Broken

I've been aware for some time that the medical system in this country is broken. Today however I see that more clearly than ever before.

When Squirrel had his accident we had a short term health insurance policy. It covered a portion of his hospital bills but by no means all of them. In January we switched to a "permanent long term" policy that had a fairly high deductible and a premium payment of almost $600.00/month. However it has paid nothing on Squirrel's follow-up tests determining them either to be diagnostic or relating to a pre-existing condition. It has also denied coverage for my (recurrent) sinus infections determining them also to be pre-existing due to having been treated for them previously in less than a year. (Last fall and two this past spring). We have been paying out almost as much on these medical bills as on our monthly premium payment. Slowly there has been progress but there is still a long way to go.

This month B requires some testing done. He made his first doctor's appointment in several years for last week. We went together and blood work, an ultrasound and sleep study were ordered. I phoned our current insurance company this morning to try to find out what percentage of these tests would be covered. Turns out that unless he is hospitalized and having surgery within 21 days these would all be considered diagnostic and would therefore not be covered at all. Considering how much we are paying per month for coverage this is decidedly unacceptable.

So...I'm once again on the search for health insurance. I did...with B's approval go ahead and sign up for a policy that has no deductible, covers all pre-existing conditions with no waiting period, pays 75% of "everything" with a office visit co-pay of $10-30.00 and what sounds like reasonable co-pays on prescriptions. It is a plan designed primarily for "difficult to insure" people who have pre-existing conditions...and not everyone qualifies. In other words, because I deal with depression our family would qualify for this coverage while someone who was as "healthy as a horse" would not. The price is much more reasonable than what we had before and there is a 30 day satisfaction guarantee. So...we will see.

I rarely post anything that could be remotely construed as political or having anything to do with politics. However...right now I feel this needs written.