We spent the afternoon meeting with political representatives. We learned some things about health care reform that directly effect us.
Every employer must offer health care...only if they have 50 or more employees. That surely excludes every farmer I know.
Medicare patients no longer have a co-pay for routine visits. If they go for a cold, that is not routine, they will have a co-pay for that.
There is something in the bill that says all working people must pay for health insurance. That is only people that show a net income above the poverty level. Quite frankly, most anyone who is self employed can re-invest into their business until they are below the poverty level.
If your insurance company raised your premium by like 20% and says it's due to the health care reform, you might remind them that their expense in it will not take effect until 2014. You might also ask them what their excuse has been every year in the past. I know my insurance goes up 10 to 15% every year. There should only be a 2% increase due to the new bill at this time.
Blue Cross has shouldered the entire expense for "high risk" patients. Other insurance companies can refuse people with a "pre-existing" condition or will charge 3 times the normal rate for the first 3 years. I already knew that because I have a son who had heart surgery 9 years ago and I pay 2 times as much as anyone else for health care to blue cross even though he has had a clean bill of heath sense.
What I did learn is that now all other companies have to take us without charging us their 3 year "high risk" fee. I will get some quotes next week and see how that's going.
No comments:
Post a Comment