Healthcare Reform plus What is Means for Women too!
Once again, I am dedicating my Sunday to healthcare reform because I feel it is such an important subject and REALLY IMPORTANT TO WOMEN! If you missed my past two posts, here they are:
Cold vs. H1N1 Flu Symptoms PLUS Healthcare
Healthcare Reform
I think this is an important enough issue to write about it again as we CANNOT let the insurance companies keep denying us coverage and life!!! Here are a couple of the latest stories about what is happening & how the insurance companies are working AGAINST us!
1. Jenny U. from Missouri did what any parent would: When her son needed a kidney, she donated one of hers. But she didn't realize insurance companies would use her kindness as an excuse to never cover her again, calling her donation a "pre-existing condition."
2. First, a Colorado baby was turned down for health insurance for being too big. Now, another Colorado child has been turned down for health insurance for being too small. Just a week after TODAY highlighted the story of 4-month-old Alex Lange, who at 17 pounds was considered obese, the show presented Wednesday the equally curious case of 2-year-old Aislin Bates, who at 22 pounds was turned down for health insurance for not meeting a proposed insurer’s height and weight standards. Aislin’s dad, Robert Bates, told TODAY’s Erin Burnett he was shocked that United HealthCare turned down their request for coverage when their daughter is basically a picture of health, having suffered nothing more than a common cold in her life. Doctors have told Robert and his wife, Rachel, that Aislin’s small size is purely a matter of genes, not ill health.
3. What is at stake for women in health care reform? Plenty. Should being born female be considered a pre-existing condition that translates into higher health insurance premiums... or a C-section be classified as a pre-existing condition... or basic maternity care require a special rider on a woman’s insurance policy? Does it seem even remotely fair that a victim of domestic violence be denied health insurance coverage? The insurance industry certainly thinks so.
What can you do to help? Sign the petition: Being a Woman is NOT a Pre-Existing Condition
4. Without Insurance, A Man's Defribrillator Run's Out: "In 2003, William Koehler of Pittsburgh, Pa. lost his job as an electronics technician. He lost his health insurance, too, but he'd been lucky enough to have the defibrillator battery in his heart changed just the previous year. No insurer would cover him except for one company which refused to cover anything related to his arrhythmia, says his sister." Read more at the link.
5. Don't forget about Livestrong. I got this "e" letter below:
How disturbing! I didn't realise the insurance companies held so much power to pick and choose in the US Health System.
I hope that change and health reform takes your system to a fairer place. Kellie, Australia (not a perfect system either!)
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AMEN, AMEN, AMEN...keep screaming this as loud and as often as you can because I'll be screaming right along with you!!! It should be ILLEGAL what these companies are allowed to do to us. I've been uninsured for a very long time...denied due to my weight and I'm an otherwise healthy woman. Yet if I was skinny and a chain smoker I would be insured instantly. Thank you for speaking out against these companies and for reform that is so desperately needed in our country!
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Josie, thank you so much for visiting & your comment! Yes, the state of healthcare in this country is crazy!!! We are self employed with no pre-existing conditions & obviously fit but it is impossible to afford anything even catastrophic insurance which does not get a person to the doctor.
Let's take away the health insurance from all those opposed & have them try to get it on their own & then see what they have to say!
By the way, I checked out your blog. Keep up the good work!
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