Middle income working couple- spouse who carries the insurance became unemployed

In a recent letter to President –Elect Obama, Yvonne described herself and her husband Tim as a normal couple from Minnesota. Unexpectedly unemployed and unable to pay the cost of insurance offered through COBRA (three times the premium she paid while employed), Yvonne said she has discovered that she and her husband, as a couple, may not be able to qualify for insurance at all.

“For the first time in my adult life, I am without a job, without immediate prospects of obtaining another job and without health and dental insurance,” she wrote. “While I am devastated by the loss of my job, it is the cancellation of my medical insurance that my husband and I are at a loss to deal with.”

Her husband is self-employed as a carpenter and handyman. He has had a few surgeries for broken bones over the years and takes a couple of prescription medications. One insurer said that these two facts alone could cause him to be uninsurable by many companies.

“We have been given so many stories by several different companies that offer medical insurance coverage. Many of the medical plans being offered to us have high deductibles and no physicals, preventive care and limited numbers of doctor visits.

Everyone needs clear and easy access to healthcare. I can’t go with a company that will insure me and not my husband. It seems that we’re not old enough and not poor enough to qualify for government programs. There’s got to be a better way for normal people.”