medical insurance headache

[Sore Thumb Suburbanite]

Warning: length of this rant is commensurate with amount of frustration i am feeling

So I'm a stay at home mom...my baby and I are covered under my husbands works insurance now but its bleeding us dry...almost 700 bucks a month! We are really healthy people with no history of illnesses or real problems....so we figured we would try to get more affordable care with a higher deductible since Dr visits are maybe a once a month thing at most.

I tried to get insurance separately from my husband that would cover me and the baby...so i spent an afternoon filling out paperwork sent it in and 2 weeks later was told the perameters for the plan I applied for had changed and I would need to fill out another ( extremely confusing, redundant and horrifyingly in debth) pile of forms.

By this time the new months billing cycle was right around the former so we would be paying for another month on my husbands plan for sure. I spent about 6 hours filling out the new forms having to gather Dr appointment information for the past 4 years of my life and a ton of info from my pregnancy. I had to call all my doctors from my previous insurance plans and discuss blood work results as well as dates and official diagnoses because saying i had a cold isnt good enough. It took 3 days to get all my records tracked down and get a hold of everyone....and again I sent the forms in. This time I got a call saying I had incomplete information and would have to do a phone interview. The interview took an hour and I was unable to verify my hemogloben and some other count on my pregnancy bloodwork so I would have to get that too as well as some other medical term for low iron and that number...

Ugh....basically I had another 2 hour interview over the phone to complete my information and I cant tell you how.many times they asked if I menstrated...(I was just pregnant and am nursing now and had to explain it about 6 times to 3 different people)... just so they could tell me that I qualified but because I had a breast augmentation 5 years ago(which by the way has never had any complications and was done using the less risky saline implants) the result of all this effort was that i was told I would have to pay over double the originally advertised price per month. EVEN THOUGH I AM EXTREMELY HEALTHY AS MY 4 YEARS OF PAST MEDICAL DOCUMENTATION SHOWS. This new amount for this new plan is almost as much as the current one and we have less coverage and a huge deductable. Obviously we wont be switching to this plan.

I'm appalled that they cant simplify the process so you can fill out an introductary form first that covers the major red flags and then they can ask for the past 4 years of routine check up dates and stupid extras. I cant believe that breast implants that pose no threat to me medically even if they were to rupture change my eligibility.

Now I'm sure I have to repeat this whole process for more companies only to hear the same thing I have a 10 week old and it was incredibly hard to deal with getting all the info together and doing phone interviews. Are there any affordable plans out there for the countless women who have had cosmetic surgery and are perfectly healthy? Does anybody have decent medical coverage without paying 700$ a month? Now we have another month of paying the current plan to face since the company likes to take their time...

 

[caspernc]

Having a small business, all of the insurance we have spent numerouse hours investigating, there is only a ten or twenty dollars differance. BUT one thing I have just found out from a friend of mine, who had a job in Massachusetts, her insureance is 1/2 of BCBS North Carolina. OK I asked why, she said The STATE health care plan of Mitt Romney.
This woman is 63 years old and only pays $500.00 and a little more, where as my secritary ( that I had to lay off) who is 54 I paid $799.00 and has renewed at $879.00. Insureance is CRAZY. I could go on and on! i think I'll just mix another drink. G'night.

 

[ChickensRDinos]

That is the plan that Obamacare is based on and I can not wait for it to go fully into effect. My fiance is self employed and has a pre-existing but not life threatening medical condition. The cheapest plan we could find was $1400 a month. !!!! I don't have a problem with paying but there is no way we can ever pay that. I am so glad that we are both going to be able to have health care now.

 

[thaiturkey]

I'll avoid US political issues.

The only way for a developed nation to provide health care for all of its citizens, regardless of health, age and financial conditions is through a State run scheme funded from tax revenue.

The UK and European countries, despite the financial difficulties that followed WWII, created such schemes from a cold start. The National Health Service in the UK today has been developed into a fine example of what can be achieved. Along the way, many budget and service standard issues have been addressed and I know of no-one who would do away with it.

Every citizen is entitled to free consultations, treatment and preventative care from local doctors and hospitals. Everything from earache to dread disease is covered. Expectant mothers get free ante- and post- natal care. Pensioners get free annual checks. All that is ever paid at the point of service is a fixed prescription fee.

The tax for this, State pensions and benefits for unemployment and disability is contributed by employers and employees. The tax is a proportion of wages. Everything must be paid for in the end and the tax requirement must, of course, reflect that. However, low wage earners pay according to their income and there are State supplements for those who are on very low incomes.

The service isn't perfect but it's excellent. Not a cheap substitute for the real thing.

 

[duckinnut]

Having a small business, all of the insurance we have spent numerouse hours investigating, there is only a ten or twenty dollars differance. BUT one thing I have just found out from a friend of mine, who had a job in Massachusetts, her insureance is 1/2 of BCBS North Carolina. OK I asked why, she said The STATE health care plan of Mitt Romney.
This woman is 63 years old and only pays $500.00 and a little more, where as my secritary ( that I had to lay off) who is 54 I paid $799.00 and has renewed at $879.00. Insureance is CRAZY. I could go on and on! i think I'll just mix another drink. G'night.

