Reply #30: It helps self-employed people especially

[ctaylors6]

I agree the premiums plus out of pocket costs are high, and too cost prohibitive for the majority of people who need it. But there is a big section of the population with pre-existing conditions (conditions that aren't even all that serious but prevent them from getting private insurance) who can afford the high risk pools, state or federal, and for those people it's a huge relief to have the pools available.

My husband and I are self-employed and speak from experience on this matter. We exhausted COBRA and are now in the process of trying to get insurance privately (Unlikely because of pre-existing conditions) or through our state's high risk pool. We are very fortunate to be able to afford the premiums and costs. But this process has made me more concerned than ever about obtaining health care in this country.

By the way, the legislation has caused an unfortunate side effect for kids. Insurance companies cannot exclude children anymore because of pre-existing conditions. I thought that was awesome until I realized that now insurance companies won't offer kid-only policies. So the parent get denied for pre-existing conditions (some not all that serious), and the kids can't get insurance. So the whole family has only the high risk pools available.

The whole situation is so messed up.