That's great as long as you have that option, but if you work in the private sector, and are not part of a "large group" plan (over 50 employees), you are at the mercy of the insurance carrier as to whether or not they will accept you...and if you have any hint of a pre-existing condition you can forget about it. About 15 years ago I changed my company's health insurance to the one I'm still with because they did NOT rate anyone according to pre-existing, and I had two long time employees that had previously suffered heart attacks. This was a plan from a large regional hospital group which offered the same price to everyone, regardless of age or health condition, and their family coverage was outstanding...one premium for family coverage, whether there was one child or six...same price...and their coverage and service were excellent. They offered the same plan to small employers as they did to large groups, which meant they could not turn any employee down that wanted coverage. About 9 years ago, they changed and started rating each small group individually based on the claim rate percentages and my small group premiums more than doubled over the next 5 years. I sold my company in 2005 and retained my small group coverage which now only included my spouse and myself. In 2006, I had 3 heart stents put in, had a gallbladder taken out, and had an adrenal gland removed...the gallbladder/adrenal gland surgery took place 5 weeks after the stents went in, so they kept me in the cardiac ICU for a week in case they triggered a heart attack. My premiums have gone up the maximum allowable each year since (15%) and I am now uninsurable anywhere else except a high risk pool. I have raised my deductibles from 0 to 1000, to 2500, to 4000, to 5000, to 7500 just to be able to maintain coverage. Two years ago I tried to move my wife to their individual plan, which would have saved almost $300 per month over the inflated group rate we were paying for our 2 person "group". They had already told me that I could maintain a single person group for myself. My wife filled out the individual application and a month later it was rejected by the same company that has had her insured for 15 years...their reason was "POTENTIAL" back problems resulting from a train wreck she was involved in in 1984 where she was treated for deep bruising, abrasions and the "possibility of a ruptured disc" was noted on the doctors report...even though she has NEVER been treated for any back problems in the ensuing 29 years. So, in effect, we are held hostage to them , if we wish to maintain private coverage. The fact that they can use the mere "possibility" of something as a justification, also concerns me when we start talking about restricting someone's ability to own a firearm on the basis of something that might be noted in a medical report somewhere. There now...thank you for listening to my rant for the week!Texheim wrote:I was told we're dropping ours too. Oh well, I'll go on my wife's.
