Health Insurance Rant

I have a bone to pick with the health insurance companies (don’t we ALL). I love it when an entity with no medical training and no knowledge of my medical history, can dictate the procedures my own doctor can perform. But I digress.

Joe was scheduled to have some medical tests done last week but we had to cancel them at the last minute because our health insurance company needed “3-5 business days” to process the paperwork for the approval. His doctor felt this test was needed ASAP and they went out of their way to schedule this 3 days after his visit so Joe could get it done before we left out again.

A phone call on my part to “another land” only resulted in being told to have the doctors office call the insurance company and ask them to “try” and expedite the request. I am so glad that we pay over $700 a month for health insurance, plus all our co-pays, and can not use this when we need it the most.

There is a medication that I used to take that made me physically, a whole hell of a lot better than when I didn’t take it. Unfortunately the drug needs to be injected by a health care professional, namely a 4 minute visit to the nurse at my doctors office. Well. Guess what. My insurance plan was changed and now injectible drugs are not covered………what the hell????? I cant get coverage for a drug that I need two or three times a year and greatly improves my quality of life just on the basis that a nurse has to dispense it??!!!! What kind of bullshit is this? Well, I need to be more accurate here. The drug is just not covered under my deductible of $1000. Once I pay the $1000 out of my pocket, my second shot will be covered. (It used to just cost me $40 to get this shot). I know this drug doesn’t cost any more than hundreds of other drugs that are given in any other form and are covered without paying the $1000 deductible first.

The worst part is, I know each and every one of us has a story similar to this one regarding abuse by big brother health insurance conglomerates. (Did you ever wonder why when you drive through any city most of the largest, newest, fanciest buildings all have a health care company logo on them??) I now I should be thankful that we have health insurance coverage, but at $736 dollars a month out of our pocket, this might soon become a luxury that we can no longer afford.

So, amid all this talk of bail out and stimulus spending………where has the talk of health care reform gone? Guess it just isn’t that important anymore………….scratching my head.