Health insurance question...

[Ygle]

I need to make a decision about our health insurance and it would really help to know what exactly the changes will mean... does anyone know exactly, or how I can find out? I can't get a straight answer from anyone I ask irl! Health costs over the years have absolutely killed us... at first 10 years ago just with premiums sending us into near bankruptcy, then with the policies constantly changing right in the middle of treatments so we end with things not being covered (after going into debt paying those premiums, argh!)... now I am on a high deductible insurance plan which would have been awesome all those previous years if it had been available, but such is the story of my life that a week into it two of our kids were diagnosed with chronic illnesses so we end up maxing out our deductible every year in any case (and we can only put into our HSA about half the amount of deductible every year... $5900 vs $11000). In any other scenario the HSA would be the best choice for us financially, but at this point paying $400 more a month for a group plan through dh's work might make more sense... although that could jump even higher with less coverage in 4 months... but, what I worry about is that we will never be able to get an individual plan again because of my childrens' health (and I hate to be tied so much to a job). Someone told me the changes will mean all the same plans will be available but we will be able to buy into any plan we want regardless of health... if that's true I guess it won't make any difference what we do now... but I really hate to lose my HSA, it really is the best thing ever, but if they are going to be phased out, then that won't matter either. Does anyone know, can anyone explain to me what is going to happen?

Thanks for any insight, I'm so lost in this and it seems everytime I learn my lesson and make the best choice based on that I end up learning a new lesson... at incredible cost to my family. We really can't afford to make any more mistakes here, literally.

[Purple*Lotus]

Nevermind, I read it wrong.

[Ygle]

I'm confused... you mean there is a manual for the new health insurance changes that are supposed to take effect in 2013... where can I find this manual?

[Ygle]

Well, phooey, a manual would certainly be nice! I really need to figure out how to find out about government policy changes in general I guess because I'm also wondering about the child tax credit... it's definitely going to hurt hard once that is gone and I haven't heard any plans to continue it past this year so far?

I have until the end of this month to make my decision on whether or not to stay with my HSA... any chance of finding out what the government health plan policy will be by then?

[KatWrangler]

It's not a done deal yet. I thought they still had to vote on it sometime in February. As far as I know nothing is finalized yet.

[Purple*Lotus]

If Obama is not re-elected, there is a good chance the whole thing would be overturned. So I would not put my eggs in that basket, if I were you.

[Ygle]

so I guess the best thing to do is to make my decision as if nothing is going to change at all? I wish I could just get straight answers on anything health related... it is so frustrating that I can't even get basic costs for anything whenever I call doctors and clinics direct and then to pay so much for something (insurance) so completely unreliable and then not even know if it's even going to be available year to year, it's all so maddening, I just don't know what to do!

Anyways, thank you so much for the responses, I didn't realize that even nothing at all may happen..!!??!??

[enfpintj]

Obama is trying to get it to his desk before the election in Mass. to replace ted kennedy. Who knows if it'll get pushed through. We just don't know what will happen. We're waiting to see if the HDHP will be phased out too. It really affects our life plan. Of course going through what you've been through would do that too. We couldn't afford to max out our 8k deductible every year either.