I can tell you she misinformed you. There is no "STATE" health care for duly employed people. There is Mass Health for the unemployed and those on the welfare rolls.But unemployed people have it bad as the premium and deductible are costly where as welfare recipients get it free.The reason her health care costs were probably lower is due to her employer paying a greater amount of the premium. There is also a thing called the Health Connector that provides a link to health care insurance providers. I can assure there is No low cost insurance in Mass. that is worth anything. It costs my family of 5 $12,000 a year, and that is with my DWs company covering the other $12,000 not including co-pays for visits and prescriptions.. That is coming from a health care company which you would think cover more of the cost, but is a non-profit. Although she may have not have told you that $500 is what, for a month, a year, a week? The lower the cost to employees means greater co-pays. So Mitt Romney has nothing to do with it.

 

[newfoundland]

I second everything thaiturkey has said. My brother-in-law aged 67, is receiving treatment here in the UK currently. He has developed a mystery illness, possibly an autoimmune disease and has been very ill. He has just left hospital after a 2 week stay. He has received the following investigations:
Endoscopy
Complete bone scan
Liver scan
brain scan
kidney scan
lymph node biopsy
liver biopsy
bone biopsy
Numerous full blood screens
He has developed acute renal failure and receives dialysis three times a week, as an outpatient. He has been told that he will receive steroid treatment and there is every chance that his renal failure can be reversed. If not, he will eventually be set up with the equipment at home so he can do it himself. What has he paid for all this? Absolutely nothing! Having contributed to the national health all our lives, at source from our wages before we got them, we appreciate how wonderful the scheme is. As we earned more we paid more but no one had a problem with that, it seems only fair.
The national health service here has become so successful that some hospitals are opening branches abroad, mostly in the middle east. Any profits made will be pumped back into the funds here.

No system is perfect, and improvements can always be made but I recommend it to anyone. I was a national health baby, born in hospital in the first year of the national health service. I have never had to pay a penny for treatment for myself or my family, (except a small standard charge for prescription medicine), apart from my contribution from my wages to the government run scheme. I believe I have had the best care, second to none anywhere in the world, and many British hospitals train doctors from al round the world.

 

[thaiturkey]

I second everything thaiturkey has said. My brother-in-law aged 67, is receiving treatment here in the UK currently. He has developed a mystery illness, possibly an autoimmune disease and has been very ill. He has just left hospital after a 2 week stay. He has received the following investigations:
Endoscopy
Complete bone scan
Liver scan
brain scan
kidney scan
lymph node biopsy
liver biopsy
bone biopsy
Numerous full blood screens
He has developed acute renal failure and receives dialysis three times a week, as an outpatient. He has been told that he will receive steroid treatment and there is every chance that his renal failure can be reversed. If not, he will eventually be set up with the equipment at home so he can do it himself. What has he paid for all this? Absolutely nothing! Having contributed to the national health all our lives, at source from our wages before we got them, we appreciate how wonderful the scheme is. As we earned more we paid more but no one had a problem with that, it seems only fair.
The national health service here has become so successful that some hospitals are opening branches abroad, mostly in the middle east. Any profits made will be pumped back into the funds here.

No system is perfect, and improvements can always be made but I recommend it to anyone. I was a national health baby, born in hospital in the first year of the national health service. I have never had to pay a penny for treatment for myself or my family, (except a small standard charge for prescription medicine), apart from my contribution from my wages to the government run scheme. I believe I have had the best care, second to none anywhere in the world, and many British hospitals train doctors from al round the world.

I hope that your brother-in-law recover as far as is possible. He seems to be having a tough time.

It's times like that when the NHS is really appreciated. We see the local GP for minor ailments from time throughout our lives and think little of it. When the big one hits us, we realise what a great institution the NHS is. One development over the years that has been really remarkable if the establishment of teaching and specialist hospitals such as Addenbrookes (cancer treatment) and Papworth (heart).

It's a pity that more people elsewhere don't understand the benefit to individuals and employers of a guaranteed universal health care service with preventative screening as well as treatment. I was born just before the NHS was created. The early days were difficult, especially with the crowded waiting rooms of people coughing and spluttering while waiting to see a lone doctor in his individual practice. Now there are group practices with nurses and several specialist facilities for expectant parents and minor treatments. Truly amazing and available to all citizens (and their spouses from other countries) whatever their age and circumstances. And, after you're 60 years old, it is actually completely free of tax contributions and prescription charges.

 

[newfoundland]

My brother in law is much improved thank you. His kidneys are beginning to work again and as every test and investigation has come back clear, the doctor is now investigating the possibility of a parasitic infection of the blood, probably picked up in Egypt or Jordan. It makes us all realise, if we really needed to, the massive benefits of a system like the National Health Service. I only wish it could be available to everyone around the world!

 

[thaiturkey]

Good news! I hope his recovery continues.

I agree with your sentiment.