Men forced to buy maternity coverage under Obamacare?

uberalles2 · 2013-10-31T06:26:24+00:00

Thanks Obama!

rapiertwit · 2013-10-31T09:56:48+00:00

The coverage is not piecemeal, is all Sebellius was trying to say. The plan covers maternity, and it also covers penile reattachment, which women will never make use of. This is a manufactured issue.

TantivyMM · 2013-10-31T14:36:07+00:00

I was forced to buy a maternity rider for my individual plan last November. When I joked to the operator that, as a male, I simply cannot get pregnant, it was explained to me that it comes with the plan, and it cannot be taken away to lower the cost. I had a hunch then that it had something to do with the ACA's provisions for women, but I wasn't certain. Now it seems clear that my insurer drafted the plan to be compliant with the new law, as I am not one of the millions whose individual policy was cancelled because it doesn't meet the minimum criteria.

I'm hearing and reading a lot of confusion about this issue. The crucial thing to understand is that unlike the group insurance you'd buy through an employer, this is an individual policy. With a group plan, insurers lower costs by spreading the risk across a large pool of people, i.e., all the company's employees. Individual policies are made affordable by underwriting the risks associated with a specific individual. To arrive at how much my monthly premium would be, the insurer took all my demographic data (gender, age, income, geographic location) and exhaustive medical history (procedures in the past ten years, any prescriptions I'd ever taken), and came up with a dollar amount for me and me only.

This is why making a man buy a maternity rider is so ridiculous. It has nothing to do with maternity/paternity leave. If I went to see a doctor to look into fertility issues, the rider would have no effect one way or another. Last night on NPR they asked a news analyst about the issue, who said, "Well, young men may not be thinking of having a family now, but they may in the future want to have kids, and this ensures the costs associated with pregnancy will be covered." This is just plain incorrect, and likely disingenuous. My maternity rider covers exactly nothing should my wife get pregnant. She needs her own plan for that.

So, how much more do I pay for my maternity coverage? How much more did individual women pay before the ACA? I have no idea, and it may be impossible to ever tell. I've learned lots over the past year about health insurance and medical costs, and I can tell you that the system goes out of its way to make comparing any prices difficult.

ScallyCap12 · 2013-10-31T14:21:50+00:00

This comments section depresses me.

This particular bit doesn't make sense to me, and I think it's completely valid for some people be pissed about it. But I'm also a big fan of the ACA and I don't think it's worth undoing so much positive change over this.

COVERartistLOL · 2014-04-19T19:48:22+00:00

This is beyond stupid. Men shouldn't be forced to pay for something that they don't need or can't even use. And neither should women, since not every girl can get pregnant. And that whole "Well, he might want to have a family" argument is bull. I'm gay, so even if I start a family. This still won't benefit me at all.

We need to stop with this whole "one size fits all" mentally. Everyone is different, and everyone has different bodies. We need health insurance that allows people to drop coverage on things that they don't need. Instead of forcing them to pay for things that they can't even use.

baskandpurr · 2013-10-31T12:35:18+00:00

'murica

You guys are getting fucked stupid by the insurance companies and yet you're complaining because some of the shared benefit of the ACA goes to things that only affect women. It's like someone offered the whole bar a drink at half price if they all pay. A beer for the men and a glass of wine for the women. You want to refuse because the wine is more expensive. So nobody gets anything cheap, pay full price or go thirsty, because that's 'fair' in the US. Petty, ignorant and expensive.

ExiledSenpai · 2013-10-31T06:21:51+00:00

I'm sure women will be forced to buy insurance which covers prostate exams.

Besides, if you start nitpicking about these sorts of things then soon insurance for women becomes more expensive than insurance for men. I thought we were all about equality here.

Men and women both have certain medical needs that are specific to their sex. Lets just agree to spread the cost out evenly instead of denying or making more expensive insurance on the basis of preexisting conditions (like being pregnant).

Edit: This is why we can't have nice things. Everyone here seems to be forgetting that men are more likely to be injured in the workplace, more likely to get Alzheimer's, cancer, heart disease - the list goes on. By the logic of people in this thread, men should pay more for insurance than women. Do you still feel the same way now that I've pointed out the shoe is on the other foot?

gillesthegreat · 2013-10-31T03:30:32+00:00

To be fair, though, how much do you think the insurer will add to the price of coverage for this particular item?

jesse-scotisgay · 2013-10-31T05:18:49+00:00

Canadian here, most men take maternity leave when they have kids. It's a nice thing to have whether or not they use it.

VoodooIdol · 2013-10-31T16:48:52+00:00

There is so much stupid in the replies to this post and the post itself that it's not even funny.

Let me know when you guys are over 25 and actually understand how insurance works. Until then - wallow in your own self pity and let me know how that works out for you.

Nomenimion · 2013-10-31T00:56:09+00:00

In case one of us gets knocked up by one of these woman-on-man rapists I keep hearing about.

Title	Men forced to buy maternity coverage under Obamacare?
Author	AnnArchist
Upvotes	55
Comments	141
Date	October 31, 2013 12:54 AM UTC (12 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/MensRights
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/MensRights/comments/1pkxom/men_forced_to_buy_maternity_coverage_under/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/MensRights/men-forced-to-buy-maternity-coverage-under.1160002 https://theredarchive.com/post/1160002

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