The insurance industry is the only business that can legally punish you for using their services. Can you imagine if you went to a movie tonight, paid for your ticket, but upon entering the theatre, the usher said, "Ohhhh, you actually wanted to SEE the movie?, well then you owe us $100 more."
I am so angry at our health insurance company, I can't breathe. On top of a $600 bill for blood work, I was charged for two office visits because I "discussed" things with my doctor that wasn't covered under a typical "general physical." And this was only because the doc asked me how I was doing, otherwise. I mentioned that I was having some anxiety, so bam, another $40, for mentioning something. I wasn't diagnosed with anything, no medications were administered, nothing. So now, my insurance company is helping me out with my anxiety by charging me another $40 just for mentioning the word "anxiety".
I'm not going to be able to see the documentary "Sicko" without some medication. And my insurance company won't even cover it. Grrrrr!!!!
3 comments:
Holy crap! That is insane. I am so, so sorry. When I was on a pay-for-service plan it was horrible. All the extra charges, all the non-covered. It gave me a heart attack. I swithed us to an HMO (previous had one and loved it) and I'm back to no surprises in the billing department. :)
Isn't mental health part of a general physical? Why were you charged $600 for blood work? Was this with Stacy? I am sure you can talk to her and she'll have her peeps make some calls for you. Really Elise, she'll take care of you.
Why wasn't your blood work covered? This is why I can't see SICKO right now. I'll lose my shit. And still the American people will do nothing.
This is INSANE.
I am getting a taste of it here in Switzerland, as it is about the only other western democracy apart from the US that has all-private insurance (in Canada, we DO have private insurance -- to cover extras, like a private room, etc. but all the necessary stuff is free and deemed to be a right of citizenship.). Here in Switzerland, there are 87 private insurance companies competing for the lowest-risk clients amongst the 7.5 million pop; over 10% are now uninsured, as they cannot afford the rising cost of insurance.
We have to pay everything out of pocket here, and wait to be reimbursed. My specialist charges by the 5 minutes (I *was* going to ask him where he got his diplomas framed, but guess I'll skip it...) I had a CT-scan this morning and tomorrow I have an MRI - I shudder to think what the bill is going to come to, and just hope that we will get it back soon (a friend who had surgery in January for $30K is still waiting ).
Only a single-insurer non-profit model for health care makes sense. It keeps costs down, gets rid of all those administrative overhead costs (how much time do dr. offices waste dealing with insurance companies?! What a waste of their training! -- fully 33% of dr.'s costs in the US go just for that)
This is the thing that Canadians most don't get about Americans -- why the heck have the American people allowed such a system to be set up (oh, right, Nixon did it) and why the heck isn't it being changed?
I watched a youtube snippet a couple of weeks ago of Michael Moore's appearance on the View to promote Sicko. Some blockhead named Star (not Jones) was a guest host, and her attitude was that she didn't want other people (sick people I guess) picking her pocket to cover THEIR health care. Talk about twisted. But please, please explain to me Mieke and Elise, why other Americans will do nothing? Surely her attitude does not represent the majority!
(and you know what the difference was here in Canada? Essentially just one man, Keiffer Sutherland's grandfather, Tommy Douglas).
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