3 ms·

You seem fairly well versed, and I don't want to argue with you, but I am curious as to what would happen in your situation if you changed jobs or changed insur

by zelon88 10y ago

You seem fairly well versed, and I don't want to argue with you, but I am curious as to what would happen in your situation if you changed jobs or changed insurance providers in a world without Obamacare. Would you be worried about pre-existing conditions? What about contraception being covered under health insurance? Are there no benefits to be found in Obamacare, or are you solely concerned about the premiums?

GiorgioG 10y ago
The 'pre-existing condition' clause that Obamacare did away with was only applicable for patients who do not have continuous health insurance coverage. In other words, the reason this was ever an issue is because health insurance companies wanted to avoid the situation that people who never had insurance sign up for coverage only after they've gotten sick. If you already have health insurance and you change jobs, there's no issue with changing providers. I'm not in the "Obamacare is completely useless" camp, I'm in the "Obamacare solved the wrong problem" camp. But premiums and copays are completely out of hand. The supplies my son receives for his insulin pump and glucose monitor cost the insurance company $5,780 (per quarter.) The supplies are not complex and likely cost Medtronic no more than a couple of hundred dollars to produce. There's nearly zero competition in this space because of vendor lock-in (I can't source these supplies from anyone else.) This latest year our premiums didn't go up at all (yay!) but our coverage got worse (same plan) so instead of paying $0 out of pocket for his quarterly supplies we now pay $700. Prescription/doctor-visit copays have gone up too. The sad reality is if you're sick and not rich in this country you're fucked. I'm not rich, but I happen to be a software engineer nowhere near SV and have a decent (contract) job, so we can swing it for now. But if I was making $90k, we'd be in trouble.
- attaboyjon 10y ago
  I think you may be wrong on the pre-existing conditions. My understanding is that previously someone like myself (Type 1 Diabetic) could not buy insurance on the individual market (I'm self-employed) because the insurance company selling me insurance is basically guaranteed to lose money.
  - GiorgioG 10y ago
    The HIPAA act of 1997 says otherwise. As long as you had continuous coverage for a certain number of days they couldn't deny you based on a pre-existing condition.

by zelon88 10y ago

GiorgioG 10y ago

The 'pre-existing condition' clause that Obamacare did away with was only applicable for patients who do not have continuous health insurance coverage. In other words, the reason this was ever an issue is because health insurance companies wanted to avoid the situation that people who never had insurance sign up for coverage only after they've gotten sick. If you already have health insurance and you change jobs, there's no issue with changing providers. I'm not in the "Obamacare is completely useless" camp, I'm in the "Obamacare solved the wrong problem" camp. But premiums and copays are completely out of hand. The supplies my son receives for his insulin pump and glucose monitor cost the insurance company $5,780 (per quarter.) The supplies are not complex and likely cost Medtronic no more than a couple of hundred dollars to produce. There's nearly zero competition in this space because of vendor lock-in (I can't source these supplies from anyone else.) This latest year our premiums didn't go up at all (yay!) but our coverage got worse (same plan) so instead of paying $0 out of pocket for his quarterly supplies we now pay $700. Prescription/doctor-visit copays have gone up too. The sad reality is if you're sick and not rich in this country you're fucked. I'm not rich, but I happen to be a software engineer nowhere near SV and have a decent (contract) job, so we can swing it for now. But if I was making $90k, we'd be in trouble.

attaboyjon 10y ago
I think you may be wrong on the pre-existing conditions. My understanding is that previously someone like myself (Type 1 Diabetic) could not buy insurance on the individual market (I'm self-employed) because the insurance company selling me insurance is basically guaranteed to lose money.
- GiorgioG 10y ago
  The HIPAA act of 1997 says otherwise. As long as you had continuous coverage for a certain number of days they couldn't deny you based on a pre-existing condition.