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botiasThings like this make me want to cry. I buy individual insurance and have a whoppin' great choice of Blue Cross of CA or Blue Shield, but I sometimes think I may as well save my money and expect to be bankrupted by any serious illness or injury:
"I used to work for Blue Cross of California. Even if you do get individual health insurance and have no pre-existing conditions, they get you another way. If you're already covered and come down with a condition, they just keep raising your rates and now you're stuck, you can't switch to another plan, even within Blue Cross. The law says they can't raise your rates because of your condition, so they raise the "group" you're in every 4-6 months. The individuals that are healthy (and smart) just re-apply, get accepted into a new "group" and get a lower rate. Over a year's time, all the people who are left in the "group" are paying exorbitant rates and can't leave. So, in reality, even if you DO get an individual policy AND get sick after you get it, you end up paying for it through the nose."
Both of my potential insurance companies have recently been in California courts for recission which is the delightful practice of cancelling a policy on a technicality if the policy holder should become seriously ill. This is effective retroactively (they send you a check for all the premiums you have paid), leaving patients suddenly responsible for all medical costs incurred during the time they thought they had insurance coverage. I had actually thought I might be safe from recission since they can only do that for policies that are less than two years old, but it seems that the insurance companies have other ways of dealing with people like me. :P
*writes to congressperson*
"I used to work for Blue Cross of California. Even if you do get individual health insurance and have no pre-existing conditions, they get you another way. If you're already covered and come down with a condition, they just keep raising your rates and now you're stuck, you can't switch to another plan, even within Blue Cross. The law says they can't raise your rates because of your condition, so they raise the "group" you're in every 4-6 months. The individuals that are healthy (and smart) just re-apply, get accepted into a new "group" and get a lower rate. Over a year's time, all the people who are left in the "group" are paying exorbitant rates and can't leave. So, in reality, even if you DO get an individual policy AND get sick after you get it, you end up paying for it through the nose."
Both of my potential insurance companies have recently been in California courts for recission which is the delightful practice of cancelling a policy on a technicality if the policy holder should become seriously ill. This is effective retroactively (they send you a check for all the premiums you have paid), leaving patients suddenly responsible for all medical costs incurred during the time they thought they had insurance coverage. I had actually thought I might be safe from recission since they can only do that for policies that are less than two years old, but it seems that the insurance companies have other ways of dealing with people like me. :P
*writes to congressperson*
