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Permalink Reply by Janknitz on April 13, 2011 at 5:36pm

Isn't the American system of health insurance just great???  Sneeze and you've got a pre-existing condition so that you will be denied coverage.   

 

Part of the new healthcare reform will eliminate the insurer's ability to deny covereage based on pre-existing conditions, beginning in 2014, provided this part isn't eviscerated by legislative "reform". 

 

Meanwhile, your only option is to join your state's high risk "pool" and be prepared to pay through the nose. 

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Permalink Reply by John Schlereth on April 14, 2011 at 7:09am

I've looked at the high risk pool and you are absolutely correct.  The premiums are unconscionably high. Luckily, the Anthem agent I mentioned suggested another strategy. 

I just left regular, full-time employment (semi-early retirement) and the agent suggested I take COBRA but downgrade from Employee and Spouse to Employee Only.  Then he could issue an individual policy for my wife.  COBRA is limited in time and is very expensive but it gets me eighteen months close to January 2014 when denials for pre-existing conditions are supposed to be prohibited.  After that, it's only a few months to Medicare.

As it happens, I was working for a health insurance company but not in the actual insurance area so I didn't have any particular knowledge of underwriting standards.  Yesterday, before I left, I talked with an underwriter who showed me the underwriting manual.  Just about anything involving apnea would result in declining an applicant for individual coverage, especially using a CPAP.  In other words, CPAP users are uninsurable, at least when applying for individual coverage.  The sleep medicine industry should tell its patients that before suggesting a CPAP.

 

 

Janknitz said:

Isn't the American system of health insurance just great???  Sneeze and you've got a pre-existing condition so that you will be denied coverage.   

 

Part of the new healthcare reform will eliminate the insurer's ability to deny covereage based on pre-existing conditions, beginning in 2014, provided this part isn't eviscerated by legislative "reform". 

 

Meanwhile, your only option is to join your state's high risk "pool" and be prepared to pay through the nose. 

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Permalink Reply by Janknitz on April 14, 2011 at 1:38pm

Be aware that the political climate is against implementation of Health care reform, and it may very well not happen in 2014.  You must, at all costs, avoid becoming uninsured--the chances of getting insurance after that drop dramatically.  Cobra is great, but you need to find SOME employment within the 18 months so that you don't lose your insurance altogether.  If you're nearing retirement age and planning to stop working altogether, it's something to consider. 

 

And now, they are going after Medicare, too!  Since when did "entitlement" become a dirty word???  We are "entitled" because we PAID into the system, it wasn't ever free. 

 

Isn't it crazy that CPAP users are denied insurance but not people who avoid diagnosis and treatment???  CPAP users may never develop some of the expensive health problems that people who avoid diagnosis and treatment will develop as a result of their untreated apnea.  This is a truly stupid system!!!!!!!!!!!

 

So what would be the result of "warning" people about the loss of insurability???? More people would go untested and untreated.  That doesn't make sense!

 

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Permalink Reply by John Schlereth on April 16, 2011 at 6:28am

Better to go untreated for the apnea alone than the the apnea and everything else.

Using myself as an example, suppose I had been planning early retirement and started using a CPAP before I tried to find individual coverage.  I wouldn't have been able to get it and would have had to change my plans.  Had I had been told using a CPAP would have made me uninsurable, I might have found the coverage first and then proceeded with treatment.

Janknitz said:

So what would be the result of "warning" people about the loss of insurability???? More people would go untested and untreated.  That doesn't make sense!

 

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Permalink Reply by Chris H on April 16, 2011 at 4:04pm

What a mess...It makes my head hurt.........Oh wate a minute, thats gonna require treatment ....sorry its not covered .....ooooooooooohhhhhhhrrrrrrrggggggggg! 

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Permalink Reply by gordon on April 16, 2011 at 4:25pm

Let's cut to the chase. OBAMA IS A FRAUD. I knew it when he appointed Geithner as Treasury Sec, which also is head of the IRS, and he cheated on his taxes while at the IMF. DUH! Progressives that are still die-hard- Obama lap-dog apologists are Rachel Maddow, Ed Shultz and maybe HuffPost groupies, which is now controlled by the MSM via a buyout. Get REAL.

I had Anthem/Blue Bross (San Diego-California), from working grocery at Albertsons, my HSA account paid for the doc and a new mask, I was denied a machine upgrade. This was money I saved before I got laid-off.

My COBRA ($300/mo) here in California, expired, so I went up against this health CARTEL with  slight high blood pressure(10mg lisinopril) and the stigma of being 60 years old.

The Aetna Cartel denied me coverage in 3 days, a nurse called and grilled me. It's obvious they DON'T want to insure, at least here in CA. CPAP? Forget it. That's for a $5500 deductable, no Rx, and I pay $60-200 to see a doctor @ $258.00/month premiums.

Fortunately, Kaiser Permanante approved me after 3 weeks process, like they are doing me a favor, @ $276/month, $5,000.00 annual deductable, no co-pays on everything. one physical a year. The biggest scam is "CO-INSURANCE". That's like a $3-10K deductable, and then you have a co-insurance of 30-60%, meaning you pay the first $5,000 PLUS 30-60% of all bills after that in a given year. Those are cheapest, but if you lie IN ANY WAY on your application, they can call you on it, and cancel you should you find yourself in the ER for a stroke, let's say, but you failed to disclose on your application you took BP medicine. I put down EVERYTHING on the application, and I know damn well Kaiser can look up and verify, since I was on there for over 30 yrs and just had 2 yrs on Anthem. So, beware on not telling them stuff.

