A lot of us believe that the healthcare crisis in the US affects and will affect other people. They have always had medical insurance policies and feel that they always will have an insurance policy. However, there are immense holes in our current system and it is far too easy to fall into one of them.
Health insurance brokers hear this story over and over again. A woman, let's call her Susan, will call looking for healhealth careerage. Susan has worked all her life and has never been without coverage.
She lost her company healthcare coverage about a year ago when she became too sick to do her job. She took the COBRA option. Now she is nearing the end of her eligibility for COBRA and wants to get an individual health care INSURANCE policy.
Her illness keeps her from going to work, but has not outward symptoms. She is able to do most of the things she wants to do. Her doctor has told her that she is doing fine. From the doctor's standpoint she is. With treatment, she will live a long life. However, from an insurability standpoint, she is not. The treatment the doctor expects her to get would be expensive and will cost them more than the premiums they can charge Susan. Susan is shocked when she hears this.
Susan might cry. She might be uncontrollably upset. Susan has worked all her life and has played by the rules. she believes that Susan should qualify for affordable medical care.
Susan learns from the agent that there is a state-sponsored program that she will qualify for. However, it is two or three times the cost of the COBRA plan that she can barely afford. So although there is health insurance that she qualifies for medically, she cannot possibly afford to pay for it. Susan is out of work and has cut back on everything in order to survive.
What does Susan do? She might do nothing besides hope that she has no major health care event until she qualifies for Medicare. She might purchase the state-sponsored program with help from her children. Either way she will probably worry about her health and her financial standing all the time.
Another call health insurance agents get a lot is the one from Bill. Bill's daughter Lisa has been insured on his healthcare coverage policy since her birth. Lisa is now an adult and is about to be kicked off his policy due to her age.
Lisa has all appearances of a state of wellness, but she has a disease that attacks her spine. She takes a medication that allows her to do everything she wants to do. So long as she takes her Rx she's fine. No one outside of her herself and her parents know that she has ever had a medical condition more severe than the flu.
Lisa has had healthcare insurance since her conception, but now cannot get affordable health insurance because she has aged out of her parents' policy and is uninsurable in the private market. She is faced with the prospect of doing without her medication and putting her health at risk. She might ask her parents to help pay for a high-priced state-sponsored program . Lisa doesn't know that they can only afford to do this at the expense of their retirement savings. They have just finished paying for Lisa's education and had planned to put any extra money they earn over the next ten years into their retirement fund.
There are hundreds of thousands of Lisas and Susans around the country. These are People who have played by the rules and have lost their employment based coverage due to a health problem.
When medical coverage is tied into your employment, if you lose your employment or you lose your health care coverage coverage. Cancer or a heart attack an accident can keep you from being employable. When you are no longer able to do your job, chances are you will no longer be eligible for your company healthcare insurance coverage. This can mean that you die before your time because you cannot afford to pay for healthcare care or health care coverage when you are no longer able to do your job.
The present health care system works for some, but not for all. Most of us are ignorant of the fact that even those who have worked hard all their lives and have done what they could to keep their healthcare insurance through their jobs can have their health decimated in our existing system. You lose your health, then you lose your employment, then you lose your healthcare insurance, then you lose your house. And there isn't much you can do about it in the current system.
Alston J. Balkcom has been an insurance agent since 1985. He now has several websites that help people get competitive quotes for insurance in all parts of the United States. You can find information about
Arkansas medical insurance on his sites. He blogs frequently. His most recent post include one about:
Health insurance benefits in America and Pre-existing conditions
