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Comment by ftrflyr | Hacker News Reader

"I had heart surgery when I was 18. I was virtually uninsurable. I now have health insurance. Why we need the ACA is no more complicated than that."

I am a bit confused by this story. Was Zach not covered under his families' health coverage? He also went to: Westminster School - one of the most expensive private high schools in the US.

Now, one could argue he had a pre-existing condition and thus, was not covered under any health care providers plan, but he states: "I was virtually uninsurable." This tells me there were options, but none that covered the entire cost of the surgery. Honestly, this story alone makes me seriously question the purpose of this post.

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A serious heart condition in one's youth (infancy, even), regardless of insurance coverage at the time, could exclude one from all future private insurance (as in: there are zero options, they will not do business with you) leaving only incredibly-expensive state-provided (but privately administered, of course—profit over all) insurance as an "option", i.e. leaving the only actual options as being employed with a large company, going without insurance at all, or being poor enough to qualify for medicaid (so, avoiding employment).

Source: I know someone for whom this was the case pre-ACA.

Pre ACA, many health insurance plans literally refused to sell you individual insurance at any price if they judged you to be too risky.

A friend was virtually uninsurable for having once been diagnosed as clinically depressed. Flat out denied coverage.

He seems to be implying that, post surgery, he had a preexisting condition that would prevent further insuring for the rest of his life. The heart surgery itself was (presumably) covered, but after that he was on his own.

It's after the surgery that he would be un-insurable. Before the ACA, when he turned 19, the only possible way for him to get insurance would have been to get a job that offered health insurance because he wasn't allowed on his parents plan and he had a pre-exsiting condition so he wouldn't have been approved for private insurance. After the ACA, at 19, he could have stayed on his parent's plan, bought private insurance because the insurers couldn't discriminate based on the pre-existing condition or get a job that offered health insurance.

This comment captures a feature of a lot of discussions I've read: somebody's got an axe to grind.

It's unfortunate that we're not able to get these conversations going in a way that's ... what? "unbiased"? I don't know what I'm asking for, but I think it's some variant of honesty and openness. And I think that we're missing a lot of the truth, for ourselves and others, by having to couch our statements in ways that aren't entirely forthcoming.

That said... I'm still glad that medicaid covered my uninsured ass when I broke myself trying something I'm not good at (skiing). I remember thinking (as I was bundled up in the medic's sled) that I was not too different from some New Zealander with a busted body part... about to be carted off to free medical care, to get me back on my feet and working as quickly as possible.

Thanks, Obama.

You are reading too much into the word "virtually" — he means that once he was kicked off his parents' health insurance, no insurer would accept him because of the preexisting condition.

Anything is a pre-existing condition. I sail and my knee got whacked by the traveller car. It blew up like a pumpkin. I went on my own dime to my ortho guy. He said, it was either going to get better fast or not. It got better fast and I can't even remember which knee it was.

Pre-existing condition. Anthem denied me coverage.

My ortho guy said, I don't understand. It was a good outcome.

The ACA allowed adult children to stay on their parents insurance until age 26. Without this provision, Zach would have been kicked off his parents health plan and been uninsured at 18. He probably wouldn't have even been able to afford the heart surgery in the first place.

I think he's saying after the surgery and before the ACA, he was "virtually uninsurable."

The heart surgery is now considered a preexisting condition when the individual tries to buy their own insurance. That's why it is mentioned, it is very likely it was covered by their family insurance.

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