Touchstone covered this story--in which a teacher describes her decision to leave the profession to join the army to support her family--very well yesterday, so I won't tread on his ground. I noticed that Jason had also picked it up, under the rubric of the pressing, desperate need for health-care reform in this country. How right he is. Indeed, how right they both are.
I have an itty-bitty example today. I received our standard "explanation of benefits" from our health insurance company, Assurant, today. We get one of these clear-as-mud beauties every time we sneeze in a doctor's office or take a potty break at a clinic. (Aside: How much money could they save by letting us access this shit online and NOT sending a brand-new 8-page confirmation of benefits Every. Single. Month?) This one covered our purchase--with a doctor's prescription--of a nebulizer machine for Connery. He has been diagnosed with very mild asthma, and our pediatrician recommended we purchase one outright rather than rent one every time he comes down with croup, which has been often in the wintertime. When I picked it up, I turned over the presciption the doctor had written for the machine to the technician who gave me the machine. Our explanation of benefits tells us that we are being penalized for failing to get pre-qualification for a durable medical item that was not medically necessary.
Can I just say, "Huh?"
First of all, it was medically necessary. We had a doctor's prescription. Second, "Huh?"
We're not talking a lot of money here. What chaps my hide is knowing that these insurance cocksuckers (Sorry, too much Deadwood around here lately) can and will get away with not paying it because they wave around section 14, subpoint 3, asterisk 27 everytime they get close to having to pay for something.
"Ma'am, you should have checked your contract."
True enough. And what a fool I was to think that I could take off with a nebulizer--which I'm sure to use for pot instead of albuterol--for my asthmatic toddler without clearing it with them first.
And yet, how can I bitch about my insurance company knowing how many people out there have no coverage--not even the crappy kind--if something goes terribly wrong? I could bitch all day about my insurance company, and I'm still better off than 45 million of my fellow citizens. Jason and Touchstone are so right: Something needs to be done, and sooner rather than later.