Some of the scariest thoughts that come to mind this Halloween have to do with what could happen to us if health care reform fails.
This week I heard more frightening stories:
“I felt like I was in a documentary,” the young man said. “I was at the doctor’s office and the woman was telling me the office visit is this much, and since I had the flu, whatever else they had to do to or for me would be doing to me.”
He knew he was sick when he came down with the fever that topped at 102. He tried a soup and Gatorade remedy for a day, but that wasn’t working.
When he was filling out the forms in the doctor’s office, he froze when he came to the section where he was suppose to list his insurance company.
At home and in college he had always been covered. But try as he might, this recent college graduate said he has not been able to find a job. He’d been hoping he wouldn’t get sick because he didn’t have health insurance. “I kept telling myself I’d tough it out if I got sick, but the flu made me thankful for medical science and pharmaceuticals. The doctor said I was at-risk for H1N1, but what I have is seasonal flu,” he said. “The doctor wants to see me again next week.”
About 24 hours after he racked up more than $700 in doctor and pharmacy charges, he was online looking for medical insurance he could afford.
The potential ‘killer’
The nature of some insurance coverage can stand in the way of benefits many of us think of as routine. For one woman, the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act is a potential “killer.”
The 36-year-old who is currently between “permanent jobs with benefits” was very excited because she got a free pap smear.
Since the woman has been with COBRA, she’s had to be careful not to overspend her account. An automobile crash and subsequent visit to the hospital emergency room consumed a chunk of this year’s allotment. Her doctor wanted her to see a specialist regarding numbness in her arm. She couldn’t afford that visit and a pap test. So being able to get a free pap test was a big deal.
COBRA gives workers and their families who lose their health benefits the right to choose to continue group health benefits provided by their group health plan for limited periods of time under certain circumstances such as voluntary or involuntary job loss, reduction in the hours worked, transition between jobs, death, divorce and other life events. Qualified individuals may be required to pay the entire premium for coverage up to 102 percent of the cost to the plan. COBRA premiums can easily run more than $1,000 per month.
That appears to be more premium than coverage.
And then there’s the mother of my sister’s co-worker. The mother had triple bypass surgery and was later sent to an acute care facility. For a while the family wasn’t sure the mother would live. But she did. She was able to come home just in time to learn the insurance company dropped her.
Contact Kaffie Sledge at sledgekh@yahoo.com
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