Almost Any Private Disability Plan Can Trump This
While waiting for Medicare coverage, woman with severe arthritis spends ten hour days at Parkland’s emergency room waiting to see a doctor and get a prescription.
Under current law those with disabilities aren’t eligible for Medicare until two years after they begin receiving Social Security disability insurance checks…… [There are] only two exceptions: a three-month waiting period for people with end-stage renal disease and no wait for people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly called Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Forty percent of those in the waiting period go without coverage at some point.
It would be nice to believe that private insurance could do better, unfortunatly history shows this to be false hope. Under current insurance, most insurance companies will turn down any coverage for pre-existing conditions outright. The remaining insurance groups will “cover” a customer which means that no benefits are paid for a full year while cillecting triple premiums.
The difference between the author’s example and the present day is that those waiting to be covered through medicare are not paying premiums for no coverage while insurance does charge money for nothing.
WORSE, if Republican “reforms” are passed, Insurance will not only be allowed to collect money for no return but at the end of the year waiting period, they can unilaterally drop coverage thereby ensuring that insurance NEVER has to pay anything for pre-existing conditions.
These provisions are stated in plain english for once and can be found on the senate plan, sections 2701,2702,2703,2705
Let’s privatize the disability system. Hasn’t NCPA written about how this works in Chile?
Typical. The government has a program. The program doesn’t work. If anyone criticizes the program, people rush to deflect the criticism. They claim that all other alternatives, in this case private coverage, are worse.
Why not focus on how we can best deliver needed services to the poor and vulnerable as Tom suggests?
Brian, they are paying premiums while they wait. In fact we all pay premiums every pay period — it’s part of the (FICA) payroll tax.
Which “reforms” would those be?
Bart-
Exactly. What reforms.
Pre-existing conditions?
No reforms there. Sure they are trying to say that insurance cannopt deny “coverage” to pre-existing conditions. But that only allows the insurance company to charge triple premiums and have no concurrent payout of benefits. AND after a year of these high premiums, you can, (and will), be dropped. So you have paid up to 15 thousdand dollars for nothing.
Cross-state purchasing?
Insurance will only raise all states to a high level. The insurance company won’t lose money here, only consumers.
Tax-credits?
Most un-insured do not GET taxes of any sort. Tax credits doesn’t offset costs, doesn’t expand availability, in essence does NOTHING to affect healthcare in any positive manner.
HSA’s?
Used strisctly for out-of pocket expeses which is every medical cost for those who are un-insured.
So we agree….. WHAT REFORMS? None!