Florida: pay $190 a month for "catastrophic" insurance that only pays $25,000?

[madfloridian]

I do not have a clue how the state can get away with calling that "catastrophic" coverage. Yet is appears to be called just that. A woman age 63 is paying just that because it is all there is for her.

$25,000 is not catastrophic coverage. A stay in a hospital of just a few days would reach that $25,000 quickly. Yet Governor Crist is now touting this kind of plan as a solution to the nation's health care woes.

The plan is called "Cover Florida", and that is the high end plan. It really covers very little at all.

Cover Florida a model? Most say no.

Kathleen Lieberman has been trying for years to find affordable health insurance. Small-group? Too expensive. Adding her to her husband’s plan? Unaffordable. Discount medical card? Too scary, since there’s no hospital coverage.

So when Cover Florida came along, the 63-year-old Apollo Beach real estate agent latched on to it. For $190 a month, she has a “catastrophic” plan that would cover a serious health problem – surgery, chemo, a hospital stay – but only up to $25,000.

“I understand it’s bare bones,” Lieberman said, but real insurance would cost $800 to $900 a month. “Having something is better than having nothing.”

That’s the attitude Gov. Charlie Crist started out with when he introduced the Cover Florida concept: A bare-bones plan with no government subsidies that would be available to all comers for an affordable price. That modest vision has grown. This week, the governor’s office released an opinion column to newspapers across the state touting Cover Florida as a solution to the nation's health-care crisis, an alternative to the “all or nothing debate”

A little more about the plan.

For example: A 42-year-old woman who bought a "preventive" plan would have access to a mammogram, but if it found a cancerous lump, she’d be in trouble. She’d have coverage for doctor’s visits and some drug costs, but not chemotherapy, radiation, or hospitalization.

"The vast majority of the cost of care would not be covered," Bohl said. The top-selling catastrophic plan – the one Lieberman enrolled in -- would cover those services. But the cap of $25,000 would soon run out, Bohl said. Cover Florida might work for those with chronic conditions such as asthma or diabetes yet are healthy otherwise, Bohl said. But woe be unto them if they suffer a heart attack, stroke or broken hip.

This is a tragic situation for our state and our country.

Congressman Raul Grijalva's recent words were so very true.

Raul Grijalva asks if industry gets "first big piece of the pie and we just fight over the crust"?

In an interview on Wednesday, Representative Raul M. Grijalva, the Arizona Democrat who is co-chairman of the House progressive caucus, called Mr. Tauzin’s comments “disturbing.”

“We have all been focused on the debate in Congress, but perhaps the deal has already been cut,” Mr. Grijalva said. “That would put us in the untenable position of trying to scuttle it.”

He added: “It is a pivotal issue not just about health care. Are industry groups going to be the ones at the table who get the first big piece of the pie and we just fight over the crust?

The Cover Florida "catastrophic" plan will cost a person nearly $2400 a year, yet it will stop paying at $25,000.

It is a joke that Florida and its governor are playing on the people of Florida, and they have the nerve to tout it as being able to be health care for the nation. How do they get away with it.

[Eric J in MN]

1. My health insurance is the opposite.

Out-of-pocket costs on the smaller bills, but the insurance company has to take care of the upper part of big bills.

[Clear Blue Sky]

3. Guess the meaning of "catastrophic" is in the eye of the beholder...

[Eric J in MN]

4. My plan fits the common definition.

http://www.insurance.com/article.aspx/Pros_and_Cons_of_Catastrophic_Health_Insurance/artid/43

Catastrophic health insurance plans—more formally known as High Deductible Health Plans (HDHPs)—were created as a way to lower overall medical costs by providing a lower monthly premium in exchange for a higher annual health insurance deductible. With catastrophic health insurance plans, you pay for almost all medical care until you reach the annual deductible amount. After that, traditional health insurance coverage begins.

Under a high deductible plan, you pay out-of-pocket for most medical bills until the total of your payments reaches the amount of your annual deductible. After that, the catastrophic health plan will cover most medical expenses, although you usually have to pay co-insurance until you reach your total out-of-pocket maximum amount. If your catastrophic health plan is eligible for a Health Savings Account (HSA), you can use the HSA funds to pay the deductible and out-of-pocket expenses. Even if you don't use an HSA, it's smart to set aside some money each month to pay for future medical expenses that you may incur. If you never need the money, it's a bonus.

[Clear Blue Sky]

6. This is the kind of plan I have.

Pay out of pocket until/unless high deductible is met. Then pretty much everything covered. I've been quite happy with it.

[imdjh]

2. That's disgusting.

[Barack_America]

5. That's a lifetime cap, too. One inpatient stay and you're likely out of $.

Also, it doesn't cover outpatient visits, iirc.

I was looking into the two plans that could cover my mother, who lives down in FL and doesn't have health insurance. We decided it wasn't worth it.

[defendandprotect]

7. k i c k

[Shagbark Hickory]

8. That's rediculous. You might as well stuff $200 a month into a savings account.

[madfloridian]

9. Yes, it is ridiculous.

I can't believe Crist is bragging about that insurance program. But then since he is running for congress, he has nearly sold the state out to get campaign donors.

