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medpundit |
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Monday, December 16, 2002When Chip East, 31, of Jersey City left his job as a newspaper photographer in Fayetteville, N.C., four years ago to try his hand at freelancing, he didn't expect to be without health insurance for long. But the policies he found were more than he could afford, and Mr. East is still uninsured. Last year, in addition to picking up a nasty intestinal parasite and being shot in the leg while on assignment in Israel, Mr. East was found to have skin cancer and had to have two surgeries. Although he plans to sign on with his future wife's group plan after he marries in March, his troubles may not be over. If his intestinal problems or skin cancer recur, he may not be covered for those conditions for up to a year because the break in coverage has been more than 62 days. The article is really about loopholes in the HIPPA regulations (Health Insurance Privacy and Portability Act) that fail to protect people from losing their insurance when they change jobs. The writer seems to favor a different solution than just selling healthcare directly to people instead of through employers: Is anyone calling for any revisions to Hipaa (sic) to close these loopholes on pre-existing conditions? If anything, political momentum is moving in the opposite direction — toward less comprehensive coverage and fewer safeguards and protections. Coverage gaps may be among the least of our worries. Of course, if insurance companies sold insurance directly to all of us, using the general population as a risk pool, instead of groups of employees, none of those problems would exist. Coverage may be less comprehensive, but health care spending would be more responsible and no one would lose coverage when they lost their job or decided to work for themselves. CORRECTION: Both the University of South Dakota School of Medicine and I have gotten the acronym wrong for that irksome piece of legislation, correctly called HIPAA - Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. I can't speak for the South Dakota Medical School, but I know my error comes from seeing so many images of hippos associated with it. posted by Sydney on 12/16/2002 07:32:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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