We were self-employed and payed into Kaiser out-of-pocket for over 30 years. Maybe that's why I got approved, since my wife is "relieved" they accept her at $550.00/month. WHAT A DEAL!

We have assets to protect, I can't go without. But the CARTELS are in control.

Obama pledged to stop this. He is a fraud.

He even recently made an undignified joke about not deserving the Peace Prize. RETURN IT!

I believe there are between 5-10 million more uninsured since Obama passed this "law in-the-works", it has to be 60 million +, no reporting on it by the pathetic MSM (Main stream media)

Insurers are jacking up rates ahead of 2014 for GROUP, and putting individuals through the ringer like I just described.

Again, he said this was unlawful. Both parties are working against us. To separate politics from CPAP coverage is hard to do, for me at least. Maybe Chris can :~)

 

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Permalink Reply by Chris H on April 16, 2011 at 4:35pm

Yellow brick road yellow brick road toto we are not in kansas any more.........If I only had a reasinable  ins plan. oh auntie em I must have passed out....Oh thats not covered either............ 

gordon said:

Let's cut to the chase. OBAMA IS A FRAUD. I knew it when he appointed Geithner as Treasury Sec, which also is head of the IRS, and he cheated on his taxes while at the IMF. DUH! Progressives that are still die-hard- Obama lap-dog apologists are Rachel Maddow, Ed Shultz and maybe HuffPost groupies, which is now controlled by the MSM via a buyout. Get REAL.

I had Anthem/Blue Bross (San Diego-California), from working grocery at Albertsons, my HSA account paid for the doc and a new mask, I was denied a machine upgrade. This was money I saved before I got laid-off.

My COBRA ($300/mo) here in California, expired, so I went up against this health CARTEL with  slight high blood pressure(10mg lisinopril) and the stigma of being 60 years old.

The Aetna Cartel denied me coverage in 3 days, a nurse called and grilled me. It's obvious they DON'T want to insure, at least here in CA. CPAP? Forget it. That's for a $5500 deductable, no Rx, and I pay $60-200 to see a doctor @ $258.00/month premiums.

Fortunately, Kaiser Permanante approved me after 3 weeks process, like they are doing me a favor, @ $276/month, $5,000.00 annual deductable, no co-pays on everything. one physical a year.

We were self-employed and payed into Kaiser out-of-pocket for over 30 years. Maybe that's why I got approved, since my wife is "relieved" they accept her at $550.00/month. WHAT A DEAL!

We have assets to protect, I can't go without. But the CARTELS are in control.

Obama pledged to stop this. He is a fraud.

He even recently made an undignified joke about not deserving the Peace Prize. RETURN IT!

I believe there are between 5-10 million uninsured since Obama passed this "law in-the-works"

Insurers are jacking up rates ahead of 2014 for GROUP, and putting individuals through the ringer like I just described.

Again, he said this was unlawful. Both parties are working against us. To separate politics from CPAP coverage is hard to do, for me at least. Maybe Chris can :~)

 

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Permalink Reply by gordon on April 16, 2011 at 4:41pm

And, I sure as hell DON'T want to be in Kansas! If you have to ask why, well.......
Chris H said:

Yellow brick road yellow brick road toto we are not in kansas any more.........If I only had a reasinable  ins plan. oh auntie em I must have passed out....Oh thats not covered either............ 

gordon said:

Let's cut to the chase. OBAMA IS A FRAUD. I knew it when he appointed Geithner as Treasury Sec, which also is head of the IRS, and he cheated on his taxes while at the IMF. DUH! Progressives that are still die-hard- Obama lap-dog apologists are Rachel Maddow, Ed Shultz and maybe HuffPost groupies, which is now controlled by the MSM via a buyout. Get REAL.

I had Anthem/Blue Bross (San Diego-California), from working grocery at Albertsons, my HSA account paid for the doc and a new mask, I was denied a machine upgrade. This was money I saved before I got laid-off.

My COBRA ($300/mo) here in California, expired, so I went up against this health CARTEL with  slight high blood pressure(10mg lisinopril) and the stigma of being 60 years old.

The Aetna Cartel denied me coverage in 3 days, a nurse called and grilled me. It's obvious they DON'T want to insure, at least here in CA. CPAP? Forget it. That's for a $5500 deductable, no Rx, and I pay $60-200 to see a doctor @ $258.00/month premiums.

Fortunately, Kaiser Permanante approved me after 3 weeks process, like they are doing me a favor, @ $276/month, $5,000.00 annual deductable, no co-pays on everything. one physical a year.

We were self-employed and payed into Kaiser out-of-pocket for over 30 years. Maybe that's why I got approved, since my wife is "relieved" they accept her at $550.00/month. WHAT A DEAL!

We have assets to protect, I can't go without. But the CARTELS are in control.

Obama pledged to stop this. He is a fraud.

He even recently made an undignified joke about not deserving the Peace Prize. RETURN IT!

I believe there are between 5-10 million uninsured since Obama passed this "law in-the-works"

Insurers are jacking up rates ahead of 2014 for GROUP, and putting individuals through the ringer like I just described.

Again, he said this was unlawful. Both parties are working against us. To separate politics from CPAP coverage is hard to do, for me at least. Maybe Chris can :~)

 

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