A Personal Rant about Health Insurance
Sep. 23rd, 2009 08:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
puppetmakerWhich I am going to put behind a cut so those who do not wish to read it may pass it by.
Edit: Before you read this just know that I am not dying or dead. I will be fine. I have scared a couple of people this morning and I didn't want to do that so I am adding this before you read the rest of it.
Right now I have a condition that there use to be an easy, all be it pricey, way to correct the condition with few if any side effects. But now the insurance companies are making me prove that the condition exists and is at a point where this procedure is the way to go for my health. So I have to get a series of blood tests to prove that the procedure that the Doctor thinks is how it is going to go is called for. However if my condition worsens and I have to go to the Emergency Room, then the insurance company will cover the cost of the procedure since at that point it is considered life threatening.
Now to my mind having my Doctor take care of it probably costs less than the trip to the Emergency Room along with the possible complications that are being created because I have to prove that my body is doing what the Doctor already knows is happening to me. That is not right. One would think that a Doctor knows what the patient needs and should be able to prescribe. They talk about the death boards and all the rest not realizing that these already exist at the insurance company that automatically says no until forced to say yes.
I also found out recently some rather bad health news about one of my best friends on this planet. We may not communicate regularly but when we get back together it is like slipping on a comfortable set of shoes and just picking up where we left off. I have been friends with him for over 20 years now.
I recently found out that he has a couple of things that are just compounding problems for him. And part of this comes out of health insurance not allowing for procedures that might have stemmed the damage that is now being done to his body. Part of it is him ignoring a problem figuring it would go away but scared to go to the Doctor because he didn’t have health insurance and really no means to pay for treatment. Now that he does have health insurance, they are double checking and interfering with treatments that he does need by this point. Even if he makes it through this, he will have serious complications for the rest of his life.
Now I honestly don’t know if I am going to have a friend to see when I go back to Atlanta later this year. And I am scared and angry at a system that is so stingy for some and pays for tummy tucks and nose jobs for others. And all those people who are shouting that they don’t want government in their health care who are on Medicaid. What the frack do they think Medicaid come from? The Medicaid Fairy?
We do need health care reform in the US. We need it bad. The insurance companies are deciding who lives and who dies and who they don’t want to deal with because they are “a bad gamble”. They are making money off the health and forcing the sick onto the government rolls so they don’t have to let go of the dollars that they have collected over the years when these people were healthy. Drug companies aren’t much better. But say the word regulation or oversite and they pull out the big lobbying guns and come up with phrases like “death panels” to scare the American people to stay with the status quo.
And that makes me just so angry. It has for years but probably more so right now since there are solutions to both my problem and my friend’s problem that our respective Doctors can’t apply because we have to prove ourselves “worthy” of the health care we need.
I am grateful for having health insurance even with all the strings attached considering what I would have had to pay without it. (and the cost of health insurance is a whole other rant on its own)
Edit: Before you read this just know that I am not dying or dead. I will be fine. I have scared a couple of people this morning and I didn't want to do that so I am adding this before you read the rest of it.
Right now I have a condition that there use to be an easy, all be it pricey, way to correct the condition with few if any side effects. But now the insurance companies are making me prove that the condition exists and is at a point where this procedure is the way to go for my health. So I have to get a series of blood tests to prove that the procedure that the Doctor thinks is how it is going to go is called for. However if my condition worsens and I have to go to the Emergency Room, then the insurance company will cover the cost of the procedure since at that point it is considered life threatening.
Now to my mind having my Doctor take care of it probably costs less than the trip to the Emergency Room along with the possible complications that are being created because I have to prove that my body is doing what the Doctor already knows is happening to me. That is not right. One would think that a Doctor knows what the patient needs and should be able to prescribe. They talk about the death boards and all the rest not realizing that these already exist at the insurance company that automatically says no until forced to say yes.
I also found out recently some rather bad health news about one of my best friends on this planet. We may not communicate regularly but when we get back together it is like slipping on a comfortable set of shoes and just picking up where we left off. I have been friends with him for over 20 years now.
