ASPCA4EVER
Well-Known Member
How Insurers Reject You
BlueCross BlueShield of Texas' blueprint for denying health policies.
By Timothy Noah
Posted Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2010, at 7:06 PM ET
It's difficult to appreciate the stakes in health care reform if you receive health insurance through your employer. About 59 percent of Americans do, and while they are paying more and more for fewer and fewer benefits, in the larger scheme of things they're the lucky ones. Although they could certainly use some help from Washington, Obamacare won't give them much.
The people who most urgently need Congress to pass health care reform belong to a different group. They're the 9 percent of Americans who purchase health care for themselves or their families in the so-called "nongroup market," which is where most of the horror stories you've heard about health insurance tend to occur. On second thought, that's not quite right. The people who most urgently need health reform are those who aspire to join the 9 percent, but can't, either because no nongroup insurer will take them or because any nongroup insurer that will take them has priced its policy sky-high to offset some medical risk or another. Neither wealthy enough to pay for nongroup insurance nor poor enough to qualify for Medicaid, these spurned customers end up among the 15 percent of Americans who receive no health insurance at all. Should you lose your job and fail to find another, expect to purchase nongroup insurance or, worse, not purchase it. Together, these two groups represent one-quarter of the population.
To continue reading, click here.
Timothy Noah is a senior writer at Slate.
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Most of America is just 'ONE', 1 pay check away from falling into the 'NONGROUP ISURANCE' group...how does that settle with the higher echelon of the 'HAVES'
BlueCross BlueShield of Texas' blueprint for denying health policies.
By Timothy Noah
Posted Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2010, at 7:06 PM ET
It's difficult to appreciate the stakes in health care reform if you receive health insurance through your employer. About 59 percent of Americans do, and while they are paying more and more for fewer and fewer benefits, in the larger scheme of things they're the lucky ones. Although they could certainly use some help from Washington, Obamacare won't give them much. The people who most urgently need Congress to pass health care reform belong to a different group. They're the 9 percent of Americans who purchase health care for themselves or their families in the so-called "nongroup market," which is where most of the horror stories you've heard about health insurance tend to occur. On second thought, that's not quite right. The people who most urgently need health reform are those who aspire to join the 9 percent, but can't, either because no nongroup insurer will take them or because any nongroup insurer that will take them has priced its policy sky-high to offset some medical risk or another. Neither wealthy enough to pay for nongroup insurance nor poor enough to qualify for Medicaid, these spurned customers end up among the 15 percent of Americans who receive no health insurance at all. Should you lose your job and fail to find another, expect to purchase nongroup insurance or, worse, not purchase it. Together, these two groups represent one-quarter of the population.
To continue reading, click here.
Timothy Noah is a senior writer at Slate.
*****************************************
Most of America is just 'ONE', 1 pay check away from falling into the 'NONGROUP ISURANCE' group...how does that settle with the higher echelon of the 'HAVES'
