Print and post everywhere

Print and post everywhere- The return of pre existing conditions and deniable medications: The return of pre existing medical conditions and medications: AIDS/HIV Lupus Alcohol abuse/ Drug abuse with recent treatment Mental disorders (severe, e.g. bipolar, eating disorder) Alzheimer’s/dementia Multiple sclerosis Arthritis (rheumatoid), fibromyalgia, other inflammatory joint disease Muscular dystrophy Cancer within some period of time (e.g. 10 years, often other than basal skin cancer) Obesity, severe Cerebral palsy Organ transplant Congestive heart failure Paraplegia Coronary artery/heart disease, bypass surgery Paralysis Crohn’s disease/ ulcerative colitis Parkinson’s disease Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)/emphysema Pending surgery or hospitalization Diabetes mellitus Pneumocystic pneumonia Epilepsy Pregnancy or expectant parent Hemophilia Sleep apnea Hepatitis (Hep C) Stroke Kidney disease, renal failure Transsexualism SOURCE: Kaiser Family Foundation review of field underwriting guidelines from Aetna (GA, PA, and TX), Anthem BCBS (IN, KY, and OH), Assurant, CIGNA, Coventry, Dean Health, Golden Rule, Health Care Services Corporation (BCBS in IL, TX) HealthNet, Humana, United HealthCare, Wisconsin Physician Service. Conditions in this table appeared on declinable conditions list in half or more of guides reviewed. NOTE: Many additional, less-common disorders also appearing on most of the declinable conditions lists were omitted from this table. Our analysis of rates of pre-existing conditions in this brief focuses on those conditions that would likely be declinable, based on our review of pre-ACA underwriting documents. Our analysis is limited – and our results are conservative – because NHIS and BRFSS questionnaires do not address some of the conditions that were declinable, and in some cases the questions that do relate to declinable conditions were too broad for inclusion. See the methodology section for a list of conditions included in the analysis. In addition to declinable conditions, many insurers also maintained a list of declinable medications. Current use of any of these medications by an applicant would warrant denial of coverage. Table 3 provides an example of medications that were declinable in one insurer prior to the ACA. Our analysis does not attempt to account for use of declinable medications. Table 3: Declinable Medications Anti-Arthritic Medications Adalimumab/Humira Cyclosporine/Sandimmune Methotrexate/Trexall Ustekinumab/Stelara others Anti-Diabetic Medications Avandia/Rosiglitazone Glucagon Humalog/Insulin products Metformin HCL others Medications for HIV/AIDS or Hepatitis Abacavir/Ziagen Efavirenz/Atripla Interferon Lamivudine/Epivir Ribavirin Zidovudine/Retrovir others Anti-Cancer Medications Anastrozole/Arimidex Nolvadex/Tamoxifen Femara others Anti-Psychotics, Autism, Other Central Nervous System Medications Abilify/Ariprazole Aricept/Donepezil Clozapine/Clozaril Haldol/Haldoperidol Lithium Requip/Ropinerole Risperdal/Risperidone Zyprexa others Anti-Coagulant/Anti-Thrombotic Medications Clopidogrel/Plavix Coumadin/Warfarin Heparin others Miscellaneous Medications Anginine (angina) Clomid (fertility) Epoetin/Epogen (anemia) Genotropin (growth hormone) Remicade (arthritis, ulcerative colitis) Xyrem (narcolepsy) others SOURCE: Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, Product Guide for Agents Time magazine spoke with Kaiser’s associate director Cynthia Cox, who suggested the list could be far more expansive. “There are plenty of other conditions, even acne or high blood pressure, that could have gotten people denied from some insurers but accepted and charged a higher premium by other insurers,” Cox told the outlet. Here are more illnesses you should magically avoid, lest you run the risk of being monetarily punished for getting sick. Acid reflux Acne Asthma C-section Celiac disease Heartburn High cholesterol Hysterectomy Kidney stones Knee surgery Lyme disease Migraines Narcolepsy Pacemaker Postpartum depression Seasonal affective disorder Seizures “Sexual deviation or disorder” Ulcers