I recently found out that he has a couple of things that are just compounding problems for him. And part of this comes out of health insurance not allowing for procedures that might have stemmed the damage that is now being done to his body. Part of it is him ignoring a problem figuring it would go away but scared to go to the Doctor because he didn’t have health insurance and really no means to pay for treatment. Now that he does have health insurance, they are double checking and interfering with treatments that he does need by this point. Even if he makes it through this, he will have serious complications for the rest of his life.
Now I honestly don’t know if I am going to have a friend to see when I go back to Atlanta later this year. And I am scared and angry at a system that is so stingy for some and pays for tummy tucks and nose jobs for others. And all those people who are shouting that they don’t want government in their health care who are on Medicaid. What the frack do they think Medicaid come from? The Medicaid Fairy?
We do need health care reform in the US. We need it bad. The insurance companies are deciding who lives and who dies and who they don’t want to deal with because they are “a bad gamble”. They are making money off the health and forcing the sick onto the government rolls so they don’t have to let go of the dollars that they have collected over the years when these people were healthy. Drug companies aren’t much better. But say the word regulation or oversite and they pull out the big lobbying guns and come up with phrases like “death panels” to scare the American people to stay with the status quo.
And that makes me just so angry. It has for years but probably more so right now since there are solutions to both my problem and my friend’s problem that our respective Doctors can’t apply because we have to prove ourselves “worthy” of the health care we need.
I am grateful for having health insurance even with all the strings attached considering what I would have had to pay without it. (and the cost of health insurance is a whole other rant on its own)
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no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 12:37 pm (UTC)We're very lucky to have health care because of D's job, but I know so many people out there who don't or who have issues with the insurance interfering in their health care.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 01:20 pm (UTC)We're lucky to have insurance, even though they make you jump through hoops and crawl through fire before they'll approve anything. I still have an outstanding case awaiting payment dating back to 2006. Fighting with them while keeping collections at bay is quite exhausting.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 01:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 02:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 02:50 pm (UTC)My cousin once needed a surgery that the insurance would cover, but the insurance wouldn't cover anesthesiology. His wife called them and asked, "What's he supposed to do instead? A fifth of whiskey and bite down on a bullet? Would you guys cover that?"
Hang in there. I know, easier said than done, but it's the best I can come up with right now...
no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 03:13 pm (UTC)And sigh, there is a discussion that needs to be had, and people are just delaying the inevitable realization that we may not agree on the solution, but one needs to be found.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 03:20 pm (UTC)(anyone I know?)
no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 03:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 07:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 04:26 pm (UTC)They also denied coverage on a medication which effectively ended my pain --- pain to the point that I was once ready to take my own life rather than live with it. We ended up sending that prescription to Canada and paying for it out of pocket --- more expensive than if the insurance had covered it but far better than the alternative.
This same insurance plainly labels well woman exams, breast exams, colonoscopies, and PAP smears as "elective" and will not pay for them, but they'll pay for cancer treatment and removal of the masses.
Don't get me started on formularies. Our insurance is one of the worst offender about suggesting medications that don't even address the same disease simply because they're endorsed/paid for by the manufacturer to recommend them.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 05:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 06:47 pm (UTC)Living with chronic pain has taught me too much about our insurance system, and when people scream and leap about hysterically about 'reform' being 'bad,' all it does is tell me they've never been sick.
no subject
Date: 2009-09-23 08:11 pm (UTC)But the worst part of it was fighting with the insurance company to cover the things they were supposed to cover. Phone call after phone call after phone call.
Now, I am unemployed, so I am scrambling to find a job with benefits rather than hunting for a job that I might actually enjoy or be paid what I am worth.
You know what really ticks me off? Longtime Republicans, my In-Laws, are admitting that "something needs to be done", but gosh darn it if they aren't scared of that public option, because then their job might not offer a health plan and that's a benefit and money out of their pocket. Yeah, don't worry about your daughter not being able to afford insurance, just worry about that job that you hate and are planning to retire from in 2 years anyway. Selfish.