Access to health insurance is not the same as access to health care. Forcing modest-income families to buy insurance policies with huge deductibles, co-payments and co-insurance may help hospitals, but leave patients even worse off than when they were uninsured.

For the much-vaunted monthly premium of $175 (that’s for a young person, for someone my age it’s $347), you can get “coverage” through The Connector. But the coverage comes with a $2,000 deductible. And even after you’ve reached the deductible you’re stuck with 20% of the bill for inpatient care, outpatient surgery, physical therapy, etc. The real insurance only kicks in after you’ve spent $5,000 out-of-pocket for covered services. (Non-covered services don’t even count toward the deductible. So if you tear an ACL playing soccer and need 6 months of physical therapy, you’ll be responsible for all those bills after the first 3 months – about $2500 on top of the $5000).

For window dressing, the coverage allows you cut rate doctor visits – $25 each time – and drugs have their own complex deductibles and co-payments. But once you sort through the fine print, the message is clear: If you’re actually sick you’re in deep financial trouble. Read more…

Health Reform Winners and Losers

A year into health reform, its starting to become clear who the winners and losers will be. Read more…