[andrewcooke]

how do they calculate the "worst case" numbers for chronic illnesses? are those for indefinite support?

(i'm curious because i have recently run into this. here in chile, private health insurance is unlikely to cover long term medication but, thankfully, there is a government scheme for many major illnesses. so, for example, a month's supply of interferon-beta is $250 instead of $2000.)

[vivekajayshah]

Worst Case is calculated using a simulated "catastrophic illness" - a combination of surgery, expensive drugs, emergency care, and hospitalization.

The costs we calculated are yearly estimates - assuming you stay with the same plan, and they don't/can't raise your rates or cancel your plan - this estimate should hold for chronic illness.

We can estimate costs for specific chronic illnesses - click the "Personalize" button on the left side of the result page. You can select the specific chronic condition you're worried about, and it will provide a customized estimate.

My contact info is my profile - feel free to call/email if you have further questions.

[andrewcooke]

oh, i completely missed the link to the actual tool, sorry.

thanks for the reply - i was just curious from a "foreign spectator" viewpoint.

i was going to ask what protection there was against cancelling plans, but a little googling seems to show that was made illegal as part of obamacare!