Duers with health insurance, please help me out.

[Cleita]

Would you look at your policies and tell me, number one, does your policy cover counseling for making a Living Will?

Does your policy cover abortions?

If there seems to be a consensus that private insurance covers those two services, what is the big flap about a possible national insurance program covering them? Why aren't the pundits asking those questions of the insurance companies like Blue Cross, Aetna, Cigna and the rest of them?

[cynatnite]

1. No and not elective abortions. n/t

[FLDCVADem]

2. I have Aetna

No coverage for living wills/counseling etc.

Abortion coverage for life of the mother, rape and incest only.

[cynatnite]

4. Ours does not cover in cases of rape. n/t

[JuniperLea]

5. Same here eom

[robinlynne]

3. no on counseling. yes on abortions.

[valerief]

6. Back in the seventies insurance used to cover abortion. Then came Raygun. nt

[yellowdogintexas]

7. back in the 70's Medicaid covered abortions.

not since RayGun

[yellowdogintexas]

8. very few commercial or group coverages will pay for elective abortions

If it is defined as therapeutic and medically necessary, SOME plans will cover them

[REP]

9. Yes and Yes

Kaiser

[Cleita]

10. Is Kaiser still non-profit?n/t

[REP]

16. I think so

[gleaner]

11. I am a retired ...

federal employee, as is my husband. I am under a different retirement system than he is so I have medicare. Medicare, as you know does not cover counseling for a living will.

My husband has private FEHB insurance administered by GEHA (Government Employees Hospital Association) with prescriptions grudgingly provided by the pharmaceutical company, Merck. His policy (which is my secondary to medicare) does not cover counseling for advanced directives or living wills. You are on your own as far as they are concerned. They do not cover abortion. You are on your own with that too.

Bear in mind that the FEHB plans are the same ones that cover Congress and other members of Government who opt into them. These are the plans Obama has praised, even though I see no difference between FEHB and other types of managed care. I am sure that the version of FEHB which covers Congress and the Executive Branch probably is a lot better than what they offer to the rank and file employees, but I have no way of knowing for sure. I'll stick with medicare. At least they have given me a fair shake most of the time. I call GEHA "Combat Insurance," because that is virtually what you have to engage in to get any of the covered services out of them at all. The federal plans were among the first to deny coverage for abortion under Reagan. The private sector followed suit.

I don't know why no is asking these questions of the private insurance carriers. They should be. Some of them even deny coverage for contraceptives leaving their members without any help to take precautions against pregnancy, and then of course they refuse coverage for unwanted or unplanned pregnancies Good luck to you, and I hope this helps.

[WillowTree]

12. If you're talking about group insurance through an employer.......

....whether or not elective abortions are covered depends on the package of coverages that your employer chooses to enroll for. Virtually all insurers will cover them, but including coverage for any elective treatment or procedure will, of course, increase the premiums that are charged.

Conversely, few, if any, policies would offer coverage for living will counseling because 1) it does not constitute treatment of disease or injury and 2) such would be as much, if not more, of a legal service as a medical one.

[maynard]

13. I have a health trust set up through my teachers union

It is self managed by our local union. Very good health coverage. No on living wills and no on abortions.

[trayfoot]

20. But.......

If the coverage pays anything for office visits, then why couldn't "counseling" be part of an office visit that is covered? This doesn't make sense to me.

[GodlyDemocrat]

14. I don't need a counselor for a living will

I can make my own that is clear and reflects my will.

[botchan]

15. It covers neither

We also have a 4000 dollar deductible - the beauty of the health savings plan :)

[Statistical]

17. Not sure about the wills on abortions is must be "medically necessary". n/t

[Feron]

18. LMAO

My policy doesn't even cover pregnancy and prenatal care.

IIRC it may cover abortions if there is a medically necessary reason for one. However my deductible is such that I'd end up paying for it anyway.

Heh.

[Cleita]

19. I sympathize with your pain. You are describing the no coverage, pay to

die, health insurance that Americans are told is the best health care in the world.

[Cleita]

21. Everybody who answered, thank you. It seems

that the corporate health insurance sector is very much tied in with the Protestant and Catholic religious sector deciding what kind of health care people, mainly women and old people get.

Also for the men.

You guys have been sent into war since time immemorial. You have no control over your bodies either. It's time to put a stop to it.