Big insurance companies stop insuring children

[Chris]

Yay, this means we're that much closer to having a government monopoly on insurance!

Happy days! I'm sure this is going to work out JUST GREAT for everybody!

No, actually the best system is a combination of public and private insurance like the French have.

 

[Chris]

Major health insurance companies in California and other states have decided to stop selling policies for children rather than comply with a new federal healthcare law that bars them from rejecting youngsters with preexisting medical conditions.

Anthem Blue Cross, Aetna Inc. and others will halt new child-only policies in California, Illinois, Florida, Connecticut and elsewhere as early as Thursday when provisions of the nation's new healthcare law take effect, including a requirement that insurers cover children under age 19 regardless of their health histories.

The action will apply only to new coverage sought for children and not to existing child-only plans, family policies or insurance provided to youngsters through their parents' employers. An estimated 80,000 California children currently without insurance — and as many as 500,000 nationwide — would be affected, according to experts.

Health insurance: Big medical insurers to stop selling new child-only policies - latimes.com

Interesting article, Chris.

I'm sure you didn't intend it as such, but it clearly validated the criticisms of Obamacare that so many of us made.

Wrong.

It shows why we need a public option.

 

[Missourian]

And that's what will happen here. The "rich" will still have better insurance, because they will buy additional coverage. The people who will be screwed are the middle class. As always.

This is from Hot Air. I couldn't agree more.

The real truth is that hardly anyone under 40 needs the kind of insurance policy mandated by ObamaCare. They would be much better advised to buy catastrophic insurance and pay for their minimal use of the medical system through HSAs. Most younger people take one visit to a clinic each year, which would cost arounbd $150, for a physical, a far cry from the thousands they will have to pay for ObamaCare exchange policies. They are being used to subsidize older members of the risk pool in order to keep insurers from going bankrupt under the weight of ObamaCare mandates for coverage.

Hot Air Insurers to drop child-only plans

That is exactly what we do, catastrophic insurance and pay for preventive care and little stuff life the stitches I needed a couple years ago out-of-pocket.

It was great advice my father gave me years ago...getting close to forty so we're doing the research now to prepare for an upgrade.

Since I believe Obamacare is going to end up in the Wastebasket of History...we should still have the freedom to make our own health care choices by May of 2012 when I hit the big four-oh.

 

[auditor0007]

What nobody seems to "get" is the simple fact that the cost of healthcare continues to rise, and it would have continued to rise with or without the new legislation. Healthcare costs have been rising by double digits for the last decade with no end in sight, and this was before "Obamacare". With "Obamacare", they still continue to rise.

At a current cost of $8000 per person per year, that equates to over $600,000 per person over the course of their lifetime. In the next ten years that number will more than double at current rates, so every single American will be facing a lifetime bill of between $1.2 million and $1.6 million. Seriously, who will be able to afford this? I'm sure a select few will, but the fact is that our healthcare sector is going to collapse in on itself.

Everyone on the right and the left can argue all they want, but the fact is that we need to see some drastic changes. As costs continue to rise, life expectancy rates are going to fall. And as fewer and fewer people can afford healthcare, jobs will be lost. That will create a ripple effect throughout the rest of the economy which will destroy our economy. And the so called best care in the world will no longer be found in the US, as hospitals shut their doors.

There are answers out there, and there are good ideas on both sides of the aisle. The problem is that everyone is so determined that they're ideas are the only workable solutions that they ignore anything that they disagree with. This goes for just about everyone on this board to the politicians we elect. And we're just going to continue down this path until healthcare costs eat up so much of our economy that everything comes tumbling down like a poorly built house of cards.

Just think about this; does it make any sense to anyone that the cost of healthcare over the average person's lifetime should cost upwards of $1 million or more? That is approximately half the lifetime earnings of the median income earner in the US today. And we will be at that point within the next ten years. Who will be able to afford this? Certainly not your average American. Where will the money come from to pay for this? I can tell you this; it's not going to come from the average American worker.

So keep arguing about how bad Obamacare is, and continue to disregard the fact that we got to this point long before Obamacare. Most importantly, worry more about today than tomorrow. That way, when tomorrow gets here, and the economy is in complete shambles, and only the very few can afford healthcare, then you can all pat yourselves on the back for being right.

 

[California Girl]

Yay, this means we're that much closer to having a government monopoly on insurance!

Happy days! I'm sure this is going to work out JUST GREAT for everybody!

No, actually the best system is a combination of public and private insurance like the French have.

Yea.... along with the massive taxes that the French pay.

 

[asterism]

Major health insurance companies in California and other states have decided to stop selling policies for children rather than comply with a new federal healthcare law that bars them from rejecting youngsters with preexisting medical conditions.

Anthem Blue Cross, Aetna Inc. and others will halt new child-only policies in California, Illinois, Florida, Connecticut and elsewhere as early as Thursday when provisions of the nation's new healthcare law take effect, including a requirement that insurers cover children under age 19 regardless of their health histories.

The action will apply only to new coverage sought for children and not to existing child-only plans, family policies or insurance provided to youngsters through their parents' employers. An estimated 80,000 California children currently without insurance — and as many as 500,000 nationwide — would be affected, according to experts.

Health insurance: Big medical insurers to stop selling new child-only policies - latimes.com

All part of the plan right?

What was it they said, a "step in the right direction" to single payer?