Friday, April 07, 2006

Health Insurance (ARGH!)

Griff recently received the option to refuse health insurance through the company he works for. We pay over $600/month for a family of 4. In looking at ways to cut expenses, we looked at our health insurance. We decided we wanted to look into private insurance with a health savings account. That would mean a high deductible, but we are very healthy and once we had enough money in the HSA to cover the deductible, we would be okay.

Imagine my shock when Robert was refused coverage because of his Asperger's. I couldn't believe it! I fully expected them to refuse to cover any AS-related expenses (of which there have been NONE since we took him off of Stattera in the summer of 2003). I did not expect them to refuse coverage for him completely. He is no more likely to get sick than any other child.

I'm part of an AS email list and I asked about this. Someone replied that this is typical. Private insurance does not have to cover anybody, so they don't cover AS. What a crock.

I'm grateful that we still have that company insurance, but what about those people who don't? What do they do? What about Griff's dream to be self-employed? What do we do about that?

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