Medical Insurance question

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Poptart

New member
Hello,

My husband and I have been encouraged strongly by numerous doctors to have our 13 year old son genetic tested for CF. He has had two negative sweat tests in the last 4 years the first was a 38 and the other was 17. He has had GI issues his whole life, 2 sinus surgeries, lots of allergies that we treat with shots and meds, lots of throat and lung infections when he was younger. Very thin almost 5'10 and 120. Which is a gain since he started new GI meds. He is a very strong athlete and has played competitive sports since he was very young. It is so hard for us to believe he could have CF. However many of the doctors have mentioned that CF can present differently in people.

Anyway.... we are very leery of doing the gentic testing for fear of discrimination on medical insurance in the future. We currently have BCBS PPO and have had it for many years through my husbands job. Have any of you had your insurance dropped or riders put on since being diagnosed?

We are scheduled in April to meet with the genetics doc, We think we might just wait and not get tested. Thoughts?
 
P

Poptart

New member
Hello,

My husband and I have been encouraged strongly by numerous doctors to have our 13 year old son genetic tested for CF. He has had two negative sweat tests in the last 4 years the first was a 38 and the other was 17. He has had GI issues his whole life, 2 sinus surgeries, lots of allergies that we treat with shots and meds, lots of throat and lung infections when he was younger. Very thin almost 5'10 and 120. Which is a gain since he started new GI meds. He is a very strong athlete and has played competitive sports since he was very young. It is so hard for us to believe he could have CF. However many of the doctors have mentioned that CF can present differently in people.

Anyway.... we are very leery of doing the gentic testing for fear of discrimination on medical insurance in the future. We currently have BCBS PPO and have had it for many years through my husbands job. Have any of you had your insurance dropped or riders put on since being diagnosed?

We are scheduled in April to meet with the genetics doc, We think we might just wait and not get tested. Thoughts?
 
P

Poptart

New member
Hello,
<br />
<br />My husband and I have been encouraged strongly by numerous doctors to have our 13 year old son genetic tested for CF. He has had two negative sweat tests in the last 4 years the first was a 38 and the other was 17. He has had GI issues his whole life, 2 sinus surgeries, lots of allergies that we treat with shots and meds, lots of throat and lung infections when he was younger. Very thin almost 5'10 and 120. Which is a gain since he started new GI meds. He is a very strong athlete and has played competitive sports since he was very young. It is so hard for us to believe he could have CF. However many of the doctors have mentioned that CF can present differently in people.
<br />
<br />Anyway.... we are very leery of doing the gentic testing for fear of discrimination on medical insurance in the future. We currently have BCBS PPO and have had it for many years through my husbands job. Have any of you had your insurance dropped or riders put on since being diagnosed?
<br />
<br />We are scheduled in April to meet with the genetics doc, We think we might just wait and not get tested. Thoughts?
 
X

xin

New member
Great question - I also have BCBS, and was just diagnosed yesterday. <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif" border="0"> Makes me feel much less inclined to job hop, for sure.

Just so I'm not here contributing useless noise: if the kiddo has CF, I'd think you would want to know ASAP so that you can treat it properly (and improve both his quality of life and longevity). My unofficial and unprofessional suggestion is to do the test, and work through the financial issues with all the information on the table.

[ Thanks for humoring me. We'll see if anyone else can actually speak to your insurance questions. ]
 
X

xin

New member
Great question - I also have BCBS, and was just diagnosed yesterday. <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif" border="0"> Makes me feel much less inclined to job hop, for sure.

Just so I'm not here contributing useless noise: if the kiddo has CF, I'd think you would want to know ASAP so that you can treat it properly (and improve both his quality of life and longevity). My unofficial and unprofessional suggestion is to do the test, and work through the financial issues with all the information on the table.

[ Thanks for humoring me. We'll see if anyone else can actually speak to your insurance questions. ]
 
X

xin

New member
Great question - I also have BCBS, and was just diagnosed yesterday. <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif" border="0"> Makes me feel much less inclined to job hop, for sure.
<br />
<br />Just so I'm not here contributing useless noise: if the kiddo has CF, I'd think you would want to know ASAP so that you can treat it properly (and improve both his quality of life and longevity). My unofficial and unprofessional suggestion is to do the test, and work through the financial issues with all the information on the table.
<br />
<br />[ Thanks for humoring me. We'll see if anyone else can actually speak to your insurance questions. ]
 
R

Ratatosk

Administrator
Staff member
It's my understanding that by law health insurance cannot be dropped or withheld due to a prexisting condition. I also believe that lifetime maximums are no longer allowed.
 
R

Ratatosk

Administrator
Staff member
It's my understanding that by law health insurance cannot be dropped or withheld due to a prexisting condition. I also believe that lifetime maximums are no longer allowed.
 
R

Ratatosk

Administrator
Staff member
It's my understanding that by law health insurance cannot be dropped or withheld due to a prexisting condition. I also believe that lifetime maximums are no longer allowed.
 
