fuck all insurance companies, in fact, fuck all for profit business!!!!

Yes!!!!!!

nt

at the top of my list

...like drinking water and highways. Somethings are too important to the health, well being, economy and security of this country to be auctioned off to the highest bidder.

They have single-handedly killed more people than all the wars combined.

30% of payments going into pockets of these mobsters.

...as it's the only option that actually makes sense.

People going bankrupt because they get cancer or some other life-threatening condition? That makes me sick...

A Property & Casualty company is nothing like a Health Insurance provider. A Mutual Life Insurance company is nothing like a health insurer. They are miles apart in form, function, culture, coverage, etc.

Same thing with stories that gripe about "banks" and "bankers." What, you mean the local bank, with three whole branches? Locally owned and operated?

However, since you mentioned them, property & casualty companies are no great shakes either. Policies like refusing to insurance a property because of a theft claim by a previous owner or denying HO coverage because the owners/renters have a low credit score are the same sort of "Fuck You" by an insurance company, with the obvious difference that the customer's health isn't at stake.

And I hope there is a special circle in hell reserved for insurance company bean counters who got incentive payments for denying claims. I had enough of the denied claim shit from SCREW CROSS!

-Laelth

"I have no interest in putting insurance companies out of business. They provide a legitimate service, and employ a lot of our friends and neighbors."

No, I don't consider that statement to be hyperbole.

Yep, every word in that sentence is true.

are evil and have no problem sentencing people to death.

Organized mass manslaughter.
Callous disregard for human life based on profit motive.

Kills you out on the street, all they get is what is in your wallet.

These thugs get our bank accounts, retirement savings and our damn homes, as they deny us treatment, treat us with inflated prices, etc.

Survived Pre-cursor T Lymphoma Leukemia (13years now). Still lost everything.
I wasn't ready to retire at 41 (my year of discovery and combat), so what the medical costs didn't get, the cost of living did.

So, to me

Health insurance should be something you can take out, to cover the expense of having to retire at an earlier age if you become catastrophically sick.
I really liked my house, I drive by it sometimes to see how the new owners are treating it.

All the "I got insurance for $4 a month" stories will quickly fade after people start trying to actually use their insurance. The high deductibles, so high that after paying the monthly, people still won't be able to use their coverage (as in junk). Or the shrunken "networks" the corps have made so small they are purposely creating a shortage of doctors so you have to buy into a higher plan. Or you are not covered out of your state (which I was a surprise to find out). Or that they can up premiums at any damn time because there are no rate caps in the bill.

And it's still insurance companies! Those predatory vultures that make their money by denying their customers care. And yet we are supposed to cheer that this is better than nothing? I am happy for all the people who were able to get Medicaid, as I understand it is more like Medicare. But the rest of us, married to these insurance company villains, it feels like being thrown to the wolves.

I hope your wife gets her medicine. Get her doctors or an experienced pharmacist to start contacting the company too as that sometimes helps. You have to pry the money out of these bastards' hands.

And in California, which is considered the Golden Child of the program, as there were so many millions out there, uninsured and waiting to get help, well, here people will find that there are few providers willing to take on the Insurance that is offered on the Exchange.

To cover the additional millions now insured, people in this state needed more nurses and doctors added into the equation. And since no one inside the Beltway is willing to think about overall program needs, unless it affects their expense accounts, the needed changes have not yet even been considered.

Plus the network BC has cut down to nothing is going to be quite a problem. The guy on the phone was surprisingly honest (I think he was new) and basically admitted that their ACA policies were junk. Basically catastrophic insurance. Since the deductible is so high, you basically pay cash for most things so I plan to negotiate the cash rates if I ever have to use it. I also read where it actually worked out to be cheaper to get the highest deductible plan and then a supplemental plan to cover it and the two together add up to less than the superior/gold plans.

I'm absolutely praying that the rumors of California single payer are true. If we can do it here, the rest of the country could follow. Even a state option, similar to the public option we should have had would be a lifesaver.

Single Payer Universal HC for all Californians a few years back, we should be able to do it.

Sadly, the two votes in the State legislature that prevented Single Payer in the past were from two newly elected Democrats! If they had not been swayed by whatever, we would have it now.

can the doctor not help at all? Are there any "samples" he can get for you. I know it is not the answer, but it may help your wife (and you) feel less stressed if the doc can find something for her.

This is exactly why for-profit should never be used in association with medicine.

But not for any great length of time that I know about. My daughter has a Masters degree as an ARNP and works with cardiologists. She sees patients and has told me that even the samples they give out are given in smaller and smaller amounts.

Don't have an answer. I'm fighting with my insurance company right now about my medications. I posted below.

Each state has one. This is a position Republicans have tried time & again to get rid of, which should tell you something. Call them when having problems w/ insurance companies.

Insurance companies hate Insurance Commissioners, that should tell you something. I'm sure there are variables from state to state, but try them.

The help I got from our state (WA) IC was nearly instantaneous!

into making the whole thing so vividly clear. Organized Crime. Organized Crime.

Hoping your specific situation is sorting itself out. This is a travesty.

Good luck with your battle!

Why can't communities set up cooperative, non-profit disaster funds to cover the unexpected, which is what insurance is supposed to do, but doesn't.

That's why the "Affordable Care Act" is a misnomer. That's why I have repeatedly corrected posters (and people irl) who conflate "health insurance" with "health care."

My God, Will.

That is another point I have made time and again.

