Kiss your healthcare goodbye

healthcare

as someone who has made the rounds with chronic medical probs and med insurance providers...I LOVE our new healthcare plan....Thank you very much...And am so tired of those who chronically seek to make every issue POLITICAL..This is about HEATHCARE not Obama...Get a life and grow up, is this really the first time in your life you have had to adjust to something, to someone else's needs

as someone who has made the rounds with chronic medical probs and med insurance providers...I LOVE our new healthcare plan....Thank you very much...And am so tired of those who chronically seek to make every issue POLITICAL..This is about HEATHCARE not Obama...Get a life and grow up, is this really the first time in your life you have had to adjust to something, to someone else's needs

Could you share just how the new bill has helped you out ...you seem to be real pleased with it...so any shared info would really be appreciated. I am in fear of it and what it MIGHT do to my healthcare. Thanks in Advance.

I'll admit that due to being in wedding-planning mode, I am clueless about the new healthcare laws.

For example, I know that in the past, people who have been on antidepressants can't get private insurance. I have several friends who have been dumped by their husbands and are in this situation. Insurance companies are afraid that these people will have an unsuccessful suicide attempt after which they will be on costly life support for many years. My friends have told me that they have asked for unsuccessful suicide attempts to be excluded for payment from their policies, and still they can't get health insurance.

So has Obamacare helped them? Or can they kiss healthcare goodbye and hope they don't become bag ladies if they get a serious illness?

I work in an ED and we are already having people with minor complaints presenting saying they have the Obama insurance.

I'll admit that due to being in wedding-planning mode, I am clueless about the new healthcare laws.

For example, I know that in the past, people who have been on antidepressants can't get private insurance. I have several friends who have been dumped by their husbands and are in this situation. Insurance companies are afraid that these people will have an unsuccessful suicide attempt after which they will be on costly life support for many years. My friends have told me that they have asked for unsuccessful suicide attempts to be excluded for payment from their policies, and still they can't get health insurance.

So has Obamacare helped them? Or can they kiss healthcare goodbye and hope they don't become bag ladies if they get a serious illness?

It will help people with pre-existing conditions......eventually. Starting in 2014 insurance companies can not turn you down due to pre-existing conditions. For children this actually starts later this year, I think it's September. This is the only thing in the bill that I can see that will help our family, but it will be a HUGE weight lifted for many people.

It will help people with pre-existing conditions......eventually. Starting in 2014 insurance companies can not turn you down due to pre-existing conditions. For children this actually starts later this year, I think it's September. This is the only thing in the bill that I can see that will help our family, but it will be a HUGE weight lifted for many people.

So what does one do if her COBRA ends in January 2013? That's the situation for some friends of mine. Bag ladies? They are not old enough for Medicare.

help....

Could you share just how the new bill has helped you out ...you seem to be real pleased with it...so any shared info would really be appreciated. I am in fear of it and what it MIGHT do to my healthcare. Thanks in Advance.

Well, I would say this, I have two college graduate, unmarried daughters who live at home..the down side of living at a gorgeous place..who will both be able to resume healthcare under our plans. That will allow them to achieve permanent status and healthcare coverage at their jobs. the next issue is a little more complicated but significant. that is my medications. I am on meds for CA and MS. The MS drugs have been terribly expensive and lots have been prescribed through the years. Thiking about the whole health care issue prompted me to take a closer look at all my meds and their benefit. The result was that I opted to discontinue all meds that I saw no benefit from. Of course, this did not occur with the CA meds. I am unwilling to risk reemergence of the Ca by stopping a med simply because I cannot see the benfit. But what I have done is seek out the cancer docs that can explain to me the benfits and these meds have a time limit ( ie, you need this for a year..). The MS meds just seemed to be given and taken forever. I am rambling again, I guess what I am trying to say is I have become a more efficient consumer. I began by making a list of all my meds, who prescribed and for what. Next I eliminated all meds for which I felt no benefit. I stopped all meds for MS but two. I was foolish to do this without my docs involvement and knowledge but it trimed my med list considerably. I just feel frustrated at the anti government tone of many posts. Too many folks just are so negative about our government..until they are in trouble and need something from it. It is your government. Hope this helped answer your question...

So what does one do if her COBRA ends in January 2013? That's the situation for some friends of mine. Bag ladies? They are not old enough for Medicare.

