Back on

Well, I'm back on my soap box.  A pretty lofty place to be....in my own mind, at least.  Today I'm livid about a variety of things but I'll just take out my frustrations on the insurance industry.  I am rich in many things. I have a beautiful home, two great kids, an amazing granddaughter whom I love more than life, relative stability, the ability to do and think as I please and the mobility to get out of bed each morning.  I am, however, insurance poor.  Today's rant doesn't focus on any of the vast policies that cover me/us except health care although much of my disgust and disappointment encompasses all insurance.  To date, I have been treated well by most carriers and most policies and most agents.  Then there's health care!  Wow, is that ever a misnomer.  There's nothing healthy about health care insurance.  Let me share two, hopefully short, personal scenarios.

*Several years ago my shoulder was bothering me.  After realizing it might be more than just the fact that I was old, I went to the Dr's..(to set the records straight..I abhor Doctors...(we try not to use the word hate here.)  It was suggested that I have an MRI to diagnose and pin-point the problem.  It was all set up and I got a call that my BC/BS policy wouldn't cover it because I had not been treated for it with meds and/or physical therapy for a minimum of 90 days. Hellooooo....How were we to treat the pain when we had no idea what was causing it or exactly where it even was? So, I "dealt about it"..Baileeism) Finally after many months the pain decreased and so far, there are no long range repercussions.

*Last fall Mom developed a blood clot in her leg.  She was placed on blood thinners and monitored closely. For nearly 91, she is amazingly healthy.  The drug is not excessively expensive but it does require regular and frequent blood drawing.  For thin 90 year old skin, that takes its toll as well as making for cranky donors.  Her in-house doctor at the nursing home suggested she have a doppler (ultrasound) on her leg this month to see if the clot had dissolved and to hopefully discontinue the medication.  Thankfully, there is a mobile company that travels to nursing homes and assisted living facilities so transporting patients and residents is at a minimum.  It would be just as easy to take Mom overseas as it would be to get her to a hospital for this routine, 5 minute procedure.  All set for yesterday and I get a phone call... "Just wanted to check and see what you'd like to do....Medicare (and I use the term care loosely) and her supplemental BC/BS policy will most likely not cover the doppler as she is showing no symptoms to warrant it.... (Can I hear a great big WTF?????)  The charge is $300-400.....what's your preference?"



Insurance companies are in the business of making money!!  They are not in the business of making you healthy.  If that clot is gone, no more glorified warfarin, no more having to pay for warfarin, no more weekly blood tests, no more cranky donor which in turn means no more cranky nurses (and 99% of the time they're awesome) and no more worried daughter that one day the phone call from GHCC would be to say the clot had traveled to her heart or lung and killed her.

Pretty much our health insurance (to the tune of $1162.05/per month) pays for everything except what we have done. If and when Lee decides to draw social security....anywhere from now until he's 70, he will get less than $1000 a month before Medicare is taken out....not even enough to pay for a supplemental policy to catch what Medicare won't pay for....which is pretty much everything.
Affordable Care Act...Bullshit!  Should be called SCAM ..  Scaring the Country's Adults out of their Money.
                                                                                         
btw, of course we had the doppler done at her expense....waiting for results!