My wife (who has a name but will remain anonymous here) is on the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP). She's been on it since about August. Late last year we got a letter saying that the lower deductible PCIP was being discontinued. For us this means an increase of over a thousand dollars per year in medical expenses. Today we got this letter, instating a 30% copay:
We are expecting our next child in six months. Her pre-existing condition should not impact childbirth or the health of the baby, this birth is not high risk. On the other hand, even standard births can be expensive. Had we known that she would be on a high deductible insurance plan, we might not have decided to have another child. Until 2014, there are no other healthcare options that will cover her preexisting condition.
We keep hearing a lot about personal responsibility from members of congress. How can you be more responsible than obtaining a affordable private insurance policy (not tied to an employer) before beginning a planned pregnancy? How can anyone have stability in a county where the rules can change on a whim? Had this been a policy from a private insurer they would not have been able to change the copayment before the end of the insurance term. If this had been through a state, not the federal government, it would have been constitutionally impossible for a state to alter the term of a contract that it had already entered into.
We on the left wonder why there is not more support for single payer. Things like this are the reason. Why should anyone support single payer if it will put their family's health in the hands of a system where no certainty and major conditions are subject to change at the whim of whomever can take a political hostage in Congress.