healthcare reform

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White House lists the benefits of proposed health care reforms

Friday, August 14th, 2009

I’m glad the government has spelled out what Americans can expect from a health care reform bill. Here’s what the White House says will be in the final bill:

  • No Discrimination for Pre-Existing Conditions
  • Insurance companies will be prohibited from refusing you coverage because of your medical history.
  • No Exorbitant Out-of-Pocket Expenses, Deductibles or Co-Pays
  • Insurance companies will have to abide by yearly caps on how much they can charge for out-of-pocket expenses.
  • No Cost-Sharing for Preventive Care
  • Insurance companies must fully cover, without charge, regular checkups and tests that help you prevent illness, such as mammograms or eye and foot exams for diabetics.
  • No Dropping of Coverage for Seriously Ill
  • Insurance companies will be prohibited from dropping or watering down insurance coverage for those who become seriously ill.
  • No Gender Discrimination
  • Insurance companies will be prohibited from charging you more because of your gender.
  • No Annual or Lifetime Caps on Coverage
  • Insurance companies will be prevented from placing annual or lifetime caps on the coverage you receive.
  • Extended Coverage for Young Adults
  • Children would continue to be eligible for family coverage through the age of 26.
  • Guaranteed Insurance Renewal
  • Insurance companies will be required to renew any policy as long as the policyholder pays their premium in full. Insurance companies won’t be allowed to refuse renewal because someone became sick.

And here is a link to answers to Frequently Asked Questions that I hope will dispel fears and refute the misinformation.

– Yvonne S. Thornton, MD, MPH

Only in America: insured – but bankrupted by medical bills

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

There was a story recently in The New York Times about a married couple in Austin, Texas, who thought they were covered by medical insurance. They discovered otherwise when one of them actually needed to use it:

“Too many other people already have coverage so meager that a medical crisis means financial calamity.


One of them is Lawrence Yurdin, a 64-year-old computer security specialist. Although the brochure on his Aetna policy seemed to indicate it covered up to $150,000 a year in hospital care, the fine print excluded nearly all of the treatment he received at an Austin, Tex., hospital.


He and his wife, Claire, filed for bankruptcy last December, as his unpaid medical bills approached $200,000.”

You might assume that, because both my husband and I are doctors, affiliated with two of New York’s most prominent hospitals, we’d never face the issue of inadequate insurance.

If so, you’d be wrong.

When my daughter was in graduate school, she became ill and needed to be hospitalized. She had health insurance through her school. Her hospitalization, CT scans, and other tests, were covered.

But the hospital discharged her before she was completely well and she continued to have severe pain. That’s when we learned that her medical expenses under her policy were capped at $25,000 – and she’d used up the maximum during her first hospital stay.

Because my husband and I had the resources to cover the staggering bills that resulted – physicians, another hospitalization, surgery, tests – our daughter was able to get the care she needed and not go into debt.

But what if we couldn’t be there for her?

It’s not unusual for people, even those who are insured, to lose everything once a major illness strikes. I know of one couple in Michigan. Both had good jobs and health insurance. Then, she got cancer and he needed a heart bypass. His treatments were only partly covered and they fell into debt. They lost their jobs and with it, their insurance. They went bankrupt, lost their home, and just about everything else.

I wish I could say this was unusual but it happens all the time. A recent study showed that 62 percent of bankruptcies in the U.S. in 2007 were due to medical costs. What’s more alarming is that, at the time those people became ill, 78 percent had health insurance. They either lost it when they lost their jobs due to illness or it was inadequate to cover their medical expenses.

And this should illustrate, as nothing else can, why this country desperately needs a public option in healthcare coverage, one that can’t be taken away if you’re too sick to work, one without the fine print that explains how the insurance company isn’t going to cover you when you most need it.

I know there are politicians in Washington, making all sorts of arguments about how, if we allow a public option, we’re on our way to socialized medicine or rationing or, who knows what the latest nonsense is. I’m here to tell you that that’s all it is: nonsense.

These guys rake in tons of money from the health insurance lobby and others who want to keep making huge profits by denying you care when you need it most. Don’t let them fool you as they’ve fooled the American people for so many years. Call your senators and tell them you’re mad as hell, and you’re not going to take it any more. Tell them that all you want from them is a public option so you can be certain help will there when you need it to keep your family well.

– Yvonne S. Thornton, MD, MPH

Thank you President Obama for your wise words on healthcare reform

Wednesday, June 24th, 2009

Yesterday, at President Obama’s news conference, a reporter asked whether adding a “public option” – an option that allows people to buy health insurance from the government instead of private insurers – would, as insurers claim, drive them out of business.

The president answered:

“Why would it drive private insurers out of business?… If they tell us they’re offering a good deal, then why is it that the government, which they say can’t run anything, suddenly is going to drive them out of business? That’s not logical.”

As a physician who has seen the ever-escalating costs of health insurance hurt my patients, I have to say, I agree with the president wholeheartedly.

A public option won’t drive insurance companies out of business. But lack of good, affordable healthcare options is forcing people to delay necessary medical care. That means that people are often sicker by the time they see a doctor. Sometimes, it means, by the time they see a doctor, it’s too late for us to help them. That’s a national tragedy.

We must turn the debate away from how to safeguard the insurers’ profits to how to safeguard our families.

I sincerely hope that the politicians and lobbyists will stop playing with people’s lives for the sake of the almighty dollar and, instead, think of the public good and pass real health reform.

– Yvonne Thornton, MD, MPH