<p>I thought the ACA was only medical till 26. Perhaps that is purely your companies choice?</p>
<p>You know the cost of the vaccines just to go to India? (I know mini does.) Plus mine would call those out of network charges.</p>
<p>I have my kids on my new plan because Cobra is outrageous and they need to maintain continuous coverage, to reap the benefits (no break more than 62 days.) D1’s grant will only offer supplemental. I’m curious how OP’s costs break down, family/ded/cap, indiv/ded/cap. I’m not sure this was noted. For her config, I cannot get my state’s costs anywhere near that high. Are the employees older? It would offer some comparison, for others.</p>
<p>So we have 3 3/4 yeses so far. I didnt count my disabled kid because I dont know if she is covered because of ACA or not. I am going to give her 1/4 of a vote Yes so we are up to 4 yeses.</p>
<p>Mini… Exceeded lifetime caps… That is scary.</p>
<p>Scubasue, I liked your anecdote.</p>
<p>I know somebody that had a brain tumor. It looked slow growing. The surgeon said, "My first opening to operate is in 2 1/2 months. This is in the United States. I dont know about other posters but if I get a brain tumor… I want it taken out pronto. </p>
<p>The patient kept complaining about not feeling good so after a couple of weeks, there was an operation. And when the patient was opened up, the neurologist and surgeon said, “Oops. Now we see why the patient wanted surgery so badly.”</p>
<p>dstark, my mothers triple bypass was scheduled out like that- but had there been an imminent crisis, she would have been bumped up to within a week or two. Maybe sooner. Again, a lot of this depends on location and services in your area. Your friend was right, obviously.</p>
<p>Among the things you never want to hear from your doctor - “Oops”. </p>
<p>Count us for 2 who had to depend on us for healthcare over 21/not a student. </p>
<p>We haven’t gone over what used to be the lifetime cap, but close enough so that a heart attack or a cancer would have pushed me over.</p>
<p>I have two kids under 26 on my insurance. I guess one is because of ACA, as I seem to recall the age limit getting higher within the last year or so. And she is no longer a student. She now has a bit of coverage via Americorp, but they do not cover pre-existing conditions. </p>
<p>No psychiatrist in private practice my community takes MediCare nor Medicaid. I have never done either, but have colleges who have “opted out” of Medicare after taking it for awhile, and the hassles of that seem legend.</p>
<p>The surgeon is great. The neuorologist is nationally known. Still… When surgery is delayed bad things can happen…a brain tumor can morph into a fast growing malignancy. It can cause brain damage or epilepsy. Even benign brain tumors can kill. </p>
<p>Time can be of the essense.</p>
<p>Ok… We are up to 7 yeses. If a poster votes increase the total yes votes please.</p>
<p>“You know the cost of the vaccines just to go to India?”</p>
<p>YES. Zero. Nada. Nothing. Not a penny not a rupee. There are NO vaccinations in India required of U.S. citizens. (However, if you go from Kenya - where there is no yellow fever - to India - where there is no yellow fever - you will need a yellow fever vaccination, unless you have “special dispensation” - I do.) So the answer again is NOTHING.</p>
<p>“Who has a kid that is under 26 and who is insured under the parents’ plan because of ACA?”</p>
<p>Mine is but he is still in college and would be covered now without ACA. He likely will stay on though because our insurance costs the same no matter how large a family is. Our plan also includes dental and vision so he will have that also. </p>
<p>People have to wait to in the US for non emergency surgery all the time. People have to wait to get doctor’s appointment, too - especially for specialists.</p>
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<p>Dstark, this is OOT, but the tumors that can benefit from surgery as opposed to radiation usually do not have to be taken out urgently. Your friend probably ignored the signs for a long time before seeing the doctor and was at risk of a stroke, not fast growing malignancy. That being said 2 and 1/2 month of wait is ridiculous. I wonder if there was another surgeon who was available?</p>
<p>I have a friend who had a tumor slowly growing in her for 30 something years (basically since she was born) before it was discovered. She had to wait for about a month, but it also included preparation to surgery. She probably could have gotten sooner, but with a different surgeon and she decided to wait.</p>
<p>None required by India. CDC has a list. Your expertise swamps mine. I can leave it at that.</p>
<p>Our doctors are not omnipotent. I’m always amazed how much they read by laying on hands, listening through the scope or questioning.<br>
Sidebar.
Friend had an emergency. Turns out a very effective, though expensive, test could have detected the condition before it became life threatening. Preemptive repair would then be an option. Fine. We would all like friends and family to benefit from this test. </p>
<p>It’s not recommended. I think many would blame insurers for hassling or docs for not suggesting the test. But, on digging, you learn that, for testees in the category that could have the condition, the test only detects it in 2-3%. Of those, surgical repair still has high risk of loss of life. So, the comment is that it is not statistically so effective in saving lives that it is worth individual and aggregate costs.</p>
<p>See how complex these things can be? Not as simple as what we laypeople wish med science could provide. Not always the right direction. End sidebar.</p>
<p>“People have to wait to in the US for non emergency surgery all the time. People have to wait to get doctor’s appointment, too - especially for specialists.”</p>
<p>How about eight months, lots of pain, a necessary change in insurance company (away from the highest rated one in the state) after the company lied to try to keep d. away from care, and the possible loss of $200,000 in college scholarships? (Wish we’d been in Canada.)</p>
<p>Genuinely asking: why 8 months? Callousness, delays in facilities/docs being available or some other consideration? And, sorry for what you went through.</p>
<p>It will be more butique providers, no insurance, no electronic records, nothing leaves the office, everything is cheaper and faster, I heard couple of them talking about their own private practices, one was middle aged, another was young…there is some provision in the law to count agreements like this to avoid penalty for no isurance, I did not listen carfully about this part, both physicians were impressive, but I do not have a personal experience.</p>
<p>I don’t have time to write the whole tale of woe again. Doctors paid not to refer patients to specialists. Specialists not as advertised, and likely unqualified. Broken machinery (MRI) that went unrepaired. Physician specialists listed on their panels of providers to whom all referrals were denied. Then dragging their feet, dragging their feet… We changed insurance, scheduled surgery at 5:30 a.m. on January 2nd, and all was fine in two weeks, after 8 months of pain (and loss of scholarships). (In India, we could probably had this dealt with well in less than two weeks, with the cost of copays and deductibles more than covering everything.)</p>
<p>For India, I take doxycycline for malaria, make sure my tetanus is up to date, and that’s it. Most of the meds I take here in the U.S. are made in India, where I can get them at a tiny fraction of the cost here (if I didn’t have insurance covering them).</p>
<p>Mini,</p>
<p>I am sorry that your daughter had to go through this, but I don’t think that if ACA was in place during that time, the outcome would have been different.</p>
<p>Both of my Ds are under 26 and automatically covered by my insurance, but they don’t need it because they both have jobs that offered coverage and they took it. Our co-pay is $100, and our deductible is $3600 per person including prescriptions. Their coverage costs about $100 per month with no deductible and includes annual check ups and free bcps which is about all they use right now so it makes sense for them to buy their own.</p>
<p>6 million Americans seek medical care overseas while Canadian doctors report that 1% of their patients seek treatment in the US. Most were here on vacation when they got sick or were in an accident.</p>