5 ms·
Have you ever been denied health insurance? I have. I was 26 or thereabouts (it's been a while), in good health, but had one "touch base" appointment in my pr
by pasbesoin 9y ago
Have you ever been denied health insurance?
I have.
I was 26 or thereabouts (it's been a while), in good health, but had one "touch base" appointment in my prior 2 year medical history (what the prospective insurer wanted, at that time). The appointment had no ongoing medical/treatment implications; it was simply a follow-up with a prior provider. Fortunately, a friend of a friend ran my application "unofficially" by the insurer's underwriters; if it had been a formal application, the result would have ended up in a cross-insurer database of decisions made whether to insure. Yes, there actually is -- was, certainly, at that time -- one, and if you landed in it with a "deny", getting anyone else to insure you became an order of magnitude more difficult. So I was told by this industry professional -- again, as a favor to my professional contact and friend.
More recently, I've had a minor condition that an eminent surgeon refused to operate on. Cost/benefit didn't merit it; his recommendation was simply to monitor.
When I changed from employer provided insurance to individually insured, I was denied. There was nothing I could do, and the condition did not hinder me in any way. Nonetheless.
Again, through the fortune of having a (different) professional contact and friend in the industry, with an allied company, I was able -- via a flaw in their processing of the application -- to get a re-evaluation. And a policy written, albeit with a rider excluding that condition.
But their initial reaction, before I "pulled strings"? They didn't offer me a policy with an exclusion rider. Nope, just "deny".
SO, many people who are paranoid about this kind of thing and "their health data getting around", are for damned good reason.
I agree, the knowledge and health benefits of sharing this data could be enormous. Think of what it could do for epidemiology. Best practices. Etc. Etc.
But, you want me to share it? You want me to sign on to a public program of same. You're going to have to guarantee that the data won't be used against participants.
As in, you do so use it, and you personally go to jail with a felony conviction and a multi-year sentence. And your company gets severely penalized and, if the behavior is widespread and with significant negative outcomes for those discriminated against, its own "death penalty".
You want the data? Demonstrate your good will. In ironclad terms.
- prater 9y agoWait a second. Is this recently? For all of Obamacare's problems - I thought that it at least solved this particular abuse.
- pasbesoin 9y agoThe policy I got was with a good company (I mean, once you actually had a policy), for a reasonable rate. They then exited the individual market in my state. I ended up being shunted to a lower benefit, higher cost policy with a "second tier" company (if that). My premium costs about tripled in the span of a couple of years. The Affordable Care Act's full enactment came just in time, for me. Unfortunately, all legislation consists of two essential components: 1) The law, itself; and 2) funding (the budget process). Republicans baldly stated, after Obama's election, that their primary, number one objective was to make him a one-term president. Before all else. Despite its coming out of what was essentially a Republican design, then Governor Romney's health care insurance program in Massachusetts, Republican's went after the Affordable Care Act -- after labeling it "Obamacare" -- with a vengeance. A primary way they crippled it, was by not providing the funding that was written into the law. Insurers were given a 2 year time frame in which they could recoup their losses, until new participants' "deferred care" was taken care of and the companies had better demographics and cost projections (actuarial studies) upon which to carry forward. When they went to the government to be made whole, under this provision, they were paid about 15 cents on the dollar. So of course, premium costs increased dramatically, plan options became more limited, and companies started to exit the ACA marketplace. Meanwhile, the Republicans made endless attempts to "repeal" the ACA in one fashion or another. Claiming they had a "better plan", that would provide better coverage at lower cost. Now, they've had both houses of Congress and the executive for over a year. Still no sign of an actual "plan". Just continuing efforts to destroy the ACA. So, going forward? No, I don't think this problem of pre-conditions can be considered solved. The party in power keeps trying to reintroduce it. And I, for one, have no more trust in our society. Maybe I'll find another position that includes an employer-provided group insurance plan. Or a group plan through a professional organization. If I didn't have various things tying me here right now, including elderly parents, and I had the opportunity, I'd leave the country. I've always lived modestly. And it seems that is even part of my problem. The U.S., always somewhat hypocritical, is becoming more and more a land of "winners" and "losers". Just look at our "fearless" leader, using the "L" word -- quite derogatorily -- left and right. If we're supposed to take our cue from our leadership, well then, f-ck this place.
- 9y ago
- cromwellian 9y agoWhy not solve it with national single payer, so no one can be denied under any circumstances?
- pasbesoin 9y agoI'm amenable. I could also live with a system like Germany's, where insurers are private but the state requires equal treatment and effective systems of cost control. No system's perfect, and every system needs to be effectively managed. I've long since come to the point of wondering how much the U.S. behavior actually negatively impacts other countries' health care systems. In many ways more indirectly that this following, but also explicitly in Canada, they keep pushing for increased privatization. Want that marketshare, and to be the middleman between patients and services.
- zaarn 9y agoIn Germany very few insurers are private. Most are state-nonprofit, private is split into most being private-nonprofit and the tiniest part being private-forprofit. I think the good part is that we have a very good state healthcare, it's non-optional for basically 99.9% of the population. The sad thing is that our actual healthcare system (doctors and hospitals) are in need of workers and doctors which leads to them preferring the privately insured patients.