Plea from Fellow Agent

[stuy119]

Thank you all for the recommendations. As I expected, not really any place to go with my Crohn's.

Placing this post under health care reform was actually an oversight, but now i see that it very relevant to the topic.

I do contend that if anyone is against health care reform, there is an excellent chance that they are NOT on the short end of the healthcare stick.

Because I don't have coverage, I'm forced into short-sighted decisions like putting off colonoscopies, skipping doctor visits, holding off on blood work and cutting back on my medication doses. It is very real. and I know that I'm rolling the dice. I've got 2 kids in college, so I do what I have to do...and so far, so good. But, heaven help me if my condition ever worsens.

Thanks for letting me share the human side to hc reform.

Jim-

If you're in the Chicagoland area, let me know. I work with or count as clients many "alternative" practitioners who might be able to help.

Just PM me.

 

[Josh]

I do contend that if anyone is against health care reform, there is an excellent chance that they are NOT on the short end of the healthcare stick.

Because I don't have coverage, I'm forced into short-sighted decisions like putting off colonoscopies, skipping doctor visits, holding off on blood work and cutting back on my medication doses. It is very real. and I know that I'm rolling the dice. I've got 2 kids in college, so I do what I have to do...and so far, so good. But, heaven help me if my condition ever worsens.

Thanks for letting me share the human side to hc reform.

Two questions and just being honest here. First, why don't you make your kids get a job and/or take out student loans rather than risk your health? Second question, why not get a "real" job with group health insurance if it something that serious? Again, I mean no disrespect, but why not go either of those routes?

 

[jimsthename]

Two questions and just being honest here. First, why don't you make your kids get a job and/or take out student loans rather than risk your health? Second question, why not get a "real" job with group health insurance if it something that serious? Again, I mean no disrespect, but why not go either of those routes?

Thanks, especially for the courtesy you extend.

It has always been my goal to put my kids through college. They do work and do contribute in their own way. I worked in the corporate world for over 20 years- very successfully, I might add. I didn't continue, after a buyout, because of the lure of working at my own pace and of spending more time with my family.

Certainly the recommendations you make are viable, and it may come to moving on one or both of them. Guess my underlying point would be that...because of a "pre-existing condition" my access to the American dream is limited.

 

[thuban]

To paraphrase George Carlin: They call it the "American Dream" because you have to be asleep to believe in it.(And, that certainly applies to real access to health care.)

 

[Dave020]

Thanks, especially for the courtesy you extend.

It has always been my goal to put my kids through college. They do work and do contribute in their own way. I worked in the corporate world for over 20 years- very successfully, I might add. I didn't continue, after a buyout, because of the lure of working at my own pace and of spending more time with my family.

Certainly the recommendations you make are viable, and it may come to moving on one or both of them. Guess my underlying point would be that...because of a "pre-existing condition" my access to the American dream is limited.

You could have purchased GI coverage under HIPAA when you group exhausted, could you not? Are HIPAA plans not available in IL?

 

[sman]

It appears that they do.

Illinois CHIP

I'll admit, I didn't review the site for details, but it seems to me they have some sort of program available.

You could have purchased GI coverage under HIPAA when you group exhausted, could you not? Are HIPAA plans not available in IL?

 

[Dave020]

Illinois CHIP

Illinois CHIP - Plan Facts

Most interesting to me, 90-day gap in coverage allowed unlike the 63-day gap here in CA.

They also have HCTC plans. In CA, only Kaiser has a state-qualified HCTC plan and it is not available in parts of the state (figures!)

 

[Josh]

Guess my underlying point would be that...because of a "pre-existing condition" my access to the American dream is limited.

Pardon my frankness, but I think that's a bit dramatic. If you could get your company large enough to being two employees you could get GI coverage, you could pay cash, or you could get a "real" job. Millions of immigrants are here illegally because they simply want the opportunity to work. Even more are here because they want the freedom to practice their religion freely and be less oppressed by a government. I think that because of your pre-existing condition you still have fairly unfettered access to the "American Dream". At the very least, you still have many ways to access the healthcare you need which is something most of this world's citizens do not.

 

[sman]

My "American Dream" was to play professional baseball. I was pretty good, but not good enough to get to that level. Who do I blame for that?

 

[thuban]

"I think that because of your pre-existing condition you still have fairly unfettered access to the "American Dream". At the very least, you still have many ways to access the healthcare you need which is something most of this world's citizens do not."

Not only are there 47m+ US citizens whose only access to health care is the emergency room, but, while having the world's most expensive health care, according the WHO's last health-care ranking, the US ranked an unimpressive 37th, right between #36 Costa Rica and #38 Slovenia.
If health care is supposed to be part of the so-called Amer Dream, George Carlin was absolutely right.