First notified today that my insurance is "ending" 12/31

[Voxx66]

So far my coverage is holding with Anthem but I worry. I've seen the stories about Coventry offering a top-level plan on the exchanges that will cover BJC - at a very high price- but so far it isn't there as of the last time I checked. Anthem still covers BJC on some plans - just not on the exchange plans . I think I am grandfathered in but still I worry.

[Voxx66]

Also - good point - you can't get the coverage networks (or the real price) from the federal exchange. You have to write down the plan info and do your own homework.

I know Anthem has extended some cancelled plans in California due to late notices but if it's a nonrenewal then I am not sure what is happening. It is insanely confusing.

[robinkaye]

Fox, there is really no such thing as a grandfathered plan. In order to qualify you must have had the plan prior to the laws passing and it cannot have changed...almost down to moving a period. If your copay changed...anything at all then it isn't grandfathered under sebelieus's rules. Remember the ACA really is a guideline for HHS to make the rules and regs.

Ezekial Emanual, one of the ones behind the ACA said to be successful it had to eliminate the individual market. I don't think anyone should feel safe. If lucky we all get through the '14 elections before the bomb drops. I know it will be that way for small businesses, we got a one year reprieve.

Funny, by most accounts we will end the year with fewer overall people insured than before the law went into affect.

[robinkaye]

Voxx...you have to quick with auto correct! Sorry about that (fox).

[Lee]

Funny, by most accounts we will end the year with fewer overall people insured than before the law went into affect.

Yep, that's it in a nut shell!!!!!

Lee

[jbelle]

I really feel for those of you who live in America. I can't imagine having to live in fear and through insurance companies.

I am in australia and we get a choice between private and public. Most go public, and we get all our hospital and medical for free. Sure it is inevitably covered by taxpayers, but nobody notices paying the taxes and we wouldnt have it any other way.

my brother has just had surgery to have his colon removed. He has beem recovering in hospital with the best care for 1.5 weeks. After 6 weeks he will do chemo. All of this has and will cost him $0 because of Medicare.

When I read about the American health system it makes me angry and sick! I really hope it can change one day x

[Voxx66]

I have carefully made no changes what-so-ever to my plan so I am hoping for the best.

[vickitwo]

I really feel for those of you who live in America. I can't imagine having to live in fear and through insurance companies.

I am in australia and we get a choice between private and public. Most go public, and we get all our hospital and medical for free. Sure it is inevitably covered by taxpayers, but nobody notices paying the taxes and we wouldnt have it any other way.

my brother has just had surgery to have his colon removed. He has beem recovering in hospital with the best care for 1.5 weeks. After 6 weeks he will do chemo. All of this has and will cost him $0 because of Medicare.

When I read about the American health system it makes me angry and sick! I really hope it can change one day x

I live in America. It makes me angry and sick also. I hope that the politicians can put partisan politics and special interest groups aside and get it right. Our healthcare system is a broken and needs a fixin.If other countries can do it why oh why can't we.

[Laurettas]

I guess I have concerns about doing what the other countries are doing as well. What I see happening in some countries is that the less expensive government controlled health care system is getting overwhelmed so those that can afford it are buying private insurance which has their own set of doctors and hospitals. They will end up with pretty much what we have now. Those who can afford it will have better health care and the less fortunate will have a Medicaid type government program that ultimately will not pay doctors and hospitals sufficiently and others will have to fill in the gaps. Someone from another country just recently commented that in their country their was a waiting period for treatment under the government healthcare system but not if they could afford private insurance. France is said to have the best health care in the world but I read regularly that they are struggling under the burden. There was recently a case in one country where the government healthcare did not want to treat a legal immigrant while here in the US we are treating millions of illegal immigrants. Also, if other countries' healthcare is so much better, why is it that they haven't developed any treatments for many of our serious diseases that are any better than what we have in the US?

I think we are still avoiding the main problems which are, IMO, the fact that, primarily pharmaceutical companies, but many in health care are charging too much for their services, and too many patients are having unnecessary things done, sometimes at their own wishes and sometimes at a physician's encouragement. Physicians should not be among the most wealthy in a community, nor should hospitals and pharmaceutical companies have so much money that they can waste it on frivolous things. There are many things that are covered under insurance that I believe ought to be out of pocket expenses for the individual. I know many people who are having laser surgery on their eyes just so they don't have to wear glasses. That is fine but they should save up for that and pay for it themselves and save the insurance money for someone that has a serious need. I have seen people get unnecessary surgeries at a doctor's recommendation. The list goes on and on of things that could be done to help save healthcare but are not. We continue to focus on peripheral things rather than the core or the problem--greed.

[vickitwo]

Lauretta,
I agree, I feel that plain old greed has a lot to do with many of our problems.

[robinkaye]

Lauretta, are you sure about the Lazik? I have never seen Lazik covered under insurance. My DIL worked for a large eyecare hospital and Lazik was not covered just to correct eyesight. Lazik is one of the examples of the free market/competition working. As it got more commonplace the prices came down.

Canada's inability to provide care in a timely matter led to a Supreme Court case which ruled that people could buy private insurance. France has a true public/private system but there are some unintended consequences which has led to a bad market for jobs.

