Hardly a week goes by when I don't get a call from someone wanting to buy health insurance on their child. The only thing I can offer is either a short term medical through one of two carriers or a basic health insurance plan.
Real major medical on a child only is extinct.
Obamacrap started the ball rolling and HHS put the finishing touches by telling carriers they could not decline children or place an exclusionary rider on a medical condition.
The carriers responded by pulling all "child only" rates and plans and only offering to cover children when applying as a dependent of a healthy adult.
Riders are not a problem for a lot of conditions and can actually make coverage LESS expensive and MORE widely available vs. rate up for the condition.
I have a long time client with family coverage that has been with the same carrier for 5 years. They finally got tired of the rate increases and wanted to look at options.
I found a comparable plan with Humana that would save them almost $200/month so we applied.
One of their children was recently diagnosed with ADD/ADHD but is not yet on any medication. When med's are introduced they can easily run $150/month or more.
Even though she is not on med's now, that could change so the carrier rates for the potential.
That resulted in a $90 increase in the premium. Still a savings vs. the renewal, but Obamacrap rules made their coverage MORE expensive, not less.
They would have been happy with the rider and would rather not pay an extra $1000 per year to comply with Obamacrap rules.
So what happened to the promise of lower premiums for everyone?
Smaller cars, bigger health insurance premiums, Poppa Washington.
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