(no subject)

[lapsedmodernist]

I mean, it's nothing new, but dealing with health insurance companies on the phone is like trying to play Cat's Cradle with the Mad Hatter.

Massachusetts law requires one to have health coverage at all times.

My health coverage is lapsing at the end of the month

I cannot apply for Mass Health again until my coverage has ended

Then they have to review my case and approve it

That means that it is unavoidable that I will have an insurance gap, which is illegal by the laws of the same state that runs Mass Health. It's teatime!

not to mention that insurance gap = higher premiums/coverage denial in the future

Comments

[signamax.livejournal.com]

and on top of it - MA has the best "state" influence on health care matters in the states, right?
ironic, eh?

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

does it? I am sure it claims to, but I haven't seen anything to that effect. Like, trying to make sense out of this sequence of things makes my head 'splode. Basically anyone who needs to go on Mass Health gets punished by having an unavoidable, mandatory lapse in coverage, which is ILLEGAL in the state of Massachusetts. Should I call my congressman or my senator?

[signamax.livejournal.com]

actually, it is great idea
I would call governor office first though, as health care is under local jurisdiction.
then - and I am positive that you won;t get anywhere with the govenor - you call congressman and/or senator
telling their office that the governor office sucked on the matter.:)
next thing you know - you are a political activist involved in health matters on state level:)

[la-chispa.livejournal.com]

Clearly you should just stay employed at all times, in jobs that offer health insurance.

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

clearly!

either that, or I should move to Europe. Let's hope I don't get hit by a bus before that.

[nightspore.livejournal.com]

I think you're entitled to Cobra from Current Employing University, and it's likely cheaper than Mass Health.

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

Cobra is like $400/month. Can't afford it :( Mass Health's gotta be cheaper for a single mother.

[christophrawr.livejournal.com]

Massachusetts law requires one to have health coverage at all times.

You've got to be shitting me.

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

no, and that in and of itself I don't have a problem with--if it was, you know, democratically financed and managed, and not-for-profit across the board.

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

I am not gonna get catastrophic insurance for the week or however long it takes to process my application, that would be obscenely expensive, and wouldn't be immediate, either.

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

no, the higher premium is for any other health insurance I might ever have to buy privately--if you have a lapse in coverage--even if it's just a day long--they can deny you coverage or charge you much more.

not having health insurance in MA now means you get penalized on your taxes. This year you just had to prove you had gotten insurance at some point during 2007, but since it is now illegal to not have it, I assume they will change the assessment to ensure that you have had insurance all year.

[cascadianista.livejournal.com]

When are you escaping to the Netherlands again? :|

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

August.

[nightspore.livejournal.com]

Ok -- so $400 is insane. On the other hand, you have thirty days to decide whether you want it, and it's retroactive those thirty days. So if anything happens in the thirty days after your health insurance ends, you can go on Cobra for that month. By then you should be able to get the Mass insurance. I hope.

[lapsedmodernist.livejournal.com]

that's good to know about 30 days. I will ask HR on Monday if that is the case. If I was staying there next year, I think it'd go through the summer, and I was idly thinking--maybe I could accept the job and then quit in August, but that's not gonna fly because they need to hire someone else (really really badly--know someone who needs the gig?)