Wow, Pre-Existing Claims

Some people, though, are less clear on the subject.

For example, 29 year old Megan Tice-Royea, is a grocery store manager in Newport, Vermont. Last year, she she decided she couldn’t afford health insurance, despite making what appears to be enough to qualify for a healthy subsidy (or just buying a Cat Plan).

Which was a fine, rational decision, until it wasn’t:

“In September, she was admitted to the hospital with a gallbladder infection. The surgery left her $32,000 in debt.”

Ouch.

Now let’s rewind the tape a bit, and take a look at “what might have been:”

Megan’s 29, makes $14 an hour, and we’ll assume that she doesn’t smoke. Had she taken (literally – I timed it) 3 minutes, she could have visited her state’s Exchange, where she would have learned that she qualified for a $347 per month subsidy, and then purchased a Bronze level plan for less than $60 a month (that’s about $2 a day).

[ed: all rates and plans based on 2017 Exchange info, YMMV]

Her maximum out-of-pocket (including deductible) would have been $7,150 plus the $720 in premiums, meaning that the $32,000 claim would have cost her less than eight grand (about 25% of the actual bill).

Expensive 3 minutes.

[Hat Tip: FoIB Dr Dino]