I have the rage. (Yes, again.)
Every year, my husband's workplace signs us up for a new insurance company. We call it insurance company roulette. I spent several hours on the phone yesterday signing up for the new mail order pharmacy and trying to figure out what the cot of meds would be per quarter. (84o.00, if you're wondering. Yes, that's with insurance. Bastards.) Believe it or not, that's not the cause of this rant.
Here's why I'm pissed. In spending quality time with said insurance company, I discovered that my kids' rescue inhalers are not on the list of "approved medications." Thinking that surely there must be some sort of miscommunication, I must have asked the question five different ways. Same answer every time. I pointed out that I had a prescription from my doctor. Didn't that mean that it had to be provided? Apparently not.
So I started asking questions. How about birth control - is that on the list of approved meds? Nope. It's not. But wait! There's more! Wanna know what is on the approved list? Viagra. Yeah. My insurance company feels that hard-ons are more important than breathing.
In other utter rage inducing news, there's this. And also this. Here's the upshot. If you're in a gay relationship in this country, prepare to have your will, your power of attorney privileges and your medical directives ignored. Prepare to be separated from your partner when one of you is gravely ill and/or dying. Prepare to be relegated to the status of roommate or acquaintance by the medical and legal communities and denied all access to your partner.
Land of the free? Not so much.
(There's a link to an important petition at the end of the first article. I urge you to sign it.)
10 comments:
GEEZ!
Here's another point of rage which you didn't touch on... maybe didn't know? It is CHEAPER for your company to switch providers every single year. Do you know why?
They can effectively make sure that every illness from the previous year is now considered "pre-existing" and therefore the company doesn't have to fork out as much dough in order to cover the premium. If they elect that, and not carry over the waiting periods (which if they do now, they may not next year. Check your waiting periods because this will be a rude awakening), the cost to the company goes way way way down.
It's an underhanded trick. Yes, it saves the company money, but it totally screws over the employees and their families. :(
In sharing with my hubby the birth control/Viagra situation, he said he just read recently that this is more and more common among insurance companies because they are often controlled by right-wing conservatives. My thought was that Right Wingers would want birth control covered so there would be less call for abortions, but hubby says the issue is that they want women to have more babies ...Christian babies...it's a woman's duty, don't you know.
As a wheelchair person I would like to add to the insurance rant. Yet another example of insurance stupidity is that most will only pay for a certain number of catheters per month. They will pay toward hospitalizations once infections set in, but helping pay for enough catheters to have even one new one a day, no. Even being as careful as possible about sterilizing used catheters, it is way too easy to get an infection and every infection takes a toll on the body.
Be sure to send a thank you note to our elected officials in Washington who, by watering down the health care bill, have declared that they deserve the best health care coverage available in the world and they have it for free for the rest of their lives, the rest of aren't permitted to have even adequate coverage.
Apologies all around. I didn't intend to come across like a slobbering, raving lunatic...I try to keep that side of myself under wraps. Obviously these are hot button issues for me. Thanks for the opportunity to vent.
@ Mia - I'm so fucking sick of corporate greed which is what this seems to be coming down to.
@ Donna - Please don't apologize! I'm so glad you voiced your opinion! Paying for treatment for infections is like paying for treatment for for asthma attacks both of which could have been avoided by preventative medicine. It's so dumb!!!
And the birth control/viagra thing makes me insane. Getting off is soooooooooo much more important than preventing unwanted pregnancies. GRRRR
I apologize for taking so long to respond - I've been on the 2+ hour afternoon school run. :)
OMG!!!
Okay, you all need to just move up here to Canada... we're not perfect, far from it, but we do have a bit more of a handle on medical care...
My mom, who just passed away, spent the last 13 weeks in the hospital. She had surgery, her right leg amputated, and was put in advanced life care units multiple time... what does my dad have to pay for?
Her phone and the f*cking parking, which was absolutely ridiculous, but really... no medical costs. I can't imagine what would happen to my dad now if he'd been responsible for even a fraction of the costs... very scary.
I can't imagine what it's like for so many folks in the US, living day to day without insurance, just waiting for something to go wrong. Of all the issues out there, you'd think they'd want to fix that...
Oh, and Donna, so don't apologize. For all of our equality, there's a whole bunch of inequality out there...we'e still got a long way to go.
hugs,
Kris
Ok, one tiny good thing - in MN, if you can prove you've been continuously insured for some period (I think it's two years) and your company changes insurance OR you start at a new company, you have no pre-existing conditions. This was really awesome when I started working at my company after grad school - the grad school required you to carry insurance (usually included in your assistanceship), so all my celiac stuff (diagnosed during grad school) was covered when I got "real" insurance through my "real" job. A rare positive thing in the world of health insurance.
I continue to be appalled at the human rights violations here in the US that are seen as ok. UGH.
Oh, yeah, don't get me started on the assininity of our insurance system! Having my own run ins this week and considering explosives.
I was hoping our new U.S. regime would have fixed all this nonsense.
What gives?
G.
There are loopholes. Lots and lots of loopholes. It takes a while to work out what the loopholes allow the insurance companies to do. And that pre-existing thing? Practically every single thing wrong with me is pre-existing. So if I ever have to get my own insurance? Good luck to me.
I share your rage.
We were promised no changes the rest of the year after they gave us increased copays, doubled prescription costs and a $2000 deductible. Three months later they doubled our copays again and raised the amount of our contribution. Then they took away our matching 401k and had the nerve to suggest we put aside a higher percentage ourselves all without giving us raises for three years.
I keep telling myself that at least I'm still employed.
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