According to one rich family in New York, it appears so. Speaking with reporters from the New York Times one family member said: \u201cUnlike many others, my family can afford medical care, with or without insurance.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cThe truth is that individual health insurance<\/a> is not easy to get.\u201d<\/p>\n President Obama has tried to remedy the situation by passing legislation to force all American citizens by 2014 to have health insurance cover. Currently, there is a massive problem with millions being unable to get or afford suitable insurance cover. Further, many who are able to get it often find that it doesn\u2019t cover sufficiently.<\/p>\n This last point is well known in the USA with many people who had previously been healthy suddenly find that no sooner than they contract a serious disorder such as cancer<\/a> only for the insurance company not to pay out, or stop payments half way through any treatment.<\/p>\n Donna Dubinsky continued: \u201cSince my husband had retired a few years earlier, we found ourselves without an employer and thus without health insurance. My husband, teenage daughter and I were all active and healthy, and I na\u00efvely thought getting health insurance would be simple.<\/p>\n \u201cWhy did we even need insurance? First, we wanted to know that, if we had a medical catastrophe, we would not exhaust our savings.<\/p>\n \u201cSecond, uninsured patients are billed more than the rates that insurers negotiate with doctors and hospitals, and we wanted to pay those lower rates. The difference is significant: my recent M.R.I. cost $1,300 at the \u201cretail\u201d rate, while the rate negotiated by the insurance company was $700.\u201d<\/p>\n Donna then received a letter, which essentially told her that she was denied health insurance.\u201dIt never occurred to me that we would be denied! Yes, we had listed a bunch of minor ailments, but nothing serious,\u201d she said. \u201cNo cancer, no chronic diseases like asthma<\/a> or diabetes; no hospital stays.\u201d<\/p>\n She added: \u201cWhy were we denied? What were these pre-existing conditions that put us into high-risk categories?<\/p>\n