Coverage Lifeline: Help for people with pre-existing conditions
There is hope at last for tens of thousands of Californians unable to get health coverage because of pre-existing conditions. The state is establishing a new high-risk pool with more than $750 million in federal money to widen coverage. The new program is a bridge to 2014, when denials of coverage based on pre-existing conditions will be banned.
There is hope at last for tens of thousands of Californians unable to get health coverage because of pre-existing conditions. The state is establishing a new high-risk pool with more than $750 million in federal money to widen coverage. The new program is a bridge to 2014, when denials of coverage based on pre-existing conditions will be banned.
It makes her nervous, but Rose Beletz has gone without health insurance for 12 years.
Insurers either reject her outright or quote premiums far above her financial reach. Doctors diagnosed the Walnut Creek woman with Type 1 diabetes at age 6.
"We don't insure diabetics," one insurance representative told her husband before hanging up on him.
With his finger bleeding profusely, Chris Underwood tried to avoid seeking medical care.
The uninsured husband and father, who cut himself while washing dishes last month, pays out of pocket for all of his medical expenses. He knew seeing a doctor would be costly.
As she grows older, being uninsured has begun to weigh on Rose Beletz.
At age 62, the Walnut Creek woman, who has Type 1 diabetes, has been lucky in maintaining good health. But she knows that can change in an instant. Then what would she do, she wonders.
Unemployed and uninsured, Jason Villalobos lives in perpetual fear of getting sick or hurt. He also has HIV, a pre-existing condition that makes getting private insurance all the more difficult.
At 15, Miranda Ashland is chatty and outgoing, loves to ride horses, write fantasy fiction about dragons and prophecies, and sing in school musicals.
The Saratoga teen also may be among the first Californians helped by the health care overhaul that will guarantee children access to insurance coverage.
Californians who have medical problems but no insurance will get help from the federal health care overhaul this year, but the big changes debut in 2014.
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