FACT SHEET: New Administration Proposal To Help Consumers Facing Cancellations
“I've assigned my team to see what can we do to close some of the holes and gaps in the law, because my intention is to lift up and make sure the insurance that people buy is effective, that it's actually going to deliver what they think they're purchasing. Because what we know is, before the law was passed, a lot of these plans people thought they had insurance coverage and then they'd find out that they had huge out-of-pocket expenses or women were being charged more than men. If you had preexisting conditions, you just couldn't get it at all.
“And we are proud of the consumer protections we've put into place. On the other hand, we also want to make sure that nobody is put in a position where their plans have been canceled, they can't afford a better plan even though they'd like to have a better plan. And so we're going to have to work hard to make sure that those folks are taken care of.” – President Barack Obama, November 7, 2013....
In an article from the Christian Science Monitor Mr. Smith is complaining about having to pay more than $200 per month over his current costs. He admits he pays for coverage that basically isn't any type of coverage at all and that it would be nice to be accepted into a health care policy without any problems. This is exactly the problem. Now, if Mr. Smith or his spouse run into problems in the next year because they didn't purchase from the health care exchanges, they have a good chance of declaring bankruptcy and losing any footing they have now to their dreams of operating a restaurant business.
There are times when government has to make the choices. These folks simply don't have a clear understanding of what good health care can bring to their peace of mind and their future dreams. This is a shame the media is exploiting people like this and causing such problems.
President Obama needs to proceed with the State Exchanges and ignore the complaints they are under educated to their best outcomes and exploited by the political Right Wing.
...When Smith and his wife, who are both in their early forties and who do not have children, relocated to Cape Coral from West Des Moines, Iowa, in 2012, they say they were refused coverage by Golden Rule, a division of UnitedHealthcare, which serves 27 million members. Smith takes lisinopril for high blood pressure and pravastatin for high cholesterol, so when a broker then hooked him up with a Humana policy, the Kentucky-based insurer serving more than 11 million customers said no to him, too.
Despite these preexisting medical conditions, after a few months in their new home the Smiths were approved for a bare-bones, high-deductible policy by Florida Blue. Now, just a year later, he has to go through this process again.
“It’s all myself – no employees,” Smith says. “So if I do get sick or anything – I mean, if I’m down, I’m in trouble.”
But he and his wife are happy to be in Florida. They even hope to open a Thai restaurant in the near future. And although they’ll be paying more for insurance, they feel a bit more secure.
Smith is shopping for a “bronze plan” now, the cheapest of the metallurgically-labeled coverage levels that many private insurers are using, echoing the labels of Obamacare. With the cheapest plan, Smith and his wife will each have a $6,350 deductible, or a $12,700 yearly out-of-pocket cost for health services they use. Until they cross that threshold, this type of plan pays only for a few primary-care visits and a basic drug benefit.
“I have more confidence that I’ll have real insurance now,” he says. “You know, I don’t like to pay more, but I have more confidence that I’m going to have some coverage that won’t get yanked from underneath me.”
Those deductibles apply only to the level of out of pocket expense paid before the insurances pay 100%. These folks do not have to pay $6350 per person before they are given coverage. That is their maximum out of pocket for the entire year. But, the health care coverage starts immediately in providing benefits for medicine and doctor visits. These poor people are run through the meat grinder to prove what exactly? That they have options to good insurance that will prevent profound tragedy in their lives?
People are being taken advantage of in that they do not understand what purchasing health care means and what exactly deductibles, no pays, etc. mean. For a healthy person a Bronze Plan is all that they need at this point, but, at least they have coverage if the worst happens. Mr. Smith and his wife will suffer more financial hardship if either of them in their early forties are diagnosed with an expensive diagnosis.
Honestly, one would think the world was coming to an end.
