In January 2010 I went to the emergency room and was admitted for two days. The charges are over $18,000 in hospital and medical bills for two days of hospital care. For other nannies like myself, health insurance reform is a sign of hope for our future medical expenses.Without health insurance reform, the number of uninsured Americans would have dramatically increased over the next decade. Hospitals would have lost even more money from having to provide care to people without insurance, thousands of businesses would have seen their premiums skyrocket, and fewer people would have health insurance through their employers.
Some of the immediate benefits of health insurance reform include:
- Providing access to coverage to uninsured who have a pre-existing condition by 2014
- Reducing and then banning annual limits of coverage
- Barring insurance companies from arbitrarily dropping your coverage
- Eliminates insurance eligibility rules that discriminate in favor of higher wage employees
- Ensuring Americans who already have coverage get access to free preventive care like mammograms
- Cutting brand-name prescription drug costs in half for seniors on the Medicare Part D "donut hole"
- Giving Medicare beneficiaries access to free preventive care and a free annual check-up
- You can keep your current insurance coverage if you choose to
- Helps early retirees, ages 55 to 64, offset cost of premiums
Tomorrow: Making Coverage More Affordable, Portable, Stable
Do you think health insurance reform will help you afford medical treatment in the future?
11 comments:
You are gutsy to print this with so many conservative nannies around but I think those who are not supportive of the new law is due to change being scary. Honestly, most nannies only have insurance through their husbands, at least I think that's the case. Things can't get worse so yes I think the healthcare insurance reform can only help! Thanks for sharing the info. I hope we are right and things will improve.
Reyna H NY
I went to ER then testing and over $7,000 that I now am on payment plans paying off in two years. The old system terrible for those that can't afford insurance like me. I am hopeful reform will help me afford better health care.
I agree with Anon. Very gutsy. I'm glad you did it, Stephanie. It's very easy for me, a married woman with a PCP plan through my husband to sit back and not care about what happens to others. I do care and I'm thankful that people like you will stand up for others who aren't lucky enough to be married and have insurance that way.
For many years, I was a single under or uninsured nanny. Knock on wood I was healthy for the most part during much of it. Although dental issues, sigh.
I do think nannies do need to look at what health care reform will mean for them if they want to stay in this profession and aren't able to get it on their own. Regardless of political affiliation.
There needed to be reform bottom line.
Great story. The US will bounce back from the recession well and when that happens we will be in a position to see that health insurance should never have been seen in such a dim light - look at Canada. It has social health care and it is leading the world out of the recession.
Thanks for posting this!
Maria
As an Australian, the state of the US healthcare system never ceases to horrify me. I just can't imagine...
Agreed! I too have had outrageous bills $7,000 for one ER visit and all the tests. I am an American citizen paying taxes but can't afford high premiums. Premiums of aren't a lot to my employers and they question why I didn't have insurance. Do you know anyone who has health insurance in America that their employer's don't pay. Never heard of a worker paying their own premiums. I thought it was a benefit of jobs. I am excited for the new possiblities.
Which of these benefits are actually "immediate" though, as in...can benefit nannies right now? I know the first one you listed isn't actually immediate since it isn't effective for another 3 1/2 years.
My guess is that "by 2014" doesn't mean it will take that long. But it is unfortunate it takes that long to make the needed changes. That worries me the most. I understand change takes time but does anyone know what happens if most of the changes aren't made before new administration takes over and the laws haven't all been made? Can they just reverse everything? That's what scares me.
I see it currently happening in school districts all around the coutnry. Home owners pay property taxes for education and now millions are being cut from school systems. Teachers being fired or moved to part time, programs being cut...sometimes it feels the government works against the tax payers. Parents want healthcare and education for their kids more than anything else. So worries me about the fact that health reform is taking a long time to make changes -- will they ever really happen?
I too don't have much faith this will happen. Best you can do is try to get doctors/dentist to work with you on lowing their fee. If you ask nicely and are able to pay in full at their reduced fee at the time of service most will work with you- or are willing to give you a payment plan with no interest if you pay off the total amount in certain time.
Also you can get most general meds at Walmart for under $5. Or you can ask for "generic" which is a HUGE savings.
There are also FREE on-line presciption cards you can download for free.
I've used them before and I've saved anywhere from $3 to $20 on meds. Not a lot of savings- but anything helps. Just google- FREE on-line Prescription discount card.
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