Take Your Health Insurance Card and Shove It

Published by Gayla at 11:59 am under Flippin It, Health, Politics

That’s ‘kinda’ what I had to tell Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield yesterday.  My husband and I had just returned from the doctors office where we had suffered quite an embarrassing ordeal.

As of April 1, our insurance was supposed to cover my husbands pre-existing condition, bipolar.  We got to the window expecting to pay our co-pay only to be called out for a whopping $270 bill because our insurance had declined payment saying we had met our maximum allowance for the year.

It’s MAY for crying out loud!  How could this be?

I told the girl if that’s the case, I had paid my maximum premium for the year.

We’ve been paying $304 per month plus all the tests and medications for this ‘pre-existing’ condition, looking forward to the day when it would be covered – this according to their letter giving us a date when the restriction would be lifted.

When I phoned the Anthem, they told me there had been a change in my policy and that I was told there could be a change without notice.  Apparently we are limited to TWO office visits a year now.  I proceeded to ask “what would happen if we paid the office call, what would be covered then?”

The rep told me they would pay 80% of anything over $2000 deductible per person per year.

After doing the quick math in my head…calculating the tests, premium, office calls and medications, I realized I was going to be paying out $10,000 before that insurance would actually cover much of anything.

I told the girl I wanted my coverage canceled and my payment they had JUST cashed to be refunded.

We’ve now returned to take our place among the millions of other American’s who are Uninsured because we can’t afford to keep insurance coverage.  And to be honest, it’s a lot nicer here!  Less headaches and I figure if something happens that results in thousands of dollars in medical bills, I’ll just do what most people are being forced to do and file bankruptcy.

This one’s for YOU – George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and our noble elected officials who are being bought by so many lobbyists!

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4 responses so far

4 Responses to “Take Your Health Insurance Card and Shove It”

  1. # Travison 06 May 2008 at 9:25 pm
    So let me get this straight, you don’t have enough money for insurance but you have enough to afford the internet and this website. I’m sorry but I guess my give a damn must be broken, as it looks like priorities are not what they should be. Let me ask you where your savings and possible extra jobs to pay for things you want or need are. The President and Congress aren’t going to be able to do anything to turn the economy around it will have to come from the place it always has i.e. the American people, and belly achers and whiners won’t be part of that revival. Sorry to be so blunt but I am sick and tired of hearing people whine about their circumstances when they won’t accept responsibility for their own lives. “Life is difficult”, get over it.
  2. # Gaylaon 06 May 2008 at 9:51 pm
    Travis – I appreciate the fact that your give a damn is broken because mine broke a LONG time ago. The fact is, I can’t afford $10,000 plus thousand a year on health insurance because our government abandoned my husband (a veteran with ailments relating back to Iraq) and insurance companies won’t touch him with out astronomical deductibles. I have three boys to raise. My websites ARE my work and this happens to be a FREE one I use as a place to talk about the things that are unrelated to my “work” topics.

    Sometimes what seems obvious can cause people to end up with pie in the face.

    For most, yes, I could see you not giving a damn – but for a man who risked his life in a war that many can’t even begin to fathom – I watch as he wakes up some nights in night terrors because he smells bodies burning.

    Is that belly aching? Is that fair? Is it fair that illegals are getting coverage and a man who fought for your right to your opinion can’t get coverage?

    We are TRYING to get coverage – but insurance companies keep jacking up the cost, jacking up the deductible and make it impossible for middle class, self employed to have coverage.

    I take absolutely NO offense to what you say – because i feel the same way about true belly achers and whiners – I don’t consider my situation one to whine about – but one that government should help care for.

    The way veterans are treated makes me ill. I can provide health insurance for myself – but for my husband? No, there’s no possible way and that’s sad!

  3. # Travison 06 May 2008 at 10:53 pm
    Gayla, thanks for responding, I agree with you that the treatment of your husband is outrageous (I have a brother who just returned from his second tour in Iraq and I thank God that he returned safe and sound) and I would be first in line to see that treatment change, including having the goverment pick up the tab for those hurt serving our country. What I was responding to was my perception that you were looking for someone to blame for the economy and healthcare etc. And I while I know it is tempting I also know that I do not have a right to either health care or employment and that if the government were to give everyone what they asked for it would turn out worse than the current situation because there would be no alternatives and government-run healthcare is okay if you only ever have colds and the occasional flu, but for everything else including the bipolar you mentioned before treatments are delayed or rationed to the point that it is like not having it at all. All in all I wish you and your family only the best, but I still think complaining like “This one’s for YOU – George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and our noble elected officials who are being bought by so many lobbyists” does nothing to advance your argument and makes your post seem fairly “whiny”.
  4. # Gaylaon 06 May 2008 at 11:16 pm
    Ok, I’ll give you that – but that post was written as my own therapy having just returned from the doctor where we were called out for our insurance not paying when they said they would. It was embarrassing and well, sort of like a punch to the gut. Just when my husband feels he can “define” the situation, get his nightmares under control, stop the tremors in his hands and the restless leg syndrome, he is forced to feel he’s being an even bigger burden on me.

    He can’t work more than a few hours at a time without growing overly fatigued and shaky. And as much as I want to love and support him, sometimes it looks like divorce and him applying for welfare may be the only way for him to get treatment.

    I have a very dear friend that lives in the U.K. – a mom that lives in Canada and close friends I work with that live around the globe. Universal health care is not what our government would have us think it is. The only reason there is waiting lists is because of people who live in more remote locations. If they are willing to drive to a larger hospital to seek treatment, they can get it more immediately. My mother just moved from a remote location to an hour north of Vancouver and is getting excellent care.

    I think we’d be better off if our government wasn’t spoon feeding us the garbage about other countries and their health care that aren’t exactly true.

    Granted, to have our current government run our nations health care, it would be chaos, sub standard and unreliable. But not impossible. If nothing else there should be caps on what doctors and hospitals can charge.

    Try walking into a clinic and see what the cost is with insurance versus self pay. Why is self pay SO much lower than insurance?

    Something is very wrong and needs regulated. At least that’s my opinion.