Thread: Hospitals worry about caring for newly uninsured in GOP plan

Originally Posted by nntrixie

Maybe this sounds too simplistic, but shouldn't 'families' pay for maternity costs?

When we had an unexpected, or surprise pregnancy, my husband was a police officer. He didn't make a lot of money, but with only one child and my salary, we were doing OK.

When the pregnancy occurred, we knew we had some work to do. Insurance with the police department was structured to care primarily care for him if he was hurt on the job - certainly no maternity benefits.

My insurance paid a whooping $100.

We began scrimping and saving. My husband worked 2 other part time jobs. When it became apparent that wouldn't get the job done, he gave up his police job. One he had wanted all his life, and went back into the business he was in because he could make enough to care for the family.

Never once did we consider someone else should be paying for this.

Do all health insurance plans cover maternity?

• By Louise Norris
• healthinsurance.org contributor
• October 3, 2015

Q: Now that the ACA has been implemented, do all health insurance plans cover maternity?

A: In most cases, the answer is yes. Since January 2014, the ACA has required all newly issued and renewing individual and small group health insurance policies to provide maternity coverage. Large-group plans have long been required to include maternity coverage, thanks to the Pregnancy Discrimination Act of 1978, which applies to employers with 15 or more employees. In addition, 18 states passed laws over the years that required smaller groups and/or individual policies to cover maternity benefits.


But prior to 2014, the majority of individual health insurance policies did not cover maternity as a standard benefit. In some states, it was available as an optional rider, but the cost was often prohibitively high, since the coverage was usually only purchased by people who were planning to use it, and was priced accordingly.


Maternity coverage is one of the essential health benefits that must be covered on all non-grandfathered/grandmothered individual and small group plans that are issued or renewed after January 1, 2014. So all of the policies being sold in the exchanges – and off-exchange – include maternity coverage. The ACA also prohibits gender-based premium determination, so women cannot be charged more for their policies than men.


There are a few exceptions to keep in mind. If you’ve retaining your existing individual policy (possible until September 2017 in many states) or if you’re staying on a grandfathered plan, you won’t have maternity coverage unless it’s already included on your plan.


In addition, large group plans are not required to provide maternity coverage for dependent children, which has become more significant now that adult children can remain on their parents’ plans through age 26. The National Women’s Law Center filed a discrimination complaint about this in June 2013. In May 2015, HHS announced that plans must cover preventive care – including prenatal care – for dependents, but there is still no requirement that dependents be covered for labor and delivery costs.


And coverage that’s not regulated by the ACA, including travel insurance, short-term / temporary insurance, discount plans, and various supplemental plans, does not have to conform to any of the new rules. So if you purchase a short-term insurance policy, it’s not likely to provide any maternity benefits.

https://www.healthinsurance.org/faqs...ver-maternity/

Under the new proposal:

excerpt:

Having A Baby Could Become Way More Expensive

A clause in the ACA stated that come 2019, everyone would receive essential health coverage. “Essential” covers mental health, general hospital visits, maternity care, and like services, and would mean they’re essentially “on the house.” The repeal maintains this clause but ends the tiered coverage quality plans (ie. no Cadillacs of healthcare coverage). Instead, it hands it over to the states to enforce their own coverage plans. Depending on how states want to divvy out their governmental stipend, the already pricey cost of having a baby may greatly increase.

https://www.fatherly.com/kids-health...-for-families/

This could become a serious problem if the Trump administration doesn't deal with birthright citizenship for "anchor babies." I say that because the illegals will still be giving birth to their children (anchor babies) free of charge in hospital emergency rooms under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA).

Allowing this to continue allows illegals to continue having babies like rabbits, but will limit, or in some cases prevent, middle class families from giving birth to future Republican voters! And we all know most "anchor babies" grow up to be Democrat voters. Furthermore, those so-called "anchor babies" will petition for the legalization of their illegal family members when they reach 21 years of age. Those family members will more than likely become liberal voters too!

If your policy covers it, great.

My point is - isn't it your responsibility to either have the correct coverage or get to work to pay for it?

Before the Hillarycare fiasco, there were many small, conservatively run insurance companies that offered major medical insurance at an affordable price.

Two things happened.

First off, people became convinced they were going to get free healthcare through the government and either dropped or stopped purchasing insurance.

The second thing was the government quietly enacted laws demanding insurance companies cover a lot of things they had had the discretion not to cover. This caused the small companies to go out of business.

I don't see there is a problem with an insurance company offering whatever coverage it chooses to offer as long as the purchaser understand what they are purchasing.

This gave people the choice of going for the policy that paid for office visits, medicine, maternity, drug rehab, plastic surgery, etc. and paying a higher premium or opting for major medical only and paying out of pocket for office visits and medicine.

It was and I think, should be about choice. It's about making up your own mind and taking responsibility for your choices.

Of course, that was also before we had 30 million or so illegals, and a million a year immigrants (a large percentage from third world countries). The healthcare for these people had to be paid for somehow - so the loss on these were simply added to the cost for others.

I don't see there is a problem with an insurance company offering whatever coverage it chooses to offer as long as the purchaser understand what they are purchasing.

Exactly. And that is where government does have an appropriate policy regulatory role. There are insurance schemes, there is ambiguity, there is predatory selling tactics, there is built-in gotchas, there is deception .... this all occurs throughout our country's business community, this has been the case since the 1800's. That's why Teddy Roosevelt worked so hard t pass the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, which passed, and is the law of our land. It applies to all companies operating on an interstate basis which places them under federal regulatory review, EXCEPT the massive insurance industry, which was EXEMPTED from the Sherman Anti-Trust Act in 1945 when regulated by a state.

The Sherman Anti-Trust Act applies to more than monopolies, it applies to anti-competition behavior, collusion, price-fixing, widespread schemes and plots against consumers that become unfair and deceptive trade practices and fraud.

This is why it's so important to repeal the McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1945 as soon as Congress can get it's head out of its donor lists and focus on the primary "principles" of our nation for the people of the United States and our posterity, including "promote the general welfare".

These "principles" are outlined in the Preamble of the US Constitution, to describe the purpose of the government is created. These principles are listed below:

1. to create a more perfect union
2. insure domestic tranquility
3. establish Justice
4. provide for the common defense
5. promote the general welfare
6. secure the blessings of Liberty

Number 5, "promote the general welfare" is where such things as jobs, wages, trade, immigration, education, health, healthcare and health insurance fall. When we promote the general welfare, and do it right, it prevents US from having to provide welfare.

Is an illegal alien with 6 children in our country "promoting the general welfare" of the people of the United States and our posterity? Well no, of course not. It's quite the opposite, they are harming the general welfare of our citizenry and nation. Is illegal immigration unconstitutional? Absolutely. On every front and every level.

So how can maternity benefits or any other benefit be made available to promote illegal unconstitutional activity in our poor beleaguered nation? If it's illegal to be in the United States, then any and everything you do here is illegal including having sex, which obviously includes breeding.

We've had a lot of really stupid people serve on the US Supreme Court and an even larger number who have worked in the US Government who have forsaken their purpose and obligations and forgotten the people of the United States and our posterity.

The Preamble to the Constitution is an introductory, succinct statement of the principles at work in the full text. It is referred to in countless speeches, judicial opinions, and in a song from Schoolhouse Rock. Courts will not interpret the Preamble to confer any rights or powers not granted specifically in the Constitution.

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/preamble

So when people want to talk about our "values" and "principles", keep this link and refer to it often. If whatever issue someone is hanging their "principles of this nation" hat on, check the Preamble. If it's not there, it doesn't count and they need to sit down, shut up and wait for orders on one that is there.