and the month after that, and the month after that.
I don't have auto insurance. Will you insure my car?
How silly is that?
Yet for some illogical reason, people think they can pull this with health insurance carriers and get away with it.
Yara Pereira has chronic allergic rhinitis but she has never had health insurance and spends about a third of her income on medical bills.
allergic rhinitis, or hay fever, could require two or three visits to a doctor each year plus a supply of over-the-counter antihistamine medication, which can cost about $1,000 yearly, according to a report from the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.
Pereira's situation is different as she is utilizing immunotherapy, a long term and more expensive regimen that does not always work.
Free clinics can be an excellent resource for people without health insurance to seek treatment and advice for their allergies. According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, 45.7 million Americans went uninsured in 2007. But free clinics can be underutilized.
Free clinics can be underutilized.
So even when free care is available not everyone avails themselves of these resources.
Most states apply underwriting standards when applying for coverage. An applicant can be denied coverage if their medical condition(s) are too costly or they can have those conditions excluded from the plan.
But Pereira lives in New York, a guaranteed issue state. If she were to apply for individual coverage, she could not be denied no matter how expensive her treatment would be.
Or she could look for a job that provided health care benefits.
So why is she the topic of this ABC news report?