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In the News Maybe you're next on the "rescinded" list?July 29, 2009 VIEW: Jennifer Thompson felt lucky. She could afford a good private health insurance policy that would cover her care and treatment when suddenly she discovered she had cancer. But she was so wrong... Private health insurers can dump you -- and fast. The practice is called rescission. It affects 1 in 100 policy holders with individually paid for health insurance (meaning it's not part of an employer-based health care plan). Many observers, like Timothy Noah at Slate, point out this "horrific" problem and argue that any health care reform must address it. Check out FRONTLINE's full report on the health insurance system -- Sick Around America. And listen to This American's Life's 'buried-in-fine-print' report on this issue. 29 Comments COMMENTSI pay around 160$ per week for our healthinsurance, and still there are things that are not covered! Last time my ER visit for a stupid reason (I had terrible itching sensation in my feet) and at the hospital (where my PCP practices) was directed to ER. After waiting for 4 hours and after a consultation by the ER physician for 2 mins or so, I was hit by a bill for 300$ (the total bill was 800$), despite the fact that my Insurance Card said 75$ (at ER) copay and if admitted its waived off. I wonder where and what did I miss? Samuel Wilson / August 3, 2009 12:12 AMCorporation executives and accountants, deliberately planning to dump their health policy customers when they become sick... Sorta reminds me of Premeditated First Degree Murder. Paul Monroe / August 3, 2009 7:22 AMMaybe if the US went into a public universal heath care system then it wouldn't be a problem in the first place Jack Chan / August 5, 2009 4:31 PMJack: Oh no...not a big bad universal health care system like the big bad boogie man Obama is trying to obtain for American people! All kidding aside...I totally agree with you Jack. It just amazes me how dumb Americans can be, when I see people protesting health care reform. Not long ago, these were the same people whining about how much their medicines are costing them! When are people going to realize that insurance companies and the pharmaceutical industry are just as powerful as the oil companies? All three of these entities have the American public by the whiskers and have no intention of letting go! Good luck President Obama...nice try...but universal health care or reform, isn't going to happen in a country as backward as America has become. Laura / August 8, 2009 12:07 AMI concur with Jack and Laura, we have to rid health care of the profit model.Will the politicians have the "guts" to make it happen! Jerry August 8, 3:10pm / August 8, 2009 4:22 PMJerry: Politicians don't want to bite the hand that feeds them and their political machines. We as Americans vote them into office, but their decision making is not fueled by a concern for their constituents at large. Follow the money and you can get a glimpse of how health care reform is going to |
THOUGHT PROVOKING JOURNALISMON AIR AND ONLINE
Laws must be passed to make this kind of practice illegal, and those that are responsible be held accountable.
It's similar to credit card fiasco, since they just take your money,raising rates and premiums, giving innocent, unsuspecting people a false sense of security that they're paying way too much for, and ability for these "providers" (providing themselves with your money at an astounding profit, and leaving "victims" with no protection and/or benefits).
My daughter had been paying about $200 monthly for health insurance coverage for herself and her child with the company she works for. When it came time to use it the first time in 6 years, the deductible was $3000, and it turned out it didn't cover very much at all, with a lot of out of pocket expense.
Paying $200 month for 6 years is a lot of money that she would have better off putting it in a savings account or some other mode of making the money benefit her, instead of making the health insurance company richer with no return for her and her child. It's robbing a large amount of her hard earned money with no benefit.
Anne McLaughlin / August 2, 2009 2:07 AM