Access Plans Inc (fka APNC)

[MoneyMan]

AP: What's in health care proposals for 5 Americans
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gyNWjZ4gE6rGJCBOMqUvKlhhi3PgD9CMQV0G0

This first one will sound alot like me in a few months. Minus the unemployment. "Chronic lung condition" is what exactly?

Only I will get a the cheapest catastrophic coverage along with some supplemental stuff Access Plans offer, but the kicker is I have plenty of money to pay for the deductible and premiums.

Name: Holly Brown

Home: Round Lake, Ill.

Age: 28

Employment: Student, working part time, receiving unemployment benefits.

Household income: about $15,000.

Coverage: Insured, but struggling to afford it.

Brown was laid off last year from a job she'd held for four years. She's stayed insured because of the government COBRA program, which allows workers to remain on a health plan for 18 months after they leave their jobs, if they pay the premiums.

Brown works part time and studies medical imaging at College of Lake County. She has a chronic lung condition and was in the emergency room in November with flu and pneumonia. She's paid about $1,000 in medical bills this year that her insurance didn't cover.

She doesn't know how she'll pay her $500 premium this month because a government subsidy that helped her afford the premium has expired.

"It's scary to think about what's going to happen if I can't make the payment by the end of the month," Brown said.

The health care overhaul taking shape in Congress would require her to buy health insurance or pay a penalty. She could pick a plan offered through new state-based insurance exchanges and she would qualify for a subsidy to help pay her premiums because she makes less than 400 percent of the poverty level ($43,320 for an individual in 2009). But all those benefits wouldn't kick in until 2013 in the House bill (2014 in the Senate legislation). Because of her medical problem, she may be able to qualify for coverage during the transition period by going through high-risk insurance pools called for in the legislation.