I for one am happy for the pre-existing clause. Maddie has Type 1 Diabetes and it's treat it or die. When she got diagnosed one of my concerns was making sure she always had coverage - any gap and it could be treated as a pre-existing condition and she'd be hosed. And a lot of pre-exisiting conditions are gentic or from things out of a persons control. I don't think they should be punished for it. And to be honest denying coverage will make us end up on social programs or in the ER which will all end up costing everyone more anyway.
To Scaeagles point of the overuse of Doctors. I agree. I'm not one to take myself or Maddie in at the drop of a hat. I know a person who does and it makes me nuts. Not to mention every visit MUST have a perscription no matter what the ailment. Their medical coverage recently changed and they counted up family visits to the docs for the last year - I believe the number was 35 for 5 family members. That's 5 each in a year. These were all colds, ear infections and the like no serious or cronic conditions. Before Maddie's diagnosis and my recent ailments we generally go once a year for our yearly check ups. That's pretty much it.
And between my kidney stone and broken toe I've been in both the ER and Urgent Care recently. And I would say a number of the people at both places didn't need to be there. They had either a cold or flu. None seemed severe enough to warrant an ER trip for certain. Urgent Care is a little tricker because it's meant for stuff like that. But again unless you are severely dehydrated and need an IV I don't know what you want them to do for a cold or flu. And darn it I had kidney stones and a broken toe (really broken as in pointing the wrong direction) and you're taking up space ahead of me in line, and it is of course all about me
As for allergies Scaeagles. I too had horrible allergies in school. All the cartlidge in my nose is broken from rubbing it all the time. I wouldn't say all the allergy medications are a waste but they should just be over the counter and you can then pick and choose on your own dime. Personally the only one that works for me is Allegra - the only one not over the counter and with no generic still. And my copay on it is hefty. So I have to decide if it's worth that or just suck up and take the occasional benadryl when it gets really bad.