Brian Greenberg is tough enough to complete a half Ironman triathlon — a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike ride and 13.1-mile run. But he winces to think what would happen if insurance companies reinstated lifetime limits on coverage.
If the Affordable Care Act is repealed, he said, he will seriously consider moving to Canada or England because of his high-cost medical needs as a Crohn’s disease patient.
To date, his insurer has paid more than $845,000 for his medical care. The 33-year-old Greenberg is on track to hit what used to be a $1 million lifetime limit on his insurance policy during the next president’s administration.
Before the law, many health plans capped what they would pay for an individual’s medical care over a lifetime, typically at $1 million or $2 million. Up to 20,000 Americans each year lost their coverage because they would max out, according to a federal estimate.
Greenberg figures he will be among them if Republicans make good on their promise to undo the federal health care law.
He was 27 when the law’s ban on lifetime limits went into effect in 2010. Crohn’s disease had worn away at his digestive tract, and he had endured more than a dozen operations, including surgery to remove a portion of his colon. He later had surgery to attach an artificial opening so his body could empty waste into a disposable bag.
His expenses continue, including $4,000 a month for Humira, an injectable drug he takes weekly to keep the disease at bay. His health insurance — which costs $600 a month, with no government subsidy — covers most of his medical expenses after he reaches his annual deductible of $4,000.
“I reach my deductible on Jan. 1, basically,” he said.
Greenberg is a financial services professional in Stamford, Connecticut, and founder and president of a nonprofit organization, the Intense Intestines Foundation, which raises money for scholarships for people with Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis.
“It’s very scary to hear what some of the candidates are saying about the Affordable Care Act,” he said.
Two days before the election, Greenberg hopes to be celebrating his latest athletic achievement, the New York City Marathon on Nov. 6. Greenberg, who considers himself neither a Republican nor a Democrat, said he will cast his vote with health care in mind.
“Without my doctors, I’d pretty much be on the couch,” he said.
(AP)
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7 Responses
wow cause my deductiable is crazy too reach tx to ppl like him so he should thank me for helping him out n also apologize to me for messing up mi income n many others
1. If worked for a large employer such as the government (the largest employer in the country), it would be covered.
2. If indeed he can’t afford care, why is he not eligible for medicare.
3. As the Republicans have pointed out, it would have been a lot cheaper to subsidize poor people with serious conditions, than to switch to an expensive system that does nothing to cut costs and forces many people to give up effective affordable insurance for expensive policies that don’t meet their needs.
4. YWN should not run ads for one party or the other unless it clearly is marked as such. This “article” was clearly a partisan press release and YWN should expect to be paid for running it, and should label it as such.
Mr Greenberg brings up an important point of how insurance companies pretend to provide a sservice but when it comes to actually use it the insurance is not there. However for healthcare providers like myself there is movement to do away health insurance entirely and to have a single payer system run by and for the benefit of patients and doctors.
A good deal of health care costs are due to onerous paperwork and liability costs. If those would be minimized a lot of this would go away.
I have Crohn’s Disease, this article is total none sense. Like #2 pointed out. It gets me so upset when i see liberals talk like that. But yes i know…….SIGH
Actually, if you had the right doctors, you wouldn’t be suffering the way you are, although with all the surgeries already, it could be harder to really balance you out. I had Crohn’s as a young lady. Two surgeries. Lifetime medicine – or so I thought.
With changes to my diet, the care of a skilled homeopath and really educating myself and paying attention to what foods affected me so that I changed my diet tremendously over the years, and I no longer have Crohn’s. Now I’m under the care of an excellent practitioner of Chinese medicine and need very few Chinese herbal preparations. Just for occasional non-Crohn’s issues.
It’s known that changing the way one eats can stop autoimmune “disorders.” So if you are worried about the cap on medical payouts, maybe it’s time to start searching the non-Western modalities for help.
3,
Since you want single payer, I guess that means you dont want patients to have a choice of whom they should go to for insurance or for docs for that matter. I guess when the govt tells you that you could only get $1 for a procedure you will be happy with it. I guess you will be happy when the govt tells you what to do as well.
Please tell us who you REALLY are so people could stay away from you!