Harvard Pilgrim (or its predecessor) left me to die of a likely blood infection some 30 years ago. My dentist saved my life. I have refused to do business with any health insurance companies ever since.

Your wife is lucky she has you to help in the fight against those mobsters. If you are on your own, you are really on your own.

"administrative cost savings" and they actually account for it. It's when they lose paperwork, "never got" paperwork, transpose numbers, read dates wrong, claim the Dr's office miscoded something...and then "save" money that go-around because they came up some reason not to pay your claim.

when I was trying to determine my coverage through Delta Dental. After learning they didn't cover me for much more than regular check ups, I dropped them.

Health insurance should be nonprofit. Single payer, universal coverage. Financed by tax increases on the ultra rich and closing loopholes on tax breaks to large corporations. There's enough money to provide this to all. Until the majority of people demand it, we'll keep getting screwed.

Good luck to you and your family, Mr. Pitt.

What is wrong with their heads that they defend corporate profits over human lives?

The only thing insured by insurance companies is their profits. It's the perfect business. Just deny claims until you reach the desired level of profit. While ACA attempts to put a lid on it, the only real answer is to eliminate the profit motive from all health care decisions....

(I've been waiting a long time to reuse that one.)

and getting those BILLIONS in subsidies flowing into the private pockets of the Health Insurance Industry
was the EASY part.

Getting these cold blooded reptiles to deliver actual Health CARE will be the hard part.


Health INSURANCE =/= Health CARE

Last edited Thu Mar 6, 2014, 07:32 PM - Edit history (1)

That amounts to about $100BILLION per year in "subsidies" to the Health Insurance Industry.

By law, the Insurance Industry has to spend 80% of that on actual Health Care,
but I don't believe the ACA provides for a Watch Dog Agency to make sure that this money is spent on actual health Care, and Wendell Potter has said that the Health Insurance Industry is already gaming THAT part of the ACA.

...but lets assume that the Health Insurance Industry follows the law (LOL),
and spends 80% on Health Care,
that leaves 20% of the $100Billion,
subtract $3 Billion for overhead,
and that leaves $17 Billion dollars of public tax money going straight into their private pockets as PROFIT EVERY YEAR!

Kinda makes the $4 Billion we give to the Oil Industry look like peanuts,
At least we get some oil from the Oil Industry for our money.
We get NOTHING for our money from the Health Insurance Industry.

The Health Insurance Industry:

*Manufactures NOTHING

*Produces NO useful product

*Provides NO Useful Service

*produces NO Value Added Wealth

Money for nothing = "The Uniquely American Solution"

where do you get the "$3 billion for overhead" from? Would you cite your source, please, or did you just pluck the number out of thin air?

I went to the 10Q, an SEC filing, and I got more than $3 billion in overhead from one single insurance company, so I doubt the accuracy of your number.

...and they just arrived today.

Just now.

What a hellish week for your family!

I think you need to see if Rachel will cover this on her show. I think it's really important. I just lost a family member to ALS, and I can understand your fear and frustration.

I've been up in arms since I read your post this morning.

I read the whole article over on TruthOut and then started reading down this thread. I burst into tears when I came upon this news. I dried the tears up before beginning this reply, and now I'm mad! I hope your wife is OK and hasn't had any damage from this lapse in medication. Guess you won't know until she has the scheduled test you spoke of? Give her big hugs and kisses from all of us here on DU.

Answers available only with an MRI. She feels better, though, and is cuddling her pill bottle like a kitten.

... I don't know what is. Fingers crossed for a good MRI report. I gather she doesn't have "ExpressScripts", or a system where she can get 3-month supply. I just hope you don't ever have to go through this again.

On MediCare for all.

And my household will succeed, assuming M. makes it to his next birthday, some months from now.

...a MANDATE to BUY Health Insurance from For Profit Corporations,
and $100Billion per year in tax payer funded subsidies for the For Profit Health Insurance Industry
is a GIANT step toward the Privatization of access to Health Care in America.

NOBODY gets through that gate unless the For Profit Corporations say,
"Yes. You have paid the vig to your RICH masters. You may pass."

Anybody with 2 working brain cells can see that.
FDR and LBJ are weeping in their graves.

Slamming Americans with over priced bills for minor surgeries?


This woman gets a biopsy and a small mole removed and has to spend some $ 25,000! Now if this happened in Great Britain, the woman would not owe anything, and not only that, she would be given a topical ointment to use, that crusts up the mole, so it simply falls off, so no surgery or anesthesiologist is required.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/19/health/patients-costs-skyrocket-specialists-incomes-soar.html?_r=0

Regulations are nice,
but without swift enforcement, including severe penalties,
they are worthless.

It seems like we, as individual consumers of Health Care,
will STILL be all on our own if we are treated unfairly by the Health Insurance Cartel.

As far as I can tell, it will be Up to Us to hire a lawyer and work our way through the courts
to have any WRONGS taken care of,
just like it is today.
The Insurance Industry KNOWS that few of us have the resources to pursue that avenue,
and have regularly denied honest claims with the knowledge that most people in the 99% really have no effective way or the resources to fight it.

I'm advocating a complete coverage system. All medical, mental, dental, and vision supplied as needed to any who apply.
No medical insurance industry at all.
Drug costs, salaries of medical professionals, and medical equipment costs controlled by the power of negotiations (look, actual free market).

actually just that.... if your poor enough!

I experienced this level of health care as normal. It works and works well.

And the way drugs are covered under Medicare might not have prevented this situation. Then again, Medicