I have the same concerns. My son was diagnosed with Type 1 (autoimmune) diabetes when he turned 10. At 15 he was diagnosed with Selective IGA Deficiency and as immunocompromised due to chronic infections.
In Texas, for a 25 year old male with these conditions to be covered it cost $3,000 a MONTH. (I called for the quote.)
At the moment, he’s only 16 and he’s covered until he’s 21 by our insurance if he stays in college. But I’m scared to death about his future.
In a year, I’m going to start working with his dr and a lawyer to have him declared disabled and get him on SS and medicaid. He can’t go 30 days without an infection and he’s hospitalized about once a year with this crap, so I’m having trouble seeing him maintaining a job. (Heck, we’re fighting to get him through high school.)
Prayer is great, but G-d helps he who helps himself. Conservatives need to find a solution.
One easy fix would be to loosen the definition of “disability” to allow more people coverage under SS and Medicaid. Or to make it illegal to discriminate against people with pre-existing conditions.
There. I suppose those are my Conservative suggestions to fix this issue.
Marie, your personal story illustrates the high cost of cure and maintenance for chronic medical conditions.
IIRC Most group policies (employer/employee) have *conversion* options - or possibly COBRA extensions for age ineligible dependents or divorcing spouses.
I apologize if you have already investigated the policies you currently have - but if not - you may find your son is eligible to convert his coverage to an individual policy without pre-existing penalties or excessive premiums.