Post by - on Jun 22, 2009 20:34:16 GMT -4
Here is a copy of a letter that my cousin who was born with type 1 diabetes. She lives in Deleware, and is going to send a copy to our President. For all of us whom are uninsurable, we need to stand up and fight!
Senator Thomas R. Carper
United States Senate 513 Hart Building Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator Carper,
As a long term resident of the State of Delaware, I am writing you regarding the issue of Health Care Reform. I represent a constituent who has a perspective from two major areas of this critical issue.
First, I am a 51 year old woman who was diagnosed with Type I diabetes in 1969. Hence, I fall under the category of uninsurable due to pre-existing conditions. Secondly, I am a licensed Health Insurance Agent trying to make a living in this turbulent economic environment. I beg your indulgence for a moment as I express my opinion and concerns on each of these two points.
My first point, pre-existing conditions is not only discriminatory but causes many people to go without medical care which can lead to worsening of existing conditions and the failure to diagnose and treat new conditions. The practice of Health Insurance Companies using pre-existing conditions to keep their adverse selection numbers in check is sentencing many people to an early grave. Is this the way we want to continue to treat our citizens who are not in perfect health?
Thanks for reading my cousin's note, we all need to stand up for the best insurance and care for our selves!
-CG
PS, she is going to send this to President Obama as well. Let's keep our fingers crossed for the best . No one should be without health insurance.
In our state, the only way a person such as I can get health insurance is to be part of a group policy. Group policies for small businesses are very expensive. If anyone in the group has a pre-existing condition, takes multiple prescriptions, or develops a chronic condition while on the group policy the cost of the policy goes up for everyone. This many times causes the employer to drop health care for all employees. More and more, small businesses are no longer offering health care as an option in a benefit package.
Some states, such as our next door neighbor Maryland use a pooling process to ensure residents with pre-existing conditions are covered by a major health insurance company. The resident pays a higher premium, but at least they are insured.
In my personal case, I am lucky. I do have coverage under a group plan because I own my own business. I am insured through Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Delaware. My monthly premium is $1069.00 just for me. I cannot afford to put my daughter on the plan with me because it would cost over $1700.00 per month. Fortunately, my daughter is in good health and I am able to purchase a personal plan to cover her medical expenses. If I was married and had my husband and daughter on the plan it would cost over $3200.00 per month h to insure the three of us. Please tell me, you agree this is insane!
To my second point, trying to make a living in this economic environment trying to sell health insurance/ I am appointed with the major players in the health insurance industry in Delaware. I strongly believe freedom of choice is the only way to market health insurance. While I do believe there are areas that insurance companies can change to make their products better and more affordable, I whole heartedly believe that we need to keep insurance companies unencumbered by endless government regulation. Let’s just look at what the CMS has done to Medicare Advantage. Be it a program doomed for failure, its failure was exponentially accelerated by the CMS’ extraordinarily ambiguous dictates, internal confusion and constant changing of the rules. Please do not allow yourself and your colleagues to take the fundamental component of creativity and competition away from our health care system.
I applaud the work that is being done to eliminate the ability to rescind health insurance once a policy is issued. If as an agent when taking an application, I get as much information as I can. If my client is telling the truth, which I believe most of them do. Then underwriting should be able to determine whether more information is needed. If so, it is incumbent upon them to do the investigation up front thus making an informed accurate decision. Maybe the pressure to jet issue a policy is not such a good idea. I am one agent who would gladly wait a few extra days to get my commission if I knew that my client was getting the best policy, that would stay in force and my company was making a solid informed risk assessment.
I am terribly troubled by the idea of Comparative Effectiveness. This idea would squelch the research being done to develop better and faster ways to treat illnesses, limit a Doctor’s options and in many cases doom a patient to death. How can anyone make the claim that people are all the same and will react to disease treatment in the same way? Does Comparative Effectiveness allow for a Doctor to make a treatment decision based on his or her knowledge of the patient’s specific health condition, absolutely not? Tell me, did your healthy children react exactly the same way to common treatments of childhood diseases? I think not. At least mine didn’t. Now let’s extrapolate that same thought process to an elderly person with cancer. I believe that you will hardly find any two cancer patients reacting exactly the same way as each other to the same course of treatment.
I respect the hard work you do for the citizens of Delaware. I hope that you will continue to make decisions that will enable Delawareans to live better healthier lives by insuring no one gets denied and insurance companies and our health care providers are allowed to compete, promote and deliver outstanding health care to all.
