Marrying for health insurance
Check out today's NY Times article about how people are increasingly making decisions to marry and divorce based on their need for health care insurance.
The article explores the Kaiser Foundation's finding that 7 percent of American adults report that someone in their household has married in order to gain access to insurance over the past year. It describes how people struggling with devastating illnesses are increasingly forced to make enormous life decisions simply to survive--marrying hurriedly in order to buy into a partner's coverage or divorcing reluctantly in order to qualify for government subsidized insurance.
The stories are horrifying, but not surprising, as the number of uninsured Americans and health care prices both skyrocket. The article ends with a quote from a woman named Marion Moulton that reflects my feelings: "Nobody should have to make a choice like that. What happened to our country?
For eight years, this administration has looked the other way as millions of Americans have lost their health insurance or declared bankruptcy due to medical debt. In January, a new administration will finally have an opportunity to tackle this problem. What's the first step to fixing our unbelievably expensive and under-performing health care system?
Reading Maggie Mahar's blog?
August 13, 2008 11:58 AM | Reply | Permalink
Silly rabbits. Don't they know marrige will make you sick?
August 13, 2008 12:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
I have come to believe that the first step is to overturn the legal precedent(s) that define corporations as people, and therefore allow corporations to donate to political campaigns, as an exercise of their "right" to free speech.
I've become convinced that we cannot have universal health care while corporations have the amount of influence they have over our elected officials (not to mention the media).
The Founders were moved to revolution as a result of undo corporate influence over their colonial government (e.g. the East India Company). They would be appalled to learn that our Country now treats corporations as "citizens" with the same guarantees from the Bill of Rights.
It might take a Constitutional amendment to reverse this. If so, that is the first step to fixing our health care system. IMHO.
-- ARG
August 13, 2008 12:00 PM | Reply | Permalink
Solution's pretty simple -- just pass a law forcing companies to allow insurance buy-ins to any domestic partners, regardless of gender.
August 13, 2008 12:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
That's a step forward, but still just treating the symptoms instead of the disease of a for-profit health system.
August 13, 2008 11:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
No, but thanks for pointing it out. It looks like a great blog.
August 13, 2008 5:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
1. Until the for-profit is gone from insurance comapnaies, who offer no service whatsoever, and are only gate-keepers, it will never work.
2. Until all people, healthy and ill; old and young are included, and therefore is a "shared risk" it will never work.
The fact is that insurance companies, by increasing premiums and co-pays to people who have had the inconvenient bad luck to actually have an illness; suck dollars out of the health delivery system. Every other country that has western standards of living provides health care to its citizens except ours. At less cost. And with better results.
Insurance companies are like leeches; they suck the life-blood out of our health care system, and provide absolutely NOTHING!
August 13, 2008 8:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh! And they require every medical office to spend hours getting things pre-authorized and do tons of extra paper-work.
Talk to someone who has had health problems in Canada or England and find out how complicated it was -- no bills; just excellent care. But the repubs love to scare people. ARe we a nation of cowards? We're afraid of terrorists; we're afraid of medical care; we are losers!
August 13, 2008 8:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
This is outrageous and brings to mind an eye-opening story I heard about a dentist who had a first-time asthma attack:
After the dentist had the attack, one of the dentist's siblings --a doctor --wrote an asthma prescription using some strategy to prevent the medication from being linked to the dentist so the pharmacy would not record the attack or notify the dentists insurance company.
The point was to prevent the asthma attack from coming up in the future as a preexisting condition that might preclude the dentist future coverage or affordable coverage. So I guess if you get certain illnesses, they drop you or price you out of the market, unless one of your siblings is a clever doctor and erases the record?
There's little doubt we have a dangerous health industry if people have to marry to get coverage, and doctors and dentists are so afraid of the system that they will commit fraud to hide a family members' asthma attack. So much for promoting family values.
August 13, 2008 11:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Re: Solution's pretty simple -- just pass a law forcing companies to allow insurance buy-ins to any domestic partners, regardless of gender.
Many companies already insure domestic partners. I wonder how many domestic partners are in it just for the insurance? Probably a higher percentage than the marriage figure given here.
Re: So I guess if you get certain illnesses, they drop you or price you out of the market
If you have an individual policy this may be an issue. If you are under a group policy (as most Americans are), this is not a problem as you cannot be dropped or have your rates increased individually (the group rates may of course go up, but that's spread out over the whole group). I have asthma, but since I am covered by a gorup policy I have no insurance problems.
August 14, 2008 6:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
"Most Americans are" covered under group policies.
There are at least 45,000,000 Amercians who don't have health insurance at all. People like the dentist mentioned above, all small businesses; people who are self-employed, and those who work for companies who do not offer health benefits are all just one chronic illness or injury away from being dropped or priced out of the market.
JonF311 - This problem is real. You are lucky to have no insurance problems, but let me give you a scenario: You get injured or sick enough that you can no longer work. OK, you get a disability check. You get COBRA insurance, which will cover you for a year (at a very high cost) after your employment stops. At the end of that year, you enter the world of the uninsurable. It happened to a friend of mine. She is currently spending herself down to the point where she will have so little money she will qualify for Medicaid.
Can't see that happening to you? She didn't either. It is scarey as hell.
August 14, 2008 1:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
You are preaching to the converted. However I see no reason to make exaggerated or erroneous statements in the quest for universal healthcare. That's the equivalent of Saddam's ghostly Weapons of Mass Destruction. Maybe I'm a hopeless idealist, but I'd rather politics rest on a foundation of calm and accurate facts, not hysterical rhetoric. The vast majority of people do not risk losing their coverage or even having their premiums increase if they file a claim. Telling them that they are at risk for this is political malprcatice.
August 14, 2008 9:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Re: OK, you get a disability check. You get COBRA insurance, which will cover you for a year (at a very high cost) after your employment stops. At the end of that year, you enter the world of the uninsurable.
After a year on disability you qualify for Medicare. Of course you must also obtain Medigap coverage, but I believe that these policies are very strictly regulated and must insure all applicants at community rates, or at least they used to be like that. I have a friend with AIDS who has been on disability for years. Among his many difficulties he has never had a problem with insurance coverage under Medicare. (By the way, minor quibble but COBRA is good for 18 months).
August 14, 2008 9:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am NOT exaggerating. What is the main reason for declaring bancruptcy in our country?
Read this Harvard study:
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2005/bankruptcy_study.html
An excerpt:
Your friend with AIDS must have already spent his/her income down. My friend is still doing it.
August 15, 2008 10:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
Go Shonu! Great post. I look forward to reading more.
August 14, 2008 11:56 AM | Reply | Permalink
Hey thanks a lot for such a wonderful information. I was actually looking for these information for quite a long time and i believe i have landed at the right page. I really liked your ways of expressing thoughts. You write too well. Moreover your article contains some worthy information which i guess will help lot of people. Learn more about health insurance and its many benefits. Take a closer look at those health insurance plans that offer you savings on the health care services you use most and on prescription medications. Don’t continue risking the overall health of you and your family by not receiving regular health care because you couldn’t afford it before.
There are health insurance plans available for every budget so that everyone can afford health care and enjoy better health. Thanks once again. Keep up the good work. God bless you.
December 24, 2008 12:59 AM | Reply | Permalink