When one reads this report (as well as the reporting on it, see links below), one can only be saddened by the failure to address the underlying problem. Health insurance reform. This site (see “the plan”) has advocated major reform from day one, as a means to preserve a private system as well as make sure that all have access to coverage. No massive new goverment program is needed. Just administrative discipline and the guts to act. Health insurers use hefty co-pays (0ften condition related), coverage limits and denials as a means to increase profits. In the end, premium decisions should be driven by the overall costs incurred, plus overhead, plus an allowance for ROI (profit). That is fair. What is going on now is not fair. Denying coverage due to pre-existing conditions, limiting coverage, excluding certain types of treatments, placing caps on costs (as if anyone could ever predict what any individual illness might cost) are all part of the scheme. State attempts to address this with high risk pools are doomed to failure as the sickest of the sick are in the pool and therefore there is no true shared risk across the population, which should be the fundamental underlying all true insurance policies. Let’s return health insurance to what it SHOULD BE: a shared risk system, where by coverage is available to ALL with a base of benefits, no exclusions for preexisting ills, no non-renewal due to illness and elimination of caps on covered services . . . jomaxx
Cancer patients with insurance may incur severe medical debt, report finds.
The economic crisis in this country is affecting people in so many ways. It’s even affecting their health. More than a million cancer patients are forgoing care because of the cost, even though 70 percent of them have health insurance.
A report by the American Cancer Society and the Kaiser Family Foundation outlines the serious financial consequences families face when a member is diagnosed with cancer. In addition to dire statistics and figures, the report featured the stories of 20 patients who have faced severe debt and other challenges in their struggle to get treatment for their disease.
Specifically, the report found that hefty out-of-pocket expenses, high cost-sharing requirements, caps on benefits and lifetime maximums on some policies are among the factors that can contribute to financial problems and lead many people to resort to bankruptcy,
Of the 20 patients profiled in the report, 9 had coverage through an employer, one paid for employer coverage, seven had individual insurance, two received coverage through a state high-risk pool and one became uninsured. Debt, stress, and delays in treatment are among the problems the patients experienced, despite insurance coverage. People who become too sick to work usually can continue their employer’s coverage for up to 18 months by paying the full premium, but the added expense of that coverage can pose a hardship because patients often are living on a reduced income.
Additionally, many private insurers…have exclusionary policies and reject applicants with pre-existing health problems. And, according to the report, titled “Spending to Survive: Cancer Patients Confront Holes in the Health Insurance System,” there are “long waits and delays for Medicaid and Medicare.” Moreover, high risk pool insurance coverage that cancer patients can purchase only is available in 35 states, with most policies costing so much, many can’t buy them.
A separate survey by Kaiser in 2006 found “one in five cancer patients who had insurance throughout their illnesses still used all or most of their savings. Nearly one in 10 were contacted by collection agencies.
read more @
http://www.cancer.org/downloads/accesstocare/Spending_to_Survive.pdf (the link for the complete report)
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/NWS/content/NWS_1_1x_Private_Health_Insurance_Doesnt_Protect_Cancer_Patients_from_High_Costs_Report_Illustrates.asp
http://abcnews.go.com/Health/OnCall/story?id=6811555&page=1
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/05/MN9T15LLN4.DTL&tsp=1
http://www.freep.com/article/20090205/FEATURES08/90205063/1033/BUSINESS/Study++High+co-pays++annual+caps+risk+cancer+patients
http://www.freep.com/article/20090205/FEATURES08/90205063/1033/BUSINESS/Study++High+co-pays++annual+caps+risk+cancer+patients
http://www.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=623825