If chicken sandwiches can become political, how can health care be immune? <\/p>\n
Last week, I wrote about Susan, a divorced woman in Ladue who decided to go back to school and become a teacher. To comply with student teaching requirements, she quit a nonteaching job with the Clayton School District. That job had provided her with health insurance. <\/p>\n
So she got health insurance through COBRA, a program that requires employers with group health insurance to offer former employees the opportunity to buy insurance through the group plan for up to 18 months. <\/p>\n
Susan figured she would get a teaching job before the 18 months were up. <\/p>\n
That has not worked out. She graduated this spring but has been unable to find a position. <\/p>\n
As I mentioned in the column, the job market is tight and nobody was willing to take a chance with a first-time, 50-year-old teacher. <\/p>\n
She has decided to work as a substitute teacher. Maybe that experience will help her get a job. <\/p>\n
But her 18 months of COBRA will run out in December. She tried to get an individual policy, but because of pre-existing conditions scoliosis and a mild blood disorder she was turned down. <\/p>\n
Susan told me she doesn't know what she will do. She said she won't be eligible for pool insurance until she has been without insurance for six months. <\/p>\n
She said she is waiting to see what happens with Obamacare. Under the new law, insurance companies would not be allowed to deny coverage because of pre-existing conditions. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
See original here: <\/p>\n
McClellan tries to make sense of health insurance<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If chicken sandwiches can become political, how can health care be immune? Last week, I wrote about Susan, a divorced woman in Ladue who decided to go back to school and become a teacher. To comply with student teaching requirements, she quit a nonteaching job with the Clayton School District Continue reading