“You basically can’t count on insurance remaining even mildly affordable in individual markets,”says Karen Pollitz, quoted in the article.
As the article points out, “seemingly healthy retirees are frequently surprised to learn they aren’t ‘viable,’” as insurers in the individual market routinely underwrite policies on older people, either denying them outright or charging exceptionally high premiums.
Insurance for the self-employed and others on the individual market can be expensive and difficult to obtain, as reported by Julia Appleby of USA Today.
Unlike group plans offered by employers — which provide coverage to everyone, no matter how sick — there is no guarantee in most states that individuals can get insurance. Even if they can, their policies may not cover existing medical conditions such as hay fever, depression or pregnancy.
The article cites a 2001 study from the Kaiser Family Foundation, authored by Karen Pollitz of Georgetown University’s Health Policy Institute.
In a 2001 study by Karen Pollitz of the Georgetown Health Policy Institute, researchers submitted applications to 19 insurers on behalf of seven fictitious applicants, who had medical conditions ranging from HIV to allergies. Of 420 applications, 37% were rejected.
“What we have shown is there are carriers who will turn you down if you have hay fever,” Pollitz says.
Read the USA Today story: Individual health policies leave many behind
The Kaiser Family Foundation’s report, How Accessible is Individual Health Insurance for consumers in less-than-perfect health? is available as a free download from the KFF website. You can read the four page executive summary, or the 62 page full report.
It turns out that 7 percent of Americans would, and that they might be making the right choice.
Freelancer Michelle Goodman has written for ABC News about her own adventures in obtaining health insurance, and the sad news for her and others is that as an independent contractor, the price of buying an individual policy comes to thousands of dollars per year. As a result, some couples are rushing to the altar so that the one with employee benefits can bring the other onto their policy.
Even sadder are the stories of those who get divorced, or choose not to get married, so that a child or a sick individual will be able to qualify for a low-cost health care policy available on a low-income basis.
Goodman’s story offers several resource links for those who decide not to let their health insurance status determine their love lives, though she acknowledges that the choices are few and usually quite expensive.
Read the stories of the dental-care elopement; the 21st-century married “friends with benefits,” as in health benefits; and the Medicare divorcee, on the ABC News website: Getting Married for Better Health Coverage and Other Tales from the Insurance Mess.