Only in America: Baby on the Way, Health Insurer Belly Up

What's more stressful than having a baby? Being notified 30 days before the due date that your health insurance company has filed for bankruptcy and will cease operating the same month you're expecting your first child. Only in America!

This is the situation we, and many others, are facing today in New York. My wife and I, along with 215,000 other people, received an email on Oct. 31 from Health Republic of New York stating that coverage would cease promptly on Nov. 30, a month earlier than a previous letter said. Health Republic's inability to make money and concern by state and federal regulators that they may not remain solvent forced them to cease operations. This Jewish family is starting to feel a lot like Mary and Joseph on Christmas Eve.

Until now, Health Republic had been providing decent coverage for us at affordable rates in the small group plan our organization had been providing its employees. (For those who enjoy good irony, our small group of employees works very hard to ensure access to care for people with chronic diseases through our non-profit patient advocacy organization Global Healthy Living Foundation.) But when the notice arrived that the shutdown moved up a month to Nov. 30, business became personal.

Hundreds of thousands of people in the New York area are now in a real bind, and for the countless women and families who are expecting a baby -- or receiving long-term, chronic care -- the accumulation of stress is not healthy. At a time when we should be shopping for strollers or onesies, we're trying to navigate an unbelievably complex marketplace for a product that may or may not cover us. And I thought buybuy Baby was an overwhelming place to shop.

Fortunately, there are quick fixes, even though they're not ideal. Expecting a baby is considered a " qualifying life event," which -- by law -- lets us enroll in coverage with another plan. But what if the OB-GYN we've been seeing for the past seven months is not in network? Where do all of those test results go? Worse, what if the hospital where we are planning to deliver does not accept the insurance? Stress. More stress. Even more stress. Good thing stress doesn't impact the health of the baby. Oh, wait.

And stress over what? A basic necessity for health care coverage? Does it get more despicable than that? Civilized countries around the world scratch their heads and wonder about us. For a country that claims to be a super power -- a claim I am now seriously doubting -- having such a discombobulated, profit-driven health care system is the egg on our faces that we as a country deserve.

If a bank goes out of business, there is the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or the FDIC. That protects deposits up to $250,000. What about when a health insurance company goes out of business? Nothing.

If we want for-profit insurance companies involved in a critical service sector like health care offering products that people must have, then we need an equivalent to the FDIC to protect us when the companies go under.

Obamacare started us on the path we're on today. To blame the Affordable Care Act for our health care challenges, however, would be inappropriate and inaccurate. Yes, disruption occurred in the marketplace, but the net of it was positive. What we need now is health care re-reform where people -- companies -- come to the table and act like adults to address the systemic problems that keep sick people vulnerable.