One of the most beneficial things in the Affordable Care Act is that it requires insurance companies to cover people who have a pre-existing condition. Some insurers consider live donors, who donate a kidney to someone else who needs it, to have a pre-existing condition. We need the Affordable Care Act to prevent insurers from denying health insurance coverage for these kind souls.
The Affordable Care Act is the name of the current series of health reform laws. Some of it has already helped Americans to find health insurance. For example, one of the popular parts of the ACA is the ability for young adults, who are between the ages of 18 and 26, to be covered under their parent’s health insurance plans. Another helpful portion of the ACA is the requirement that makes insurance companies cover children who have a pre-existing condition.
In 2014, health insurance companies will be prohibited from discriminating against people who have pre-existing conditions. Right now, there is a Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP), that is available for people who have been uninsured for at least six months due to having a pre-existing condition. It is designed to be a bridge program that will fill in the gap between now, (when insurers are refusing to cover adults who have a pre-existing condition), and 2014, (when they can’t do that anymore).
Right now, it is possible for a person to be a live donor. People can donate one of their healthy kidneys to a person who is in need of one. Some people have had success with finding a live donor through Facebook. Others wait, sometimes for years, for a kidney to become available. It is vital that people who are able to donate a kidney, and are willing to do so, be encouraged to do it.
Unfortunately, health insurance companies, such as Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, are choosing to consider a person who was a live donor as a person who has a pre-existing condition. It appears that the reason why the insurers are doing this is so that they can use the supposed pre-existing condition as an excuse to refuse coverage for a person who was kind enough to donate an organ.
There are some people who are considering donating a kidney, but, are fearful of how that will affect their ability to obtain health insurance coverage in the future. The unfair behavior of some insurance companies, like Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota, could actually be a deterrent that will reduce the amount of people who will donate a kidney. This is horrible!
In 2014, the Affordable Care Act will prohibit all health insurance companies from refusing to cover people who have a pre-existing condition. After 2014, it will not matter if an insurer considers a live donor as having a pre-existing condition because the insurer won’t be allowed to use that as an excuse to refuse coverage. This is another reason why it is so important that the Affordable Care Act continues to exist.
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