Pre-existing disease insurance available to those denied coverage

Dear Editor,

I know most of us now days have grown tired to listening to all the volatile political campaigning that has so saturated our culture these days.  Now days, there seems to be, a contagious kind of hate and rage aimed at anybody, that has a different opinion. One in particular the new federal Health care Act, often referred to as Obama Care, the misinformation out there is creating great harm to those most vulnerable. Yes, I am not comfortable with all the aspects of the Act, but one part of it is already available to help people and is being silenced by all the rhetoric.

In this age of daily sound bites spun out by politicians, many things that are said are accepted as fact by, the public.  It also seems to me in hindsight we learn that many had no basis of fact or have been presented with distortion.  It seems the ones that spread like wildfire, are often the ones that hurt the public the most,  because we accept these statements from our leaders, and don't ask the pertinent questions our founding fathers expected us to ask of our elected leaders.

My ancestors settled in this country in 1632, and many became prominent leaders in creating our free society, and one even directly involved with our Constitutions signing. I believe they wanted to make sure we all have a right to free speech.  They helped create a society “of the people, for the people” to protect all of us, at all levels of our society and our politicians seem to have forgotten that, these days.  I guess my heritage has taught me, that if one person doesn't speak up when they see something wrong, then we have all lost our freedom.  Over the years, I have paid the price for rocking the status quo, but that is the price both my freedom and yours.  We are all one people, not Republicans or Democrats, liberals or conservatives, poor or rich and what has set us apart from the rest of the world is that we cared about our fellow man.  I offer the following information from personal experience in an effort to help my neighbors, with no political agenda, so please don't send the hate letters.  Just past this on to your neighbors and family in need.

We in the Panhandle have seen our share financial of misery in the last few years and how many of you had to drop health insurance coverage because of it, and then developed a pre-existing condition?  I was one of those people.  With a diagnoses of cancer, and too young for Medicare coverage, I exhausted my savings and still needed surgery and further treatments. I spent many frantic days and sleepless nights, getting no real direction or help from local agencies. 

Some professionals, like hospital social workers are aware of available health coverage under the Health Care Act, but are not allowed to discuss it with you unless you initiate the conversation.  Yes, our government is already offering us health insurance, Congress okayed that under the new Health Care, but did not provide any money for advertising its' existence and I find that shocking. It is excellent insurance and our politicians should know, they are covered by it. I guess they just don't want to speak about it because it is a political hot potato in an election campaign.

But, it turned out I was lucky enough to find out about the Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP) that is provided through the U.S. Department of health & Human Services and administered by GEHA (Government Employees Health Insurance) in more than 20 states.  It is very affordable for many people. 

If you have a Pre-Existing condition, have not have health insurance for six months and provide a letter from your insurance agent that you have been denied insurance and are a citizen or national of the United States or are residing in the U.S. legally you are eligible.  It is an easy process to apply, you can do it on line at www.pciplan.com  or by phone 1-866-717-5826 or read about all your options in clear ever day language.

 There is a Standard Option, Extended option and a HSA Option so you have some choices.  Monthly payments for someone 0-18 year of age can be as low as $118 a month and are a sliding age scale with the lowest payment  of $376 for someone 55 years of age.  You are not eligible after 65 years of age. The lowest price from ages 19-34 is $176, from 35-44 $211 and from 45-54 is $279. The allowable In Network providers is widespread and you can go outside of the area where you live, like the Mayo Clinic where I went, or you can choose to go out of network and pay a larger co-payment.  The application process for me was easy and pleasant and helpful employees of the company were a surprise after dealing with other health care insurance companies in the past. It takes about 30 days to receive coverage and you will need to pay the first month's payment.

Please pass this information on to people you know that are ill, and need coverage.  It is what my grandfathers would have expected of me as an American. 

For information: www.pciplan.com or 1-800-220-7898. To apply for the insurance: 1-866-717-5826

Marie Steele

Indian Pass