plan members

According to the Los Angeles Times, California has 2,700 hospitalizations and 206 deaths from H1N1. However, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases says, “the 2009 H1N1 viruses cause generally mild disease but also spread between individuals relatively effectively.” Although more people may become ill from Swine Flu, fewer will die from it than from regular, seasonal flu.

Should you get vaccinated against H1N1? If you don’t want to miss several days or weeks of work due to respiratory illness, or worry about developing a “pre-existing condition” for which you might be denied health insurance, you might answer yes.

Health insurance premiums in California and nationwide, rise primarily due to four major reasons:
1. Advances in medical technology means higher claims costs.
2. Price inflation for medical services is greater and exceeds inflation in other sectors of the economy.
3. Health Insurance Costs shift from the uninsured and those receiving Medicare and Medicaid over to the private sector
4. Consumer lifestyles, such as smoking, physical inactivity, obesity and heart disease.

Did you have health issues in the past? Or are you currently taking prescription medications? Are you going to have or have you had trouble obtaining health insurance in California?
The fact is, when you apply for an individual health insurance policy in California, you have to go through medical underwriting, unlike group health insurance policies. Therefore, you could be declined for health care for a number of reasons including the above mentioned.

The over-arching goal seems to be to start with something, anything that may lead to more aggressive health care reform down the line, reform that will be easier to both organize and actualize.

Today, however, the U.S. Census Bureau puts the number of uninsured Americans at 46.3 million. 37% of Californians, or about twelve million of those Americans, were without health insurance during some or all of 2007 and 2008, according to familiesusa.org, and that number has likely increased in tandem with the increase in unemployment. In Los Angeles, more than two million people are living without health insurance, a figure that reflects LA County’s standing as having the third highest rate of uninsured among all major American cities.




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