Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Update 3: Ranting about health insurance

OK. So I said Milk did make me want to do more for the things I believe in. And dammit, I really believe we need some healthcare reform. On Wednesday, I will be buying into the same system I was just dissing and going to lobby day in Olympia to talk to my legislators about healthcare.

So I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what needs to happen for me to go back to graduate school in the fall. Both the UW and Berk have a 400K cap on their graduate student health insurance. Seeing as how a bone marrow transplant (which will be necessary should I relapse) will cost ONE MILLION DOLLARS, I kind of need more coverage. Initially I was looking into catastrophe plans with high deductibles that, but those are turning out to be a bust. The coverage is shoddy and expensive and my social worker at Swedish said that the best thing to do in my case (should I relapse) is work on getting rid of all of my assets so I can apply for Medicaid.

This is so fucked up. I believe in Medicaid. I believe poor people should have coverage, but I am not poor. In fact, I would happily pay for health insurance. I DO pay for health insurance—with a big smile on my face. But because of privatized insurance, no one in their right mind will cover me to any decent extent after I am forced to leave my group plan with my work—my only option is to bankrupt myself so I can be eligible for Medicaid. That is dumb.

Let me back up. Right now I have primo health insurance through my work. My employer and I pay ridiculous amounts of money for this coverage—about $550 a month. And I can COBRA that for 18 months—for $550 a month out of pocket. Yipes. Do-able. Sort of. But when my COBRA runs out, I’m left with student health insurance (inadequate) until I am employed by someone else with group coverage.

The things that make me the most angry about this situation are:
-Caps. This defeats the point of insurance. Lifetime caps discriminate against people with chronic or long term health problems—the people who need health insurance most of all. People with AIDS and chronic cancer can spend millions of inflated dollars just to receive basic life supporting prescriptions and treatments.
-Pre-existing conditions and the ability to deny coverage: I will pay for my health insurance, but no one will have me. Fuck them.
-The fact that I would pay for my health insurance, but the only option is to let the government and Medicaid pay. That is stupid.
-Everyone is going to get cancer eventually. I really believe that. The statistics are high and growing. We need to come up with a better way to address common health issues like cancer in a most cost effective way.

OTHER NON-CANCER THINGS THAT ARE LAME ABOUT HEALTH INSURANCE
-women are charged more for health insurance because they go see the doctor more often—for things like preventative care.
-preventative care is awesome and so much less expensive than emergency care, but most insurance companies are too stingy and short sighted to pay for that kind of thing.

You know what, this is just making me mad. FUCK HEALTH INSURANCE COMPANIES. THEY ARE EVIL INCARNATE.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

HELL YEAH.

While we're at it, let's just say
"Fuck obligate insurance in all forms." Because, after all, perhaps their most capitol sin is the appropriation of the word "insurance" like it actually describes anything about their protocol. THOSE BASTARDS.

B. said...

Me and you should write a petition. Or at least try and go seduce Obama with our short locks. Because, boy oh boyyy this is a huge problem in the young cancer community.

And it's so fucked up. I keep thinking what would've happened to me if I hadn't grabbed a teaching job right after college. That one year, has saved my life. Literally. With long care coverage, I got through my transplant -- but, alas, like you... I'm now on a time-constraint with cobra.

If I had been a loser, and not moved forward with a job -- the second I graduated college. I would be dead right now. There's just no way, I could be going through trials, with no insurance, or transplant.

Grr. This topic evokes a lot of emotions. The bottom line is, cover your ass, I know you will, as much as you can.

And if I could give some advice to the our 'young' generation -- get health insurance! You just never know.

Power to the people! I love you! Fuck our health insurance programs! Okay I think that's enough! ;)

Know I love you, and am so happy that the undertone of this post is because you are moving forward with your life, and grad school is so close you can taste it. YUM.

LOVE,

B