Law Offices of Chris M. Ingram

Comprehensive Healthcare Reform Today – Tomorrow Comprehensive Immigration Reform? *

April 2010 Newsletter

Comprehensive Immigration Reform is Final Here - What does this mean for you?

Comprehensive Immigration Reform is Final Here - What does this mean for you?

Topics covered in this issue
Comprehensive Healthcare Reform
Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Green Card by Marriage
Student F1 Visa
US Immigration for Top Professionals
US Immigration for BA Graduates

March 21, 2010 was an historic night for America as the first major piece of Healthcare Legislation was passed into law after 14 months of wrangling and political maneuvering. It was certainly an historic night. I spent the whole day from 6.00am to 10.00pm watching the arguments, debates and finally the vote got through.

The passing of Comprehensive Healthcare Reform (CHR) signaled a massive step towards universal healthcare for all Americans. What Americans now have is a mix of private and public healthcare options. For people hitherto disenfranchised from any healthcare availability, they will be able to take part in the government funded and private health insurance programs.

After Comprehensive Health Reform comes Comprehensive Immigration Reform and we are fully expecting major breakthroughs for nurses to enable them to meet the huge demand for qualified healthcare professionals - watch this space - Immigraiton reform is coming.

After Comprehensive Health Reform comes Comprehensive Immigration Reform and we are fully expecting major breakthroughs for nurses to enable them to meet the huge demand for qualified healthcare professionals - watch this space - Immigration reform is coming.

In my opinion as a Brit living in the US for the last ten years, for far too long the private healthcare insurance companies have had it too easy and really took unconscionable advantages over the American public. Prior to the passage of  CHR, insurance companies created insurance policies that would cap the total amount of healthcare coverage. So, for example, if you developed a chronic illness that became in their view too expensive to maintain, as soon as your policy reached its maximum they would simply drop you from coverage leaving you to die. Literally. Whilst on the campaign trail, President Obama recounted a story in his personal life where his mother, who was dying of cancer, had to argue with her insurance company not to cut off her treatment.

Another unconscionable tactic of the private healthcare insurance companies was to use the concept of the “pre-existing medical condition” rule to deny coverage. Let me outline a common use of this rule – if you have insurance you might go into hospital thinking you’re fine as far as coverage goes; you’ve paid all of your premiums and the hospital has called the insurance company for authorization before they treat you. After your treatment the medical bills come in, you send them to your insurance company for them to be paid. Healthcare insurance underwriters would then go through all of your medical history to see if they could find any way whatsoever to not pay. If they can find some pre-existing medical condition that was not mentioned in your application they could legally deny coverage even if the treatment you received under the plan had no relation whatsoever to the issue that you may not have mentioned.

The newspapers were rife with such stories. Such as a patient who had their appendix removed only to find out later that the insurance company would not pay out because the patient failed to disclose that they had asthma. If a woman fell ill she could be denied coverage for not disclosing a “pre-existing condition” such as having a baby, when the illness for which they were claiming coverage was for a broken leg. Again, something totally unrelated. This new healthcare law will stop these deviant practices once and for all.

The CHR bill has been the most hotly contested piece of healthcare legislation for nearly 100 hundred years. For decades each new president has talked the talk but when it came down to it he could not get anything remotely this comprehensive passed until now.

Personally, I’m delighted with the new law,  although approximately 50% of Americans according to some polls are vehemently against it for a wide number of philosophical reasons. Having come from England where no one has to pay their doctors and hospitals for treatment, I do not understand why there would be such hostility to CHR. The legislation is still a very long way from the British, European or Canadian models, but for my money, it’s a great step in the right direction.

Why is healthcare reform so intimately connected to Comprehensive Immigration Reform you may ask? When President Obama came to power he said his top three priorities were to turn the country from recession to growth, pass Comprehensive Healthcare Reform and pass Comprehensive Immigration Reform. This is what he campaigned on. President Obama has accomplished two of the three thus leaving Comprehensive Immigration Reform as the last big reform of his presidency.

Topics covered in this issue
Comprehensive Health Care Reform
Comprehensive Immigration Reform
Green Card by Marriage
Student F1 Visa
US Immigration for Top Professionals
US Immigration for BA Graduates

By Attorney Chris M. Ingram
Immigration Law Offices of Chris M. Ingram US Immigration Law Offices of Chris M. Ingram

US Immigration Law Offices of Chris M. Ingram
Chris M. Ingram LL.M., ESQ – Immigration Attorney
Admitted in New York.
Practice Specializing in US Immigration Law
520 Broadway, Suite 350,
Santa Monica,
California 90401
Tel: 310 496 4292

Everyday the Law Offices of Chris M. Ingram provides a comprehensive range of US Immigration expertise. We also provide a free consultation for our prospective clients.

 

General Location: Santa Monica, Santa Clarita, Los Angeles, California, USA.
Serving all 50 States
Copyright 2010

 

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