HHS Secretary Sebelius will be hosting a live webcast tonight at 7 p.m. EST. I'll be tuning in for that, and they're welcoming questions by e-mail right now. I just sent off my question which was this:
What's to keep private insurance companies from pricing families out of getting coverage separately for their children with pre-existing conditions?
Please send in questions you have as well to HHS Secretary Sebelius. We all have questions we'd like to ask her, and this is your chance to ask her tonight. I know the teabaggers will be sending in their own questions, so we need to send in our questions as well.
The last time Secretary Sebelius had a Q&A, nearly all the questions came from teabaggers. We need to stop that, and start making our voices heard!
I also have a list of questions which you can send as well, or add in your own questions to Secretary Sebelius:
- Will parents of children with pre-existing conditions be required to purchase insurance as well if they try to seek insurance coverage for their children with pre-existing conditions?
- If parents of children with pre-existing conditions are "priced" out of getting insurance coverage for their sick children, would they be able to purchase coverage for their children in the national high risk pool?
- Would the HHS Secretary require that a portion of the $5 billion in funds for the high-risk pools be set aside for subsidy programs to help families and individuals purchase affordable insurance in the high risk pool?
- Would a private insurer, in accepting a child with pre-existing conditions, be allowed to charge the parents extra for the coverage of that child?
- Would a private insurer be required to cover all claims for that child's pre-existing condition?
- In the national high risk funding pool, what happens if one lives in a state that does not have a state high risk pool?
- If you live in a state that has a high risk pool, and you have a pre-existing condition, would it be required that only you be covered? What if you have a family that would like to be covered by insurance, and they don't have pre-existing conditions? Would it be a case of only one member of the family being covered by insurance in the state high risk pool while the rest of the family are uncovered by insurance?
- Will there be rate caps on private insurance for people in the high-risk pool?
- What happens when the $5 billion in funding runs out?
- What determines a "pre-existing condition" in order to qualify for the state high-risk pool? Does it have to require evidence of having been denied before for a pre-existing condition when applying for private insurance?
These are the questions I have off the top of my head in asking Secretary Sebelius. Now's your chance to ask Secretary Sebelius questions as well.
Our work won't stop on getting real health care reform, and neither will yours.
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