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How a Gap in Health Insurance Coverage Affects Care
COBRA benefits, which allow a former employee to continue to purchase company health insurance, are cold comfort because they're pricey. And applying for individual benefits has its own challenges:
- Some 62% said it was difficult or impossible to find affordable coverage.
- Around 38% said it was difficult or impossible to find the coverage they needed.
- About 31% reported that they were rejected, charged a higher price, or had a pre-existing condition excluded.
At the end of the day, 45% of the respondents who were uninsured and tried to purchase a plan in the individual market were not able to actually purchase one.
So where does that leave us?
The Commonwealth Fund report concludes that the "health insurance expansions and reforms in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will end the gaps."
Well, that's worrisome, because sometime this month, the Supreme Court may strike down the ACA, in whole or in part. What will that mean to the millions of people who find themselves unemployed and unable to purchase health insurance?
Margaret Dick Tocknell is a reporter/editor with HealthLeaders Media.
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Comments are moderated. Please be patient.
richard.vangorder (6/6/2012 at 1:36 PM)
I am in this boat - I was unemployed and uninsured in 2011 for 7 months but I paid for my physician, lab and medication out of pocket. Now I am employed and insured but the insurance won't pay any claims due to pre-existing conditions. So I am about to be hauled off to debtors prison because the insurance I and my employer are paying for is not paying for my care. So much for the USA being the greatest country in the world.