P

Poptart

New member
I know we sound a bit crazy to not get tested. Seriously I hear myself and want to smack myself upside the head with a 2X4!

After reading your post about being recently diagnosed at 34 it makes me realize that even though he is a strong athlete he could still have the disease.

This is not our first rodeo with health problems. Both our kiddos have had chronic health problems their entire lives. They just seem to push through and go on.

I guess we are just afraid to have a diagnosis in writing that an insurance company could use against us in the future.

I guess my husbands question is would we need to start some other type of treatment just because he is diagnosed. What if we kept going like we are since his lungs to be doing fine.

Oh, this is such a stressful decision.
 
P

Poptart

New member
I know we sound a bit crazy to not get tested. Seriously I hear myself and want to smack myself upside the head with a 2X4!

After reading your post about being recently diagnosed at 34 it makes me realize that even though he is a strong athlete he could still have the disease.

This is not our first rodeo with health problems. Both our kiddos have had chronic health problems their entire lives. They just seem to push through and go on.

I guess we are just afraid to have a diagnosis in writing that an insurance company could use against us in the future.

I guess my husbands question is would we need to start some other type of treatment just because he is diagnosed. What if we kept going like we are since his lungs to be doing fine.

Oh, this is such a stressful decision.
 
P

Poptart

New member
I know we sound a bit crazy to not get tested. Seriously I hear myself and want to smack myself upside the head with a 2X4!
<br />
<br />After reading your post about being recently diagnosed at 34 it makes me realize that even though he is a strong athlete he could still have the disease.
<br />
<br />This is not our first rodeo with health problems. Both our kiddos have had chronic health problems their entire lives. They just seem to push through and go on.
<br />
<br />I guess we are just afraid to have a diagnosis in writing that an insurance company could use against us in the future.
<br />
<br />I guess my husbands question is would we need to start some other type of treatment just because he is diagnosed. What if we kept going like we are since his lungs to be doing fine.
<br />
<br />Oh, this is such a stressful decision.
 
R

Ratatosk

Administrator
Staff member
Poptart, I would seriously encourage genetic testing. At the very least to rule out CF and to see if his health issues may be caused by something else.

CF does present itself in different ways; however, it is a progressive disease, so it's important for people diagnosed with cf to be proactive. Maintain good lung health thru exercise, nutrition, medications and chest physiotherapy.

DS primarily has digestive issues, though has cultured "cf" bugs such as pseudomonas and steno. maltophilia.
 
R

Ratatosk

Administrator
Staff member
Poptart, I would seriously encourage genetic testing. At the very least to rule out CF and to see if his health issues may be caused by something else.

CF does present itself in different ways; however, it is a progressive disease, so it's important for people diagnosed with cf to be proactive. Maintain good lung health thru exercise, nutrition, medications and chest physiotherapy.

DS primarily has digestive issues, though has cultured "cf" bugs such as pseudomonas and steno. maltophilia.
 
R

Ratatosk

Administrator
Staff member
Poptart, I would seriously encourage genetic testing. At the very least to rule out CF and to see if his health issues may be caused by something else.
<br />
<br />CF does present itself in different ways; however, it is a progressive disease, so it's important for people diagnosed with cf to be proactive. Maintain good lung health thru exercise, nutrition, medications and chest physiotherapy.
<br />
<br />DS primarily has digestive issues, though has cultured "cf" bugs such as pseudomonas and steno. maltophilia.
 
E

Erin0804

New member
Insurance laws may vary state by state, but it is my understanding that you cannot be dropped for a "pre-existing" condition if you have had 12 months of continuous coverage. (I think this is a national regulation - try looking up COBRA). I was diagnosed with CF when I was 24, and my husband has changed jobs several times since, as well as insurance carriers. As long as you don't have a "gap in coverage," they cannot call it a pre-existing condition. For example: you have coverage now, you lose your job and do not continue your coverage for 12 months. You would then have a gap in coverage, so the next insurance company would have the ability to deny coverage for a pre-existing condition. Does that make sense?
By the way, this is all information prior to the new health care legislation...I'm not sure what the new national laws dictate, but I'm sure it will be different when that all takes effect.
I hope this helps a little.
 
E

Erin0804

New member
Insurance laws may vary state by state, but it is my understanding that you cannot be dropped for a "pre-existing" condition if you have had 12 months of continuous coverage. (I think this is a national regulation - try looking up COBRA). I was diagnosed with CF when I was 24, and my husband has changed jobs several times since, as well as insurance carriers. As long as you don't have a "gap in coverage," they cannot call it a pre-existing condition. For example: you have coverage now, you lose your job and do not continue your coverage for 12 months. You would then have a gap in coverage, so the next insurance company would have the ability to deny coverage for a pre-existing condition. Does that make sense?
By the way, this is all information prior to the new health care legislation...I'm not sure what the new national laws dictate, but I'm sure it will be different when that all takes effect.
I hope this helps a little.
 
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