it could be done today without government interference. I love the warm and fuzzy ad being run by the health insurance companies that says they want to make "pre-existing conditions" a thing of the past. Well . . . then do it.