When you finally get insurance, there is some good news
Part 3 of a 4 part series on the Affordable Care Act
You have until March 31, 2014 to enroll for the rest of 2014 at https://www.healthcare.gov/ or your state sponsored site.
There is some additional good news about the insurance available on the government-sponsored Marketplace. These insurers can no longer impose an annual coverage cap. After you spend either $6,350 (single) or $12,700 (family), your insurer will pay for the rest. For people who have insurer sponsored health insurance and typical healthcare needs, this may not seem like a big bargain. However, if you are a person who has a chronic condition (or a loved one with a chronic condition) that can run tens of thousands of dollars a year for treatment, this can be very helpful. In addition, you can no longer be turned down for coverage because of your health.
Generally incurable and ongoing, chronic disease affects approximately 133 million Americans, representing 45% of the total population of this country. By 2020, that number is projected to grow to an estimated 157 million, with 81 million having multiple conditions. More than 75% of all health care costs are due to chronic conditions. Four of the five most expensive health conditions (based on total health care spending in a given year in the United States) are chronic conditions – heart disease, cancer, mental disorders, and pulmonary conditions. However, with respect to per-person costs, cancer is the most expensive and heart disease, the second most expensive. There are also orphan diseases, like hemophilia and Gaucher disease that are exorbitantly expensive to treat. Schizophrenia, which affects 1% of the population, is also a notoriously high-priced condition, striking people in young adulthood and requiring multiple medications and hospitalizations over a lifetime.
However, as you can expect, changing the system to now cover this kind of treatment will not be easy. The government has given employers that use separate firms to administer medical and drug benefits some additional time to adjust to the new law. The delay mainly affects people in plans that don’t limit prescription drug costs for things such as pricey chemotherapy.
Remember back in part 1 when I told you that most of the cancellations affected people with pre-existing conditions. The facts above may be part of the reason for that
Part 3 of a 4 part series on the Affordable Care Act
You have until March 31, 2014 to enroll for the rest of 2014 at https://www.healthcare.gov/ or your state sponsored site.
There is some additional good news about the insurance available on the government-sponsored Marketplace. These insurers can no longer impose an annual coverage cap. After you spend either $6,350 (single) or $12,700 (family), your insurer will pay for the rest. For people who have insurer sponsored health insurance and typical healthcare needs, this may not seem like a big bargain. However, if you are a person who has a chronic condition (or a loved one with a chronic condition) that can run tens of thousands of dollars a year for treatment, this can be very helpful. In addition, you can no longer be turned down for coverage because of your health.
Generally incurable and ongoing, chronic disease affects approximately 133 million Americans, representing 45% of the total population of this country. By 2020, that number is projected to grow to an estimated 157 million, with 81 million having multiple conditions. More than 75% of all health care costs are due to chronic conditions. Four of the five most expensive health conditions (based on total health care spending in a given year in the United States) are chronic conditions – heart disease, cancer, mental disorders, and pulmonary conditions. However, with respect to per-person costs, cancer is the most expensive and heart disease, the second most expensive. There are also orphan diseases, like hemophilia and Gaucher disease that are exorbitantly expensive to treat. Schizophrenia, which affects 1% of the population, is also a notoriously high-priced condition, striking people in young adulthood and requiring multiple medications and hospitalizations over a lifetime.
However, as you can expect, changing the system to now cover this kind of treatment will not be easy. The government has given employers that use separate firms to administer medical and drug benefits some additional time to adjust to the new law. The delay mainly affects people in plans that don’t limit prescription drug costs for things such as pricey chemotherapy.
Remember back in part 1 when I told you that most of the cancellations affected people with pre-existing conditions. The facts above may be part of the reason for that