The health insurance industry is rife with companies lying about their less than desirable plans at a very affordable price. These plans have always existed and have been purchased by millions of Americans.
ProPublica Reporter Jenny Deam focuses on health insurance and recently wrote a story about a young man who became swamped with bills following a routine procedure. She joined the AWF Union Podcast to discuss “junk” health insurance plans, what has been done to curb their purchase and more.
“Junk” health insurance plans
Deam explained “junk” health insurance plans have been around for decades and are a short term health insurance plan, which is cheap and does not cover many items covered by regular health insurance plans.
The Affordable Care Act (ACA), better known as Obamacare, required plans to cover a number of elements such as maternity care, prescription drugs and more. The purpose of requiring these provisions was to cover pre-existing conditions. These plans remained available, despite being non-compliant with the ACA.
Holders of these plans faced a penalty for not having robust coverage. Republicans tried to eliminate Obamacare legislatively, ultimately being defeated by the late Sen. John McCain’s famous thumbs down. They would later repeal the individual mandate by attaching the repeal to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
Victims of “junk” health insurance
Deam told the story of a man who was a victim of a “junk” health insurance plan. After a two-year stint in the Peace Corps, the man needed insurance for a year before attending graduate school.
After purchasing one of these plans the man became ill and needed a routine procedure, one that he thought was covered by his plan. After being billed $41,000 for the procedure, his plan only covered up to $2,500.
ProPublica contacted the insurance provider, who then paid the bill. The hospital where he got the procedure waived the remaining $800 balance. However, there are many of these stories that receive little attention.
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America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.
America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, Alliance for American Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes-IBT, Boyd Watterson, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, Mechanical Insulators Labor Management Cooperative Trust, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, Melwood, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of North America, The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.
