The New Health Care Bill and How it Will Affect Me

I live in North Carolina in a small town called Hudson, which is near the Hickory/ Morganton/Lenoir area. When President Barrack Obama first announced his plans to try to get health care reform passed in the United States, I was very excited. I was initially under the impression that health care in the U.S. would be somewhat like it is in Canada should the bill pass, which we all know has its advantages and disadvantages. I also assumed that health insurance premiums would be a lot lower, making it more affordable for middle class families like mine, the families who make too much money to qualify for Medicaid but whose jobs don't offer affordable insurance plans. However, now that the health care reform bill has passed, I am not so excited anymore. Well, in a way I guess I still am excited, and the health care reform bill will affect me in many ways, and I'm anticipating that those will be positive ways, although I can think of a few negative effects the new bill will have on me as well.

One positive way that health care reform will affect me is by preventing health insurance companies from denying me medical coverage because I have lupus. I am virtually uninsurable because of lupus and a few other conditions, and it is so unfair that insurance companies are able to do this. It would be nice if this aspect of health care reform could be implemented sooner than 4 years, though, because what am I to do until then? I've heard some talk on the news about temporary help for people in my condition, which is promising, but I don't yet know the details. Children have to wait 6 months before the bill is implemented, allowing them assess to health care despite preexisting conditions, which is good. I'm forced to be on Medicaid which will be ending soon because my husband was unemployed when we applied, but now he's working.

Another way that health care reform will affect me is if my family has to pay a penalty for not having health insurance. My Medicaid will be ending soon and my husband can't afford to put me on the insurance offered through his job. He has insurance for himself, but if he for some reason loses his job, we couldn't possibly afford Cobra, even though the government assured us that Cobra premiums would be a lot less expensive, but this is not true. My husband changed jobs last year and Cobra was as expensive as it ever was, which was totally disappointing. I am desperately trying to find a job where health insurance will start within 30 - 60 days so I won't have a lapse when my Medicaid ends, but it would be really unfair to have to pay a penalty for not having insurance in a case like this. I know that the rules of the new health care bills won't be implemented this soon, but if something similar were to happen in the future, it wouldn't be fair at all.

The future requirement to have health insurance may actually have a positive affect on me. Since it would cost $150 a week for my husband to add me to the insurance offered at his job, buying into one of the government plans might be a great deal cheaper, minimizing financial stress on our family right now. And if we could receive government assistance to help pay for the insurance, that would definitely help us out immensely. Because of my illnesses, I must see many specialists for a regular basis. Last year I had to go to the Mayo Clinic twice to see several specialists and have several very expensive procedures. I had 2 MRIs, a spinal tap, and many other tests. My blood tests alone cost over $5000. If the Mayo Clinic's financial assistance department hadn't accepted the 80 % that the private insurance I had at the time paid, I would be paying some very large medical bills right now. My annual medical expenses without insurance easily exceed $20,000 a year, and when my Medicaid ends, there's no way we can afford this kind of expense, which is why health care reform will hopefully rescue me.

The new health care reform bill is very confusing, and many people probably don't fully understand exactly how it will affect our country yet. I must admit that I don't yet completely understand it either, but I'm hoping that the government will help me and the numerous other Americans to soon understand everything there is to know about the major health care changes that will be occurring in our country. Hopefully health care reform will affect me a lot more positively than I expect, but for the time being I'm going to try to learn everything about the new bill that I can. I don't mind paying for health insurance, but I want a long-term plan that I can depend on, a plan that won't let me down when I'm sick and require treatment, as well as a plan that won't charge astronomical premiums that my family couldn't possibly afford.

Sources:

health care Reform - http://www.healthreform.gov/reports/insurance/index.html

http://www.healthreform.gov/reports/out_of_pocket/index.html

http://www.whitehouse.gov/assets/documents/Pages_from_Health_Insurance_Reform_PDF-3.pdf

http://www.healthreform.gov/about/index.html

http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/newsroom/fscobrapremiumreduction.html