[Shagbark Hickory]

10. Well between that horsecrap and the lack of jobs there sure seems to be a mass exodus from FL nt

[hunter]

14. You might as well spend spend $200 a month on lottery tickets.

For anything "catastrophic" $25,000 is as good as nothing.

At least with the lottery tickets you've got some small chance of winning something.

[Vinca]

11. $25,000 is a joke.

I read somewhere the average treatment for breast cancer is 10 times that.

[Contrary1]

12. Wonderful idea!

Nothing in this world better than having the scans, biopsy, surgery, and then being told you need chemo just as the coverage runs out.

I hit $25,000.00 long before I even started chemotherapy.

Crist is an idiot...but we already knew that.

[buzzycrumbhunger]

13. I got Charlie's lame email about this the other day

$25,000 is not catastrophic coverage. A stay in a hospital of just a few days would reach that $25,000 quickly. Yet Governor Crist is now touting this kind of plan as a solution to the nation's health care woes.

My son was just in the hospital recently for three days for a relatively simple infection. Price tag? $125,000 and counting. Yes, I gave the gov a piece of my mind about this lame bit of lip service to meaningful reform.

[Lorien]

15. You need to run for office madFloridian

you know more about what happens in this State than anyone I know, INCLUDING my PBS news director neighbor! I would back you. We all would!

[tsuki]

16. My Mother's stay in hospital for pneumonia cost $102,000. I was

there every day to feed, bathe and change her, and settle her in at night. There were only RNs stretched so thin that they could not give the patient care needed. But hey, profit, profit, profit.

Fie on Crist. He's a liar and a con man. And I don't believe his phony marriage for a minute. He should be a Democrat and be who he is.

[GreenPartyVoter]

23. No, he should be a Log Cabin Republican. Anyone touting this kind of

"catastrophic insurance" as a workable and compassionate plan has no place on the Left.

It really is shameful how hospitals are scrimping on staff these days. My dad was in one over the winter and it was so bad they didn't give him his heart meds until hours after he should have had them, starved him for 27 hours (he's diabetic,) left him waiting for 3 hours to be picked up for a visit to the heart cath lab, yet sent a multitude of people looking for his roommate who had already been taken from the room but they had no idea that he had been picked up. This isn't entirely the fault of the staff. It's more about a lack of staff and poor management. (Although when they claimed in the paperwork that my brother and I were part of the reason Dad decided to wait on getting new stents which therefore contributed to his new blockages, that was just sleazy. He had to wait for a short while because he needed to consult with a surgeon about another health issues. It was the cardiologist's office that kept not getting back to him and giving him the runaround when he needed to make an appointment. And it was the cardiologist who took him off the Plavix. Needless to say, Dad got a new cardiologist.)

[madville]

17. With the cost of health care being what it is they can't do much more

With the cost of health care being what it is, traditional health insurance is not a viable option for people anymore unless they have the government or their employer paying the bulk of the premiums and I'm worried about how long the employers can keep it up. People pay $2400 a year, what do they really expect to be able to do for that?

It all boils down to the cost of health care, not the cost of the insurance, and I'm scared whatever gets passed this year isn't going to do much for costs, it's just going to mandate we buy substandard plans like this one for "reasonable" premiums. Everyone will have health insurance, it will be shitty, low benefit insurance but we'll have it. We'll still be in the same boat and it will still be taking on water.

When the Fed's house of cards collapses, China calls in our debt and the dollar crashes in the next couple of years I think most of us will be worried about food to eat and having some sort of shelter, we probably won't even be worried about health care at that point because there won't be many places offering it for less than a dump truck full of worthless American dollars.

[madfloridian]

22. Have you checked the profits of the insurance companies?

:shrug:

[a kennedy]

18. and let's talk of that $5000 voucher......I forget who was tauting that

thing.......$5000 medical voucher my arse .:eyes:

[DesertFlower]

21. i think it was McCain. nt

[nightrain]

19. "catastrophes" used to cost a whole lot less

[Wapsie B]

20. Sounds like the shit Golden Rule used to peddle. Maybe they still do.

[vinylsolution]

24. Florida has become....

... a showcase failed state for Conservatism.

And who's paying for your government-run healthcare, Gov. Crist?

[Tab]

25. I recently had - and posted about - an ER visit

because of complications from surgery, I needed to be catetherized. I knew that. The visit involved a few hours in the ER (mostly waiting), a CT scan, a catheterization (finally) and an overnight (room).

Total cost: $11,800.00. Ridiculous in its own right, but that's another story.

Wouldn't have taken much to push that up to $25k.

$190 each and every month is a lot for protection against that. I'd rather put it in the bank and do payments if anything bad happens. THat's what major medical is for - low payments ($60 a month or whatnot) but you're covered if you're hit by a train or anything over $5k.

[madfloridian]

26. That is scary and a very ridiculous cost.

I can't believe Crist is praising a policy like that.

[Tab]

27. The "funny" thing is

I told the story to a few medical professionals and they all guessed "$10,000.00"??

[madville]

28. I would rather take my chances

So I might go in debt, I'll send them $1 a month and just live without good credit, better than being ripped off for $190 a month. The hospitals, drug companies, lawyers and insurance companies have screwed us out of enough already, I'm not paying for it anymore.