NY Times: Without Health Benefits, a Good Life Turns Fragile

[babylonsister]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/05/us/05uninsured.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Without Health Benefits, a Good Life Turns Fragile

By ROBERT PEAR
Published: March 5, 2007

SALISBURY, N.C. — Vicki H. Readling vividly remembers the start of 2006. “Everybody was saying, ‘Happy new year,’ ” Ms. Readling recalled. “But I remember going straight to bed and lying down scared to death because I knew that at that very minute, after midnight, I was without insurance. I was kissing away a bad year of cancer. But I was getting ready to open up to a door of hell.”

Ms. Readling, a 50-year-old real estate agent, is one of nearly 47 million people in America with no health insurance.

Increasingly, the problem affects middle-class people like Ms. Readling, who said she made about $60,000 last year. As an independent contractor, like many real estate agents, Ms. Readling does not receive health benefits from an employer. She tried to buy a policy in the individual insurance market, but — having had cancer — could not obtain coverage, except at a price exceeding $27,000 a year, which was more than she could pay.

“I don’t know which was worse, being told that I had cancer or finding that I could not get insurance,” Ms. Readling (pronounced RED-ling) said in an interview in her office, near the tree-lined streets and stately old homes of this city in the Piedmont region of North Carolina.

It is well known that the ranks of the uninsured have been swelling; federal figures show an increase of 6.8 million since 2000.

But the surprise is that the uninsured are not necessarily the poor, the unemployed and the undocumented. Solidly middle-class people like Ms. Readling are one of the fastest growing subgroups.

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[mainegreen]

1. It's time to NATIONALIZE!

A better use of eminent domain I can not think of.

[bleedingheart]

2. I think we will see National Health Care when people drop their insurance

you see...as it stands now...there is no way that we will get a National plan.

However, the insurance company greed is driving us directly in that direction but not the way the average person thinks.

Insurance is going to become soooo expensive that most people will not get it.

When people start having to choose between mortgage and food or insurance...the Insurance will be the one to go..

When that happens there will be insurance companies that will be going belly up.

So...then insurance companies will see the light and they will back a national plan that requires everyone to pitch in and they will then lobby to run the regional contracts...just like Medicare and Medicaid are currently handled.

[Raven]

4. John Edwards' plan

would give people a choice of staying with private insurance or opting into Medicare. That will have the effect that you describe. He's betting that young baby boomers will opt into Medicare early since we're going there anyway. That will give the private insurers a jolt. I have an individual policy that costs me almost $900 a month. I'm a prisoner and I'd opt out in a second if I could.

[Raven]

5. One other thing...

In order to lower my premium, I've thought of taking a much higher deductable. I can do that on my anniversary date but the notice of renewal that the company sends me says that if I make any adjustments to my policy I may be subject to "new underwriting"...I guess I know what that means!

[mrreowwr_kittty]

3. I'm glad this aspect is being reported on

Uninsurability due to health problems or preexisting conditions is leaving many people uncovered. And the conservatives can't claim that it's a matter of personal responsibility this time. The problem is going to worsen as the population ages and treatments for diseases improve. The good news is we'll live longer but the bad news is that many will be uninsurable.

[abluelady]

6. I Hope This Gets the Proper Attention It Deserves

I know many women over the age of 50 who marry or stay in bad marriages because they get their health insurance through their spouse and are uninsurable as individuals. Finding a job over the age of 50 with good benefits can be nearly impossible in many part of the country.

The average American has to realize that they are just as likely to be without health insurance benefits as the poor.