Late husband worked for a health insurance company, and that was the last time we had a health insurance benefit. When he left that job, we got catastrophic care insurance, with a huge deductible. We eventually opened HSAs as well. Over the last ten years, each of us has had jobs that offered health insurance plans. We looked at the cost (to the employee) of those company plans, and the benefits, and restrictions imposed. We compared them to the cost of our current plans and benefits, (when you pay yourself, you chose who you want with no restrictions). The HSA balance creeps up over time, allowing more payments, (dental, doctor's office visits, optometrist exams,) on a schedule we controlled, instead of what the company plans would allow. Employers have been hit hard the last few years, too. The workplace plans we were offered had higher premiums than our individual accounts with Unnamed Health Insurance Company, and were not of more value to us. In spite of being a "catastrophic care" policy with a high deductible, It seems to be paying for things, or making partial payments for things, every time i turn around. Tick removed from back at walk-in facility: Paid half the bill. Prophylactic medication in case I was exposed to Lyme disease: I was stunned to have the couple bucks and change it cost. I asked the pharmacist "Isn't there a minimum dispensing fee?" Yes, she said, but the insurance covers it. If I hadn't had that policy, it would have been twenty dollars or so, for two pills. As it was, I paid less than three dollars out of pocket. I'm actually quite happy with the situation I'm in: the fewer people sticking there noses into my health care (policy wonks in DC or that lady in personnel) the better I like it. And it had no bearing on Poor Late Husband's demise: He had lung cancer, quite likely from his thirty eight years of smoking two packs a day. There were unusual circumstances that contributed to his sudden death only five weeks after diagnosis. No amount of chemo, surgery etc., would have saved him. I had a cancer scare myself, actually less than three months after his passing. I asked a nurse what would happen if I had cancer, and my insurance didn't cover treatment. She said she didn't know how that worked, and she said the doctors and nurses take precautions to not know anything about the finances of patients. That way, she said, those with or without insurance are treated the same way while in the hospital. I think it's stupid to go without insurance to have more money for lattes and cell phones, but I defend others' rights to spend the money they earn in a way that they find valuable. As for people who "End up in the emergency room because they couldn't afford a doctor" I've personally known, lived near, worked with some of those people...and they abused the emergency room option so they wouldn't have to pay. I've heard them rationalize taking a child with an earache to the emergency room to avoid a $20 co-pay at the doctor's office, and the hassle of scheduling an appointment. Then in the next breath they griped that they had to wait so long to be seen.

>>In answer to your question, though, exclusions aren't something on your medical record that future insurers would know about. It's an administrative thing that your insurer would have in their records. >> I'm not so sure about that. First of all, EVERY insurance application is added to the MIB (Medical Information Board), a clearing house run by insurers, for insurers. Second, I've never seen a full insurance application that did not ask, "Have you ever been rated on any insurance policy?" (or similar question). Now, it's perfectly true that what one company might rate you for, another company will not. But that your answers become part of your insurance application, is certainly true. AND, every insurer has the right to contact any other insurer who has a policy on you, to look over the medical information you submitted. It's one of the waivers you have to sign before they'll even consider the application. When I worked for a major reinsurer for 13 years, we didn't often request additional medical information from other insurers - but there were occasions when we needed to do so, and we exercised our legal right to do it.

This is what's wrong with an employer driven health care system. Wouldn't it be nice to know that if you were fired, you'd still be getting the same insurance for the same amount of money you were already paying? Obviously, the people who are afraid of universal health care are the ones that don't have anyone in their own family who are ill and don't understand the implications of what happens when an illness strikes. My daughter has diabetes and because of that, now has gastroperisis. Her husband left her and quit his job. So, I am paying for her Cobra although I am now earning 1/2 of what I used to due to the economy which is barely above minimum in some states. How are people supposed to survive? What if she didn't have me to help her out? She already used up her lifetime 5 bottle supply of free insulin. I didn't mean to hijack this thread but this makes me so angry, especially when so many people are uninformed and so insensitive.

I had no problem at all with the review. It makes perfect sense. I just thought it was funny that they sent the notice when I was already at the lowest-price level, though I suppose they just send it to everyone when there's a review. And you're right, Chisue. My Imitrex has been a lifesaver. I'm completely non-functional without it when I have a migraine, which fortunately isn't often. I can barely even see, because of the aura, let alone move.