While much has been made about the differences between the House-passed and Senate-passed health insurance reform bills, the LA Times points out that both bills have significant consumer protection reforms.
In their story, Sick, without a safety net, they say:
In their story, Sick, without a safety net, they say:
But no one is talking about dropping the kinds of insurance reforms that will open a new chapter in the lives of sick people like him: those with mental illness, heart disease, cancer, diabetes -- chronic ailments that touch almost every family in America. Those patients are the ones most likely to lose coverage because their policies impose lifetime limits, or because they have, in industry parlance, a "preexisting condition."While explaining these important reforms, through the story of Mr. Parks Johnson and his struggle with bipolar disease, they explore the larger issue of health insurance companies rejecting coverage of the the very sick.
Their pain may continue, their premiums may be high, their diseases could remain incurable, but the legislation President Obama is expected to sign into law next year will almost certainly ensure they have access to health insurance.
Johnson had hit a wall that affects an estimated 46 million people in America who are without health insurance. In his case, no insurance company would take him because he was already sick, even though his father and his boss were willing to buy him a policy.Learn more about the House-passed insurance reform bill and the important consumer protections contained within it.
The law protects people with preexisting conditions if they are covered by group plans provided by their employers -- people like Johnson's mother. But there are no such protections for those looking to buy individual coverage. More than a third are denied, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
