Calling for a curative

I started the Let Us Dare blog to address writing and editing topics. But today I'm going to stretch the form a bit to include an issue that may not seem related. Please read on. You'll see it's quite related -- just a bit indirect.

As I read in the latest issue of Newsweek about a doctor working on a cure for all manner of diseases with a single kind of drug, my first selfish thought was "Great -- who's going to be able to afford that?"

The question was rhetorical. I know that under our current system, only those with good insurance or lots of money will get the treatment. That means people who get full benefits through their work, the wealthy who can afford to buy anything, and the U.S. senators and representatives whose health insurance I help pay for.

I think of medical advances in a new way these days because I see them from the point of view of a person who purchases private insurance and in return receives little coverage.

When I quit my job more than three years ago to develop my own freelance business, I felt trepidation about the insurance coverage I was leaving behind. It was very good, insuring my freelancing husband and me for very little. And in fact the company required us to take the coverage or prove that we were otherwise insured -- a policy our government should take note of.

We were spoiled. Like so many others working for a company with good benefits, we had only a small idea of just how good the coverage was. I think that's a big part of the problem with the uneven insurance system in this country. Those with the economic power to do something about unequal insurance and medical care either don't know a problem exists or don't care. Our politicians have no stomach for correcting these ills -- yes, it will be a huge fight -- and are glad that so many are lulled into this false sense of well-being or a feeling of "I've got mine." Those who want to fix it probably remember the pillory of Hillary.

My husband and I researched purchasing private insurance before I left my job, but were troubled by what we found initially and decided to continue my workplace insurance via COBRA, or the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, for a few months while we further looked into private insurance.

We did purchase private insurance. We've applied with about half a dozen companies and have switched coverage once in three years. One salesman told me we'd probably switch five or six times over the next few years because we wouldn't be able to afford the ever-increasing premiums. And I feel like Jason seeking The Golden Fleece. If only I had my own Argonauts and Medea-like cheerleader.

What I have found is a wealth of companies eager to insure us. We'd like a high-deductible plan with a co-pay? No problem. We’d like a prescription drug plan? No problem. Yes, our doctors are in their plan -- no problem. Then the underwriting begins. Remember all the "no problems?" Suddenly, there are plentiful problems.

For example, my lifelong asthma is a big problem. One insurance company didn't want to cover me at all until I wrote a letter assuring them my asthma was completely managed. Another refused to cover asthma or anything related to asthma for at least two years. The insurance salesperson told me to write a letter after a year, asking that the prohibition of coverage be removed. "And they'll remove it just like that?" I asked. "Why?"

"They're good people," she said.

Hmm. I wrote the letter a year later and received one back asking for a letter from my physician about my medical status. I haven't asked my doctor to write that letter yet. I suspect the insurance company wants a letter saying I no longer have asthma. Why do I think that? Because another salesperson told me his company would put a non-coverage rider on the policy for a year, then all I had to do was send a letter saying my asthma was cured…or something like that.

Compounding the problem is that my doctors seem to have no idea what their patients face. When I asked one doctor recently about a cheaper medicine for asthma, he said he could prescribe that, but I had to keep using the other medicine too. "And then you will have two co-pays," he said.

"You think I have co-pays?" I wanted to ask. But I didn't. I've told him before about the insurance situation, but I can't expect him to remember. It's not his responsibility. On the other hand, I do wish doctors would become more informed overall about the lack of quality insurance coverage for their patients and tell insurance company underwriters that they have no right to practice medicine unless they are physicians. It would also be nice if a doctor who knows about asthma would educate others that managed asthma doesn't mean "cured" asthma, and that not treating asthma creates more expensive health problems than preventing it with medicine.

Policies must change in our country to create a more equitable system for those of us who purchase private insurance and for people who cannot afford to buy insurance. Don't get me wrong -- I am not asking for free medical coverage. I am asking that someone with the authority to do so require that insurance companies offer actual coverage for the premiums they charge. (Note to insurers -- sending me blizzards of paperwork with coded reasons why you cannot/ do not cover a doctor visit or flu shot does not equal coverage.)

I am asking that insurance companies be prevented from increasing premiums by 42 percent or more per year, which our insurance did this year. I am asking that those of us who try to be responsible and pay our medical bills not be charged with the bills of everyone the government refuses to be responsible for. We can't afford it, and our country cannot afford not to offer universal coverage.

I am going for that Golden Fleece. I hope to someday write that I am no longer carrying Hera on my back and that I am no longer being fleeced by an insurance company.

Any Argonauts out there who want to join the quest?

Comments

[Diane]

Very interesting.
I'll join the quest. Are you going to lead it?
Great blog, by the way.
-Z