Reply #6: How's that working out?

[daa]

Wednesday, March 23, 2011


NASHVILLE — It’s not easy shopping for health insurance, whether you’re in your 60s with a chronic condition or young, healthy and athletic.

On the one-year anniversary of the federal health care reform law, little has changed for thousands of adults who have to pay their own way.

Denial rates for individual health coverage remain high. Premium costs continue to rise. And there’s uncertainty about the guarantees of universal coverage, due to start in 2014 but now facing renewed political and legal challenges in Tennessee and nationally.

Linda Pearce, of Nolensville, can’t wait until 2014. She’s paying $670 a month on a COBRA policy that will run its course before she’s old enough to qualify for Medicare. COBRA is a federal law that allows displaced workers to stay on an ex-employer’s health plan temporarily if they pay the entire premium.

“I had someone from AARP call me about insurance,” she said. “I said something about pre-existing conditions. He said, ‘Let me get back to you.’ He never did.”