Indianapolis, IN

Mon 27 August 2007

So, I’m thinking about health coverage (as opposed to “health insurance”). This Friday, my husband has to have an outpatient surgery. He called our insurance company to find out about how much it’s going to cost and how much of it is covered. They told him that the doctor is in the network, but the facility he’s going to do the surgery in is not. (What the hell??!!) Then they told us that the surgery is going to cost about $950, but we have a $1000 deductible. In the end, we learned that basically we have to pay for this out of our own pocket. I just don’t get it. Why do we even have health insurance? What are we paying these fools $90 a month for? (I know that’s cheap compared to others: my sister pays nearly $200 a month!) Oh, and because they were bought out by some other company, our co-pays went up. Now it’s $25 to see our primary physician, $50 for a specialist, $75 for urgent care, and $200 for an ER visit. We were talking about having another child, but I’m scared to death to get pregnant again. With my first daughter, we qualified for Hoosier Healthwise (Medicaid), and we didn’t pay for anything. (Which in a way was sad that I qualified, because I was a college graduate working in a school and was only making $8/hr. It’s sad because our schools pay so little, that our teachers and support staff can qualify for state aid. But that’s another blog for another day.) I think the whole idea of deductibles is wrong. And I don’t think you should have co-pays to see your primary physician. The only reason why they have deductibles and co-pays is so they can get more money from you. I mean, they’re already making money off of the money you pay them every month. It’s criminal. Think about it: I used to not go to the doctor when I didn’t have health insurance, because I was afraid of how much it cost. And now that we do have health insurance, I’m STILL afraid of going to the doctor because of the cost. In fact, sometimes I feel that I pay more WITH health insurance than I did when I didn’t have it. Actually, I know we pay more. But if something serious happened, many hospitals won’t take you unless you do have insurance. So, it’s all a huge scam against the regular American to milk them for all that they are worth. In fact, the number one reason for bankruptcy is because of medical bills. Something definitely needs to be done. It’s not enough to have health insurance—you have to have health coverage. I don’t want networks. I don’t want someone to tell me which doctor I can or can’t have. I don’t want deductibles. I don’t want co-pays. I don’t want hidden bullshit costs and fees. I don’t want to have to call someone to ask if I’m covered. I don’t want someone WITHOUT a medical degree (i.e. the insurance company) making my medical decisions for me (“you’re not covered for that” or “you didn’t pre-authorize this”). And it’s not just the health insurance industry. Homeowners insurance companies pulls the same crap. (Just look at what happened after Hurricane Katrina.) I have not seen Michael Moore’s new documentary “Sicko,” but I’ve seen bits and pieces of it in an interview with him. It’s definitely on my list of movies to see. I guess we just have to wait until 2008 and hope that someone becomes president who thinks universal healthcare is important.

: health insurance, health coverage, Hoosier Healthwise, Medicaid, Michael Moore, Sicko