I've been reading about Australia, everyone pays taxes to cover medical care and those that can afford private insurance but don't purchase pay a penalty. If you're on the public system you have to use public facilities. This is just a condensed synopsis, I'm sure there are exceptions. It actually seems like a pretty good system but it would never fly here, any kind of two tiered system would bring cries of discrimination etc. We could have set up a plan for those in need, maybe expand Medicare with pro-rated premiums and left private insurance alone. Let the private market provide what the market wants.

Back during that other conversation about Obamacare I did some reading on the NHS website (UK). Pap smears are not covered for anyone under 25, colonoscopies are only covered as a preventative test for people 60 and over. I don't think the grass is always greener. The government dictates, not the doctor.

One thing I do know, as much as I hate fighting with an insurance company, its been a very long time since I've had to, I'd much rather try and get something done by BCBS than get the government to do something. Imagine getting through the govt bureaucracy to get a test approved.

Lauretta, I know you hate profit in medical care but how would you get the best and brightest to go to medical school if there wasn't gold at the end of the journey. These people spend years training, they often have to put off starting a family and just getting on with life. I doubt our GP makes as much as our lawyer or accountant. Most doctors aren't rich, many these days are struggling. My husbands surgeon is one of the top crc surgeons, I figured how much time he spent operating and follow up with him and divided that by what the insurance paid and yep, he made less than our lawyer.

[Laurettas]

Robinkaye, I have refined my vocabulary in regard to this topic. I don't mind profit but I DO mind greed. I had to chuckle when you compared doctors to lawyers. We all know lawyers' attraction to money! The difference for me is that I don't use lawyers often and never for anything that is life threatening so if I can't afford them, I don't go. The same with accountants. I don't have that freedom if I am seriously ill. As far as getting the best and brightest, I don't know that those who are after financial gain ARE the best to be in healthcare. I believe that is part of the problem personally. Those type of physicians are the ones who will prescribe things, surgeries, etc., unnecessarily. I was in Venezuela several years ago and the family we were visiting had several family members who were doctors. They would go months at times without pay but they still stayed with their profession. That to me is someone who truly cared about what they were doing. The person who gets the best grades in school is not necessarily the person who can best hear what a patient is saying, observe their symptoms, and diagnose correctly. I personally think that physicians' salaries should be more in line with teachers. Both professions involve people we HAVE to use and both affect our well being profoundly.

As far as Lasik surgery, a man It know had it done and it was paid for by Medicare. I will have to ask if another young man I know had it paid for by insurance or not. Will get back to you on that!

[robinkaye]

Yes, when I was comparing to lawyers that was a dig on lawyers...though I know many that I like very much. Because we have a business we have no choice but to have lawyers and an accountant. They are a necessary evil as there is too much bureaucracy to handle on our own and 70k pages in the tax code. We needed our lawyer to be able to rehang our sign (taken down for roof repairs) without paying a 10k fee.

Its probably been a while since you were in Venezuela but the people like the doctor you were describing are leaving in droves, things aren't good. My husbands surgeon only takes Medicare but he never turns anyone down who needs him and cannot pay. I believe most doctors are like this, just like most people are good...

A teacher goes to school for four years and works 9 months of the year. Where I live they cannot spend more than 6 hours in the classroom. If doctors and teachers are paid the same you should expect the same from each so we will have a severe doctor shortage or a major glut of teachers. What about police and firefighters, they run into harms way, work long hours and are paid less than teachers without overtime where I live.

I hear you and understand your concerns but in a sense you are talking about socialism, a society in which we are all rewarded equally. It sounds nice but it has never worked. Why would one person sacrifice much more to attain the same rewards. It might sound harsh and there will be a few who will but in the end it will fail. The first colonists were socialists, they nearly starved to death until things changed and everyone was allowed to work and be rewarded for their efforts.

I want a doctor who cares, can think out of the box with a good ounce of brilliance. The average person is not capable of doing what is necessary to complete medical school, internships, residencies and special training. They do not have the aptitude for science that the avg doctor processes. It would be nice but its not reality.

As for the Lazik, I'll wager that there is a way to code through Medicare unlike regular insurance. I'm surprised that it was even done just forcorrection on someone over 65. Check it out...I'm curious.

[Voxx66]

The profit motive is the only motive I trust except in the case of some (but not all) friends or relatives. I define greed as the short term inclination to acquire wealth in such a way as to prejudice the future accumulation of wealth. This means that greed for example would be evidenced by charging someone so much for a good or service that the person becomes unwilling or unable to ever purchase that good or service from you again. Greed is NOT in evidence by charging whatever price the market will bear so long as that price doesn't damage future interactions. In other words - Greed is defined by doing something that hurts the actor - not the subject of those actions.

How does apply to our healthcare system? Oh hellz no. Not going there. I will recount my personal fears and experiences but I am not getting into that fight on here ha ha ha.

Anyway - don't get to play philosopher often enough so please forgive me my excesses ha.

[hopeful]

Your insurance from Anthem probably would have been cancelled even without Obamacare. When my sister was diagnosed with breast cancer 13 years ago and told her insurance would be cancelled if she didn't go back to work. An insurance broker told us the no insurance company would insure her because of the pre-existing condition. Luckily she went back to work and was covered. Even 13 years later being NED she couldn't buy insurance on her own because of the pre-existing condition. She is now concerned about being laid off because her company is moving out of state and is thankful for Obamacare because if COBRA runs out before she can find another job, she would be in trouble.