Released: June 06, 2007

Medical coverage: little better than none?

Source: Julie Appleby, USA Today

Tony Camilleri rushed his pregnant wife, Bridget, to an emergency room in January, fearing she was suffering a dangerous complication with her pregnancy. Luckily, tests showed she was not.

Then the Michigan couple began getting bills from doctors and the hospital, for more than $8,000. To his surprise, Camilleri’s insurance didn’t cover any of it because his wife had surpassed a $2,500-a-person annual limit on what the policy would pay.

Eric Chaves, a security officer in Massachusetts, owes more than 1½ months of take-home wages for medical care this year. Two trips to the emergency room — one in an ambulance — exceeded his plan’s annual $4,000 cap for doctor care, tests and ER visits.

Both men are enrolled in an increasingly popular — and controversial — type of health insurance that gives limited coverage to more than 1 million Americans. Their cases reflect a building debate about whether such policies provide a false sense of security, and raise the question: Is a little coverage that much better than none at all?

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