Since When is Health Insurance that Covers Pregnancy or Cancer Considered "Cadillac" Health Care????

by Lisa Codispoti, Senior Advisor
National Women’s Law Center

This post is part of a weekly series on Women and Health Reform.

There is a very dangerous concept being sold out there that “something is better than nothing” when it comes to health insurance. That is, for the uninsured, having inexpensive bare-bones coverage is better than having no coverage at all.  It’s this notion that for people who can’t afford health insurance, we’ll just strip it down, cut out all those “extras” and poof! It’s affordable health coverage! This dangerous notion has most recently popped up in Florida, as the legislature there just passed legislation to allow insurers to sell bare-bones health coverage.  Governor Crist said that while he realized it wasn’t “Cadillac” health care, he called it "a model for the rest of the nation” and said that it would “provide a ‘golden opportunity’ for uninsured Floridians.” This sounds more like fool’s gold to me, because bare-bones coverage could only be a golden opportunity if you never get sick; the only golden opportunity here is for the insurance industry.

While it is good that plans would cover preventative care, insurers would sell supplemental plans that cover health services for pregnancy or cancer; basically, if you want this coverage, you have to choose it and pay more. But what’s not made clear is that if you buy one of these bare-bones plans and then you actually need more extensive coverage because you get sick, all too often you can’t get it, because insurers may exclude coverage for pre-existing medical conditions. Furthermore, people who have decent health insurance could lose what they have if their small employer switches to one of these bare-bones plans.

Now I know that lawmakers in Florida will say their plan is successful as judged by the number of people who will undoubtedly sign up for the coverage – and I’m sure many will sign up for it; people are desperate for something- anything. But let’s be clear – health “insurance” that doesn’t meet your needs when you get sick is dangerous – it’s like the victims of Katrina who found out their home owner’s insurance didn’t cover their loss- only much, much worse. Like the shameful story of the woman with leukemia profiled in the Wall Street Journal last week (subscription required) who went to a hospital for her chemo, only to find they wouldn’t accept her limited health “insurance” and had to pay $105,000 CASH up front before they would treat her.

Bare bones, no frills health plans are no solution to the health care crisis. We need health reform that sets a floor for health coverage and provides access to a standard of comprehensive health care and helps those who can’t afford it; not a system of a la carte, bare-bones health care. Because when it comes to bare-bones health coverage, all that glitters is not gold. Let’s hope Florida keeps this model to themselves. 

Comments

[Toronto life insurance broker]

It's strange, that the most powerful country can't provide at least moderate health care, while the rest of the devolepd world can. And it's still moving forward (for example, you can find news about acupuncture included in government coverage in Canada on Canada life insurance website). Hope after elections your government will begin to solve it...
Lorn