I'm doing research on a longer article about the first battles on implementing health care reform in Kentucky. A battle between well-entrenched health insurance companies and a strong-willed insurance commissioner.
While I am finishing the piece, I wanted to make sure that people in Kentucky, and in other states with similar situations, understand that during January, Kentuckians under age 19 can get individual health insurance and the companies cannot deny coverage due to a preexisting health condition.
In the early 1990's, Kentucky was one of the few states to offer health insurance without considering preexisting conditions. Like any responsible insurance agent, I went through all of my client files and signed as many people up for health insurance as I could, and tried to purchase the best coverage that I could find.
For example, I had an eight-year-old quadriplegic client who was able to obtain a Cadillac plan of coverage for $80 a month. (In other words, the same rate as a healthy eight-year-old.) She would have never qualified for that type of coverage, or probably any kind of coverage before or since.
Now, someone like her has the opportunity to get coverage.
Injured children will be the primary beneficiary of this change in this segment of federal health care laws.
Read the news release on the Kentucky Department of Insurance web site here.
Don McNay, CLU, ChFC, MSFS, CSSC of Richmond, Kentucky, is an award-winning columnist, structured settlement consultant and Huffington Post Contributor.
He is the author of the book, Son of a Son of a Gambler: Winners, Losers and What to Do When You Win the Lottery.
You can read more about Don at www.donmcnay.com
McNay founded McNay Settlement Group, a structured settlement and financial consulting firm, in 1983, and Kentucky Guardianship Administrators LLC in 2000. You can read more about both at www.mcnay.com
McNay has Master's Degrees from Vanderbilt and the American College and is in the Hall of Distinguished Alumni of Eastern Kentucky University.
McNay is a lifetime member of the Million Dollar Round Table and has four professional designations in the financial services field