She said she'd be watching for you.
Posted on 05/25/2015 5:17:55 PM PDT by nickcarraway
In a Midtown specialist’s office, I confessed the secret that’s been weighing on my mind.
“My health insurance expires at the end of May,” I told the doctor.
I had a lot of questions for him: How much does an uninsured visit cost? What is the fewest number of follow-ups we can do this year? Do you have payment plans available to patients paying cash?
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Good lord woman, what in the world do you want? How has Obomacare impacted you either way? Deal with the real world.
Well said. It’s easy to say, “Get health insurance!” if your neighbors are “subsidizing” you/(or in English) paying for it.
They can just go insurance-less and use the emergency room. Fork over the penalty at tax time or even then don’t pay that since the only current (AFAIK) enforcement means is withholding refunds...
No, you are right that is ridiculous. It doesn’t sound like they have looked into all of their options. If they are Christians, they could join a health care ministry. My wife and I pay $3,700 a year for a premium plan; in many ways our “coverage” is superior to most Obamacare plans.
I hate Obamacare; the government has no business taking over another aspect of our lives. Everything that the government gets involved in is always horribly inefficient. But the tone of this article is typical 20 something year old whining. Thank goodness our youngest child is now in her 30s. She is finally realized that if she wants to make something of her life it is going to take hard work and stick-to-it-iveness.
Good for you, but most of the Christian Ministry plans aren't very well suited for those with chronic conditions requiring a lot of high-cost maintenance. Either an expensive premium rider will be added or the preconditions excluded from coverage.
She said she'd be watching for you.
Am I detecting a bit of condescension in your reply? In any unsubsidized insurance market... if one has a preexisting condition with “a lot of high-cost maintenance” either it is not going to be covered or your premium is necessarily going to be expensive. Why in the world would one expect anything different? Outside of Obamacare insurance companies were never intended to be charitable organizations.p>
Ironically Healthcare Ministries actually are "charitable organizations" where members share each other's medical expenses. it is my understanding from the literature we have received that the plan we have covers all of ones expenses for a "chronic condition" after the $500 annual deductible has been met. And, no we are not paying any type of "expensive premium rider". If my wife or I was to come down with some sort of “chronic condition” I believe that we are well covered. I will quote from an example given for the plan that we have, which is CHM’s Gold Plan with Brother's Keeper:
“Gold program
$150 per unit, per month
The Gold program provides members with the ministry’s most extensive financial support.
At the Gold level, you have a $500 personal responsibility per unit, per year. Total bills incurred per medical incident must exceed $500. Obtaining discounts on your bills may reduce or eliminate your $500 personal responsibility amount. You can receive assistance up to $125,000 per illness.
Example: You receive treatment early in the year for a gallbladder problem. Your bills total $7,500. CHM shares the total amount less your personal responsibility ($7,000). In the middle of the same year you have some blood tests done (for an unrelated illness) that cost $400. CHM does not share these bills because the total cost of the incident is less than $500. At the end of the year, you break your arm and the treatment amounts to $2,500. CHM shares the entire amount of $2,500 because you have already paid your $500 personal responsibility in the beginning of the year.
Gold plus Brother’s Keeper
If you join at the Gold level and also join Brother’s Keeper, you will have unlimited financial assistance available to you for all eligible medical bills (after your personal responsibility is met).”
I also wanted to ad this information about Pre-existing conditions copied from the CHM web page because to me it seems to contradict your statement.
"Definition: A pre-existing condition is any medical condition for which you experience signs, symptoms or treatment before joining Christian Healthcare Ministries (CHM), even if you have not been diagnosed. CHM cannot share medical bills incurred before you join the ministry.
Active vs. maintenance: We distinguish between pre-existing conditions in “active” treatment and “maintenance” treatment. Medical bills cannot be shared if, at the time you join CHM, the bills are for pre-existing conditions that are actively undergoing treatment other than with maintenance (routine) medications. After the incident is over and your doctor states that you are on a maintenance treatment regimen, bills for any new incident related to the pre-existing illness are eligible for sharing according to the information below.
Schedule: If these criteria are met, Gold level members can receive assistance with medical bills for pre-existing conditions according to the following schedule:
•In the first year of participation, bills incurred for a pre-existing condition are eligible for sharing up to $15,000.
•In the first two years of participation, bills incurred for a pre-existing condition are eligible for sharing up to $25,000 ($15,000 during the first year plus $10,000 during the second year).
•In the first three years of participation, bills incurred for a pre-existing condition are eligible for sharing up to $50,000 ($15,000 during the first year plus $10,000 during the second year plus $25,000 during the third year).
•After the third year of participation, the condition will no longer be considered pre-existing.
Prayer Page: Bills exceeding the three-year schedule listed above may be eligible to appear on the ministry’s Prayer Page printed in the monthly CHM newsletter. All CHM members are invited and encouraged to give to Prayer Page needs (above regular monthly gifts) as they feel led. Members’ names, addresses, medical need explanation and gift updates are included on the page. Prayer Page contributions are tax-deductible, unlike CHM regular program monthly financial gifts."
If we had a different system aka No Obamacare here is my guess what they might pay. 6K for a Catastrophic HSA and combine that with a Concierge Service for routine visits ( $ 149 / month ) that would be $7800 / month and that is a wild-@$$ guess, as that 6k number is an HSA for a family of 4 or their about's for estimates I have seen. And if the tax code was changed to pay for it with pre-tax dollars regardless of their status their dollars would be going farther.
Shame on the E-GOP for not putting something this simple forward as a bill (they so do suck on ice), and shame on this Yoga Instructor and her better half for pulling the D lever without getting looking into how their decisions have consequences...
BTW...
A thread yesterday about Sarah Palin, looking at Todd, and Constitutional Conservative running bla, bla, bla...
I am so sick of the E-GOP and if hand us a Merde' sandwich like Bush / Christie or insert other laggard as VP, I hope she does run Indy.
Freak-um, I'd rather go down in flames voting for her as an Indy than sell my soul and vote for another check-pants-lounge-lizzard Republican, who won't do ohgats about repealing Obingocare.
What they haven't done on this subject i.e. healthcare/insurance aka trying to teach everyone on both sides of the isle as to what they would do in 16' is telling that they are in on the juice.
Pre-existing conditions have been covered in my state for quite a number of years (exclusive of a nine-month waiting period). The system was working and insurance companies such as Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Group Health and others were not complaining that they were being forced to act as charitable organizations. Premiums were a little higher than other states where PE was not covered but only modestly (like $100-$200 more for a mid-range policy).
Thanks for all the info and your plan seems to be more accommodating than another I read about.
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