Senator Thomas R. Carper
United States Senate 513 Hart Building Washington, DC 20510
Dear Senator Carper,
As a long term resident of the State of Delaware, I am writing you regarding the issue of Health Care Reform. I represent a constituent who has a perspective from two major areas of this critical issue.
First, I am a 51 year old woman who was diagnosed with Type I diabetes in 1969. Hence, I fall under the category of uninsurable due to pre-existing conditions. Secondly, I am a licensed Health Insurance Agent trying to make a living in this turbulent economic environment. I beg your indulgence for a moment as I express my opinion and concerns on each of these two points.
My first point, pre-existing conditions is not only discriminatory but causes many people to go without medical care which can lead to worsening of existing conditions and the failure to diagnose and treat new conditions. The practice of Health Insurance Companies using pre-existing conditions to keep their adverse selection numbers in check is sentencing many people to an early grave. Is this the way we want to continue to treat our citizens who are not in perfect health?
Thanks for reading my cousin's note, we all need to stand up for the best insurance and care for our selves!
-CG
PS, she is going to send this to President Obama as well. Let's keep our fingers crossed for the best . No one should be without health insurance.
In our state, the only way a person such as I can get health insurance is to be part of a group policy. Group policies for small businesses are very expensive. If anyone in the group has a pre-existing condition, takes multiple prescriptions, or develops a chronic condition while on the group policy the cost of the policy goes up for everyone. This many times causes the employer to drop health care for all employees. More and more, small businesses are no longer offering health care as an option in a benefit package.
Some states, such as our next door neighbor Maryland use a pooling process to ensure residents with pre-existing conditions are covered by a major health insurance company. The resident pays a higher premium, but at least they are insured.
In my personal case, I am lucky. I do have coverage under a group plan because I own my own business. I am insured through Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Delaware. My monthly premium is $1069.00 just for me. I cannot afford to put my daughter on the plan with me because it would cost over $1700.00 per month. Fortunately, my daughter is in good health and I am able to purchase a personal plan to cover her medical expenses. If I was married and had my husband and daughter on the plan it would cost over $3200.00 per month h to insure the three of us. Please tell me, you agree this is insane!
To my second point, trying to make a living in this economic environment trying to sell health insurance/ I am appointed with the major players in the health insurance industry in Delaware. I strongly believe freedom of choice is the only way to market health insurance. While I do believe there are areas that insurance companies can change to make their products better and more affordable, I whole heartedly believe that we need to keep insurance companies unencumbered by endless government regulation. Let’s just look at what the CMS has done to Medicare Advantage. Be it a program doomed for failure, its failure was exponentially accelerated by the CMS’ extraordinarily ambiguous dictates, internal confusion and constant changing of the rules. Please do not allow yourself and your colleagues to take the fundamental component of creativity and competition away from our health care system.
I applaud the work that is being done to eliminate the ability to rescind health insurance once a policy is issued. If as an agent when taking an application, I get as much information as I can. If my client is telling the truth, which I believe most of them do. Then underwriting should be able to determine whether more information is needed. If so, it is incumbent upon them to do the investigation up front thus making an informed accurate decision. Maybe the pressure to jet issue a policy is not such a good idea. I am one agent who would gladly wait a few extra days to get my commission if I knew that my client was getting the best policy, that would stay in force and my company was making a solid informed risk assessment.
I am terribly troubled by the idea of Comparative Effectiveness. This idea would squelch the research being done to develop better and faster ways to treat illnesses, limit a Doctor’s options and in many cases doom a patient to death. How can anyone make the claim that people are all the same and will react to disease treatment in the same way? Does Comparative Effectiveness allow for a Doctor to make a treatment decision based on his or her knowledge of the patient’s specific health condition, absolutely not? Tell me, did your healthy children react exactly the same way to common treatments of childhood diseases? I think not. At least mine didn’t. Now let’s extrapolate that same thought process to an elderly person with cancer. I believe that you will hardly find any two cancer patients reacting exactly the same way as each other to the same course of treatment.
I respect the hard work you do for the citizens of Delaware. I hope that you will continue to make decisions that will enable Delawareans to live better healthier lives by insuring no one gets denied and insurance companies and our health care providers are allowed to compete, promote and deliver outstanding health care to all.