I don't know enough about the bill to know if there is an answer for them before 2014. But for those of you that have a job with health benefits and have a medical condition that would currently exclude you from getting individual coverage, hold on to that job until 2014!

I don't know enough about the bill to know if there is an answer for them before 2014. But for those of you that have a job with health benefits and have a medical condition that would currently exclude you from getting individual coverage, hold on to that job until 2014!

The friends I'm referring to have never worked. I used to ask them what they would do about insurance if their husbands left them. They didn't seem concerned. What 50-something-year-old person has no pre-existing condition? Guess they'll have to find some kind of job with group health insurance until 2014.

HC

I retired from a large Fortune 500 company after nearly 30 years of service. Part of my desire to work for that company (incentive) and decision to retire was based on the fact that upon retirement my Healthcare plan would remain with me the rest of my life.

After the passage of the bill the Company took a 1.1 billion dollar charge toward their new Healthcare liability to meet the new government requiremants. My friends in Human Resources are telling me that discussions are now in process to cut our benefits to point of forcing many of us to Medicare.

Also, I am being told we may be considered a "Cadillac plan" and will take a tax hit on top of that. Frankly, I will not be able to afford that, since my retirement payout was based on not having that cost.

Bottom line, this bill has changed the rules after lifetime decisions were made and I am extremely concerned.

I am more conservative in my age, but I do believe people should have affordable access to helath insurance. However, this bill is a mess and should be modified. It is estimated by some that 40% of healthcare costs are due to litigation and resulting liability insurance, yet the Democrats did not address this. Look which party receives the largest contributions from trial lawyers and perhaps the reason is there.

As I say, I hope affordable healthcare becomes a reality. I just do not want to be penalized for decisions I made in my life that I made when the rules of "the game" were different.

I just feel frustrated at the anti government tone of many posts. Too many folks just are so negative about our government..until they are in trouble and need something from it. It is your government. Hope this helped answer your question...

These are all good points and all have merit. It appears the Federal Government always wants to do good but they have obvious limits. Just ask the residents of New Orleans or the coastal residents of the Gulf States. Or ask the unemployed. Many of these people need and/or needed the Federal Government and quickly learned that to go it alone is a much better option. My only comment is this; The same Federal Government that is currently managing the Gulf Oil Spill is the same Federal Government that has made a new law of the land to provide and manage our Health Care. I am well aware that the oil spill and health care are 2 different issues. But are they really? The Feds have done a less than admirable job of managing the oil spill (to be very kind). They have been incredibly reactive to this point (thought that is now changing) and that is incredibly typical. Being reactive to our healthcare may not be satisfactory to some. Being able to pay for it is another all to true concern. If you believe that this is an unfair comparison, all you need to do is look at Medicare, Social Security, Katrina, Job Recovery through Federal Stimulus packages, etc... And don't forget two Federal Agencies that are not included when you review the National Debt Calculations; Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. These 2 agencies are 80% owned by taxpayers. Some economists fear another 20% decline in real estate prices - from where we are today! Fannie and Freddie have both already drawn a mere $145 Billion from an unlimited line of government credit to ensure current homebuyers can get loans while the private housing finannce industry is dormant (to be kind). In order to fix Fannie and Freddie, the cost will be $160 Billion and could grow to as much as $1 Trillion. This will be the mother of all bailouts and we obviously have no way to pay for it - which is a very scary recurring theme. Since this is the Federal Government, I would bet on the $1 Trillion cost, at a minimum. And our Federal Government does not factor this agency into the National Debt. Welcome to Federal Healthcare. That's all I'm sayin.

I too worked thirty years and a large motivation was to establish and keep health care. I can remeber in the 50's and 60's knowing of women who relied on thir husbands for income, healthcare only to loose everything when their spouse opted for a younger model...so sad

all i know is that i'll probably be paying a $50 surcharge per month for keeping my hubby on my insurance next year even though i'm already paying for "family" insurance at rates that only go up PLUS they might cut him off if they can prove his firm offers ANY insurance (even if its costlier and worse than mine). then if you have a college age dependant working part-time who is offered insurance from that company yours can cut that dependant off-and even if that insurance will cost nearly as much as the part-time job is worth. all i know is that the benefits i work harder and harder for are dissapearing along with my paycheck with no end in sight. hubby works 7 days a week and it's the same for him but taxes only go up and benefits go down.
yes everyone needs healthcare but those of us who already have health care shouldn't lose our access.