So … I’ve had a horrible weekend. Between timid doctors (not really their fault), surly, overworked and underpaid nurses and my insurance company denying every test, nearly EVERY PROCEDURE, on the pre-approval phone calls, I am still in a considerable amount of pain, and I’m mad about it.
The insurance folks let me know on Saturday that they’d unhappily pay 1/4 of the cost of an MRI, and 1/2 of the cost of an x-ray. I can’t afford either, so I left the hospital with a handful of pill that I didn’t want, but had to take, and went home to borrow a boatload of money that I can’t afford to pay back.
I live paycheck to paycheck, and there are several days where we hold our breath waiting for the next check to arrive. I don’t want to, but, as I’ve written about before, sometimes there are holes in my employment because Democrats are only nice to you when there’s a campaign on, and Republicans are never nice to Democrats, no matter how often the LDS Church leadership tells them to be.
So, I beg family and friends on Saturday to see if I can cover the costs of either an x-ray or the MRI. The hospital wont do the scans or pictures unless they can be guaranteed payment. The only rich folks I know are the same ones who like to tell me that I’m going to hell for being a Democrat). When I finally get a commitment for a loan, on Sunday, we load up in the car and head back to the hospital.
That’s when things got really stupid.
Back to the hospital last night where, calling the insurance company again to confirm their part of the payment, the hospital is told that they wont pay any portion of the MRI or the X-Rays because of a preexisting condition. The pre-existing condition being that I was in the hospital the day before with a neck pain that felt like my head was on fire.
So last night and this morning I’m back on the phone to borrow more money that I can’t afford to pay back so that I can get the damn picture that, if history is any example, will result in a shrug of the shoulders and another handful of narcotics that don’t work and that I don’t want.
So, to my friends in the GOP, you’ll excuse when I get angry at your continued blathering about letting the market forces shape the health insurance industry without federal regulation or a patient’s bill of rights that actually means something.
You’ll hopefully excuse me while I wish America had a system where a guy who pays a boatload of taxes can actually go to a doctor or a hospital and get fixed, as opposed to sitting stagnant waiting for his head to explode from either pain or frustration.
You’ll excuse me if I pray to God to damn all of you supply siders to hell.
You’ll excuse me if I beg you all to buy a coupe of t-shirts for Christmas so that I can cover the cost of the damn MRI and still give my kids something of a Christmas.
And, I hope you’ll excuse me for any bad spelling or iffy grammar, due to the fact that I’m writing this on a Blackberry in the hospital’s waiting room.
Wow. What a lame way for your insurance company to deal with you. We’ve never had that much trouble out of Blue Cross.
Do you need anything else? Someone to watch the kids? A hot meal? Swift kick to the jimmy for the CEO of ? Help us help you.
Funny story …
Two years ago, when I had the best insurance ever (BCBS) provided by the DNC to their employees, a strange thing happened.
Everything, for 6 months was approved via phone by doctors and then denied by Blue Cross’s billing department.
I received hundreds of dollars in bills (I have kids, kids get sick). After having HR at the DNC call repeated time, and a couple of doctors call repeated times, it turns out that somewhere, in one of BCBS’s databases, one instance of my birthday was accidentally changed to 11/11/2011 and, having not been born yet, I should not expect my medical bills to be covered.
So, happily discovering this weird problem and assured that everything was normal, BCBS paid everything that came in after we fixed the problem.
However, the still refuse to cover the charges that happened in the year I wasn’t yet born, as it were.
So tell me, how the hell does a guy with next to nothing sue someone like BCBS? I guess I can hope that when I press my suit, it’s in the month where they’ve already made the rent payment on the purchase of Congress and the State Legislatures, and don’t have enough lawyer money sitting around.
It never hurts to hope, I suppose.
The insurance industry is a joke and one of the many industries in this nation that I feel shows that the Libertarian ideal of an unregulated free-market economy might not work because of just general greed and laziness. Another is the gasoline-retail industry… However, that being said, it is still very economically possible to reduce the size of the government and still provide total health care to all citizens. And it would only take two steps: 1) don’t put another “because God said so,” Republican in office and 2) model the system after the current successful systems in Europe.
Jeff,
Carrie may be able to help your situation, please contact me and I will pass along your information.
Mark
Sounds like a story for “Sicko: Part Deux”.
Even though I’m currently insured, I very much aware that I can’t afford to get sick with anything other than a simple cold. Here’s praying that I don’t get sick for the next 40 years and that when it’s time to go it will be swift and final so that my family won’t be burdened for several years to pay the bills after I’m gone.
Hope you are feeling better soon.
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