I have that experience pre ACA. My son was on our parent plan. He aged out at age 24 when he finished grad school. We had to purchase an individual plan for him. He has a preexisting condition (glaucoma) so,the underwriters needed documentation of his situation…and he was approved.
Is that what you mean?
Pre-ACA, employer plans that I have encountered allowed employees to start coverage immediately or on the start of the next month. Employees were required to take an employer plan unless they could prove other coverage (e.g. as a spouse of someone whose plan covers spouses). Pre-existing conditions were usually covered, but sometimes there were plans that had a waiting period before covering pre-existing conditions (in the case I remember, there were something like three plans available to employees, where the one with the largest benefits had the waiting period).
Changes otherwise could be done in the yearly open-enrollment period or upon specific types of changes (e.g. changes in marriage status, birth or adoption of a child, etc.).
The reason they could do this is that the employer pool is not self-selected based on one’s health status, and coverage was almost universal within that pool. In other words, the pool includes all of the healthy low-medical-cost employees as well the few who have high medical costs, avoiding the adverse selection problem that plagues the individual market for medical insurance plans.
However, it is true that an employer’s cost of medical insurance for employees depends on the medical demographics of its employees. An employer with an older employee population, or a large number of women of child bearing age, could face a higher bill than an employer with a younger male employee population. This can have implications for generally-considered-inappropriate or illegal types of discrimination in hiring and termination. This also created incentives for employee wellness programs, even though they may have been ineffective as some previous posts have described. Some employers have gone further, such as “stop smoking if you want to continue working here”.
Edited to add-
This subject is not political. This is an important issue for our demographic as our children finish their education and begin careers. What if any benefits a job offers is very important. Heck I remember when I finished college 35 years ago my own Mom stressing to me the importance of finding a job that offered good health benefits.
Pre ACA- note we have never had employer provided health care. We had a family plan with Blue Cross when oldest aged out we were told she could buy herself a individual plan that was equivalent to our plan with no underwriting if she went straight into it. If she went a day without coverage or wanted to switch to another plan within Blue Cross it would be subject to underwriting. With asthma and mental health conditions we were told she would not be given coverage. So she rally had no choice. When she got a job with employer coverage we thought long and hard about her dropping her individual plan but ultimately she went with her work plan. Due to the ACA she was able to join our family small business because she is able to buy health insurance off the exchange. I’m concerned if the insurance companies will continue her coverage if they don’t have to. In our case even though the plans are purchased off the exchange they are lumped with CaliforniaCare as far as what coverage we get.
I’m also concerned that another D will have a problem getting insurance once she ages off our plan. She also has seen a therapist and psychiatrist and I feel the insurance companies will want to call that pre existing.
I think those who have employer plans have no clue as to how big a burden health insurance premiums and even the ability to find insurance that will cover you is to those of us who do not. Not to mention that we also have never had dental or vision insurance. For us all dentist visits are out of pocket. That leaves many who up off seeing a dentist unless they are in terrible pain.
Many who want to repeal the ACA also are big on making the economy grow with a growth in small businesses. Well small businesses can’t afford or in our case are so small that you can’t buy group insurance.
Pre ACA people with pre existing conditions were stuck in jobs they didn’t like due to the fact that they didn’t want to lose their health insurance.
I can’t wait for the buggy whip industry to be revitalized. The same people who complain about imports are the same one who shop at Walmart and buy up all the cheap imported junk, and will be the first to complain about the higher cost of everything when the tariffs go into effect.
When my daughter left my ACA plan, after open enrollment, to take a job with insurance, she did not have limits on pre-existing. Hers started the first of the next month and I timed her exit from my plan to match.
But yes, pre-ACA, you could get a job with employer insurance and find limits on that coverage.
I have trouble believing we’ll see coal mining ramp up and scores of young flocking to those miserable jobs. (Sincerely hope I am not offending anyone.) Other energy-related or mfg jobs not requiring college might be possible. Hopefully, what we traditionally call skilled labor.
Dunno about ‘big time’, what with natural gas as a floor, but… I doubt it will continue disappearing at the rate it has been. Exports, if nothing else.
On the other hand, who knows? 40 years ago it was declared that there wouldn’t be any more generation plants using natural gas. Much as it distresses people, pendulums don’t just swing one way.
Pre-ACA, the only plans we could get for S when he aged off our family plan was a Cobra-like plan from same insurer and only for 18? Months because he had no gaps in coverage, and he had pre-existing conditions. The premiums were higher and the deductible was higher than for our family plan that covered the 3 of us and coverage wasn’t as good. When he tried to buy an individual plan, he was rejected to pre-existing medical conditions (which were stable).
Health insurance is going to revert back to the states. It will all depend on where you live.
Exchange plans sign ups surged after the election.
http://money.cnn.com/2016/11/10/news/economy/obamacare-sign-ups-trump/index.html
The whole idea of being denied because of a pre-existing condition is just… evil. Will they exclude asthma and allergies too? They are so common and they start at such a young age.
“Exchange plans sign ups surged after the election.”
Too little too late.
http://www.bcbstx.com/producer/pdf/tx_uw_guide.pdf appears to be an example of pre-2014 medical underwriting guidelines from one insurance company at the time (obviously, others could differ). You can look up various pre-existing conditions to see what may be accepted, surcharged, accepted with rider, or denied by that insurance company at the time. Note that there are also guidelines on height/weight and occupation (for example, those working in asbestos removal, explosives, or mining are not eligible).
^well, it will make it more politically risky for the new administration if they don’t come up with a suitable replacement. More unhappy constituents.
This is being circulated around in social medias, but solar energy is already cheaper than coal. It is not going to come back if there is a cheaper option.
^I think the person who originally posted this was being sarcastic but maybe I am wrong.
Maybe.
The mfg revitalization also promised is apparently sweat shop level.
I don’t think we have much to gain by arguing about whether ACA will disappear. Some feel it will, just like that, because he says so. Others cite the legal process that will make this protracted (if possible at all.) And some are expressing their concerns and the real reasons they need this sort of support. This latter can be where we find the energy to do more than sit back and accept it.
I took a dive into the pre-ACA individual insurance guidelines in post #411 and boy is it scary. I already knew that I would never be able to get individual insurance because I have an autoimmune disease, but there are so many more manageable conditions that also result in a decline. And there is a mile-long list of medications, that if you are taking any of them, result in decline of policy as well.
“This is being circulated around in social medias, but solar energy is already cheaper than coal. It is not going to come back if there is a cheaper option.”
Google greatagain.com. Hit the menu bars. You can read it for yourself.
"The whole idea of being denied because of a pre-existing condition is just… evil. Will they exclude asthma and allergies too? They are so common and they start at such a young age. "
I know that pre ACA my daughter was uninsurable for well controlled asthma. Never had to go to the ER but did need to take controller medicine. To be fair, we did get a verbal quote for roughly 27K/year for her alone when she was 14. So yeah, you can be uninsurable for asthma on the individual market.
Bottom line for most of us is that if you have a pre-existing condition then you will need to work for a company that provides insurance or self-insure. Just remember that without insurance, there are NO negotiated rates. So be prepared to pay full price or whatever the hospital demands. Sure, I have heard you can negotiate or even declare bankruptcy.
It would be like having elevator attendant or a toll booth attendant when they are all automated just so we could keep more people employed.