From Donna Dubinsky in the NY Times on Feb 20

Money Won’t Buy You Health Insurance: THIS isn’t the story of a poor family ,,,,,,,,,, Unlike many others, my family can afford medical care...... this is a story about how broken the market for health insurance is,.....................................

. The truth is that individual health insurance is not easy to get. I found this out the hard way. Six years ago, my company was acquired. Since my husband had retired a few years earlier, we found ourselves without an employer and thus without health insurance....................... and I naïvely thought getting health insurance would be simple.

Why did we even need insurance?................................... we wanted to know that, if we had a medical catastrophe, we would not exhaust our savings. Second, uninsured patients are billed more than the rates that insurers negotiate with doctors and hospitals, and we wanted to pay those lower rates. .................................... and filled out the long application....

Then the first letter arrived — denied. It never occurred to me that we would be denied! Yes, we had listed a bunch of minor ailments, but nothing serious. No cancer, no chronic diseases like asthma or diabetes, no hospital stays.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, What were these pre-existing conditions ....? For me, it was a corn on my toe for which my podiatrist had recommended an in-office procedure. My daughter was denied because she takes regular medication for a common teenage issue. My husband was denied. (because)......................... Basically, if there is any possible procedure in your future, insurers will deny you....

//delong.typepad.com/sdj/2011/02/money-wont-buy-you-health-insurance-nytimescom-1.html