THEIR RULES, OUR PAIN
Real stories of people trampled by the insurance companies
"My daughter was covered by health insurance when she taught in Central America. She got pregnant there and returned to the United States a little while later. When she came back to the U.S. she was not eligible for COBRA continuation coverage because she had not been insured with a U.S. insurance company.
She tried to get Kentucky Access insurance that is supposed to cover those who have difficulty getting insurance, but they required that she had been a Kentucky resident for previous 12 months. She has not been able to get insurance for her pre-exiting condition of pregnancy even though she was insured when she got pregnant. So we are hoping this is a normal delivery with a midwife and that the baby is born healthy. If complications occur, the bills are indeed going to be very high for her and her husband.”
Insurance companies routinely discriminate against women.
Learn more in this week's Foul Play.
Read other stories in the "Their Rules, Our Pain" archive.
LATEST SCORECARD
Fifty-eight percent of primary care doctors in the U.S. report their patients often have difficulty paying for medications and care, and half of U.S. doctors spend substantial time dealing with restrictions insurance companies place on their patients’ care, according to the 2009 Commonwealth Fund International Health Policy Survey.
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Families saw their premiums for job-based health insurance rise to an average of $13,375 annually in 2009, with workers paying an average share of $3,515 and employers paying $9,860.
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