Health Care Reform Sticks It to Connecticut Children

[Crabcake Johnny]

The initial proposal for the public option stated no government funds could be used. It has to sustain itself entirely from premium dollars. Because of that, the public option would be of no help.

Adverse selection was mentioned before. If all carriers ditched child only policies but the public option offered them, it would crash and burn within a matter of months.

In a way, I wanted the public option. The reason is Obama couldn't pin the changes on the "evil, greedy" carriers because we'd be able to point to pretty much the same rates through the public option.

 

[somarco]

"Celtic Ins. Co. requires the first applicant to be at least 19 or older. Feel free to call 800-779-7989 to discuss your options with one of our helpful insurance representatives."

That answers that.

I ran 10/1 rates for kids on Quotit and got 3 possibilities. KP (which I already knew), Coventry and Celtic.

Blue is keeping mum about new plans & rates until the official "roll out" on Friday. Coventry finally confirmed yesterday they will NOT write child only plans after 9/15. I called Celtic yesterday but did not hear back from a rep.

KP will write child only at least thru the end of the year. They are under the impression they do not have to comply with new rules until January. No word on what will happen then but I would be VERY surprised if they offer child only.

Blue may be the lone wolf. In other states have have filed special child only plans but I have not yet heard if they have been approved. If they are the only one offering child only plans they will get slaughtered. They are already the main recipient of HIPAA conversions and losses spill over to their main block.

Obamacrap was getting nowhere until the campaign chant changed to "we will tame those evil insurance companies". That put the vote over the top, but like stimulus, people are going to ask "how are things better?".

Since Obama took office the deficit has increased by $3 trillion, 4.5 million have lost jobs and 2 million have lost homes.

And now health insurance premiums are increasing and child health insurance is either impossible to find or unaffordable.

This "jobless recovery" isn't playing well. The torch & pitchfork crowd is restless. Things are not going according to plan.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

Plug in a child for Carefirst BX with a 10/1 effective date; "0 plans found." My local Coventry One rep maintains that child GI doesn't take effect for them until December. If you go to Ehealth and plug in a quote for a child it'll only show Coventry.

 

[somarco]

I don't use Coventry and haven't for some time. A fellow agent asked them yesterday AM if they would quote child only after 9/22.

In the morning the answer was, "we haven't decided yet".

By afternoon the answer was no.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

For sh*ts and giggles, I just pulled up a KP quote for me and my son, trying to keep it around $300/mo. I can...with an 18K OOP.

 

[dgoldenz]

For sh*ts and giggles, I just pulled up a KP quote for me and my son, trying to keep it around $300/mo. I can...with an 18K OOP.

I know you're in MD, so this tidbit may interest you if you haven't heard already, but KP is no longer offering co-pay plans after 9/23.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

I never did much with KP in MD. I can count that plans I've written since 2004 on one hand.

 

[somarco]

Some markets work better than others for KP. They have been here 20 years and slowly gaining traction. They are expanding their clinics beyond just the usual "big" clinics to smaller ones incorporated into strip malls. Changes in health care delivery, some trigged by the onslaught of Obamacare, have caused more docs to align with KP.

Their model makes a lot of sense and will continue to grow in some areas.

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

The theory is people want to see "their doctor" when they need treatment. However, we've opted for places like Patient First and Nighttime Pediatrics because the trend with the doctor we used to see was pawning us off to the nurse practitioner.

In fact, fool me three times, my son was complaining of headaches a few weeks ago so we decided to give "his pediatrician" one more shot. Called and they told us to come in the same day. So, do we see his doctor? No, we see the nurse practitioner. This, of course, is after waiting 45 minutes in the waiting room and another 20 in the patient room. Remember, the entire point was for him to see "his doctor."

So that's strike three. All of his care moving forward will be at places like Nighttime and Patient First.

 

[medx]

It looks like none of the companies insuring individuals and families in Connecticut will be offering new standalone children's policies after the 9/23 mandates go into effect.

I thought that the mandates were about reducing the uninsured population and not increasing it.

Health care reform is hurting children in my state.

OMG they killed Kenny (because he was uninsurable under the new mandates)! Those b%&**!@ds!

You're right. It isn't funny. Not at all.

Is this the definition of "Hope and Change" ?


American Seniors Insurance