Is $2,000 a year of health-insurance coverage better than nothing?

Maybe—but probably not by much. Even routine medical care—such as having a baby or treating diabetes for a year—can cost more (about $9,000 and $7,000 respectively). And catastrophic events, like a heart attack, can easily top $75,000. Yet for many non-management workers at McDonalds restaurants, that's all their health plan covers.

McDonalds' so called "mini-med" plan is one of 200 given special federal exemptions from the new health-care reform law because.  The waivers are necessary, some companies claim, because otherwise the plans might be too expensive to be practical.

The Senate Commerce Committee recently held a hearing on the plans. Testimony by McDonalds showed that their health-care contribution to corporate workers comes to about $574 an month, or $3.19 per hour, while contributions to low-wage, first-year employees total less than 6 cents an hour.

Testimony also suggested that some workers are shocked to learn how meager their coverage is. Eugene Melville, of Riverside, Calif., said that after being diagnosed with oral cancer, he found that "the $2,000 that my policy provides me annually for doctor's visits and out-patient treatment doesn't even begin to cover the cost of the life-saving treatments I need." He pointed out that while the coverage from the major retail store where he works also includes $20,000 for hospitalization expenses, many cancer treatments—sometimes including chemotherapy, radiation, and even surgery—are done in a doctor's office or out-patient clinic and so don't qualify.

New federal rules require that mini-med insurers disclose the limitations of their coverage. But companies can continue offering them this year, and possibly until Jan. 1, 2014, when major provisions of health-care reform come into effect. At that point, such skimpy coverage will be prohibited and McDonalds burger-flippers and other low-wage workers will finally have access to more comprehensive coverage.

 —Lynn Quincy, Senior Health Policy Analyst, Consumers Union

 Do you or someone you know have a mini-med policy? Share your story with us.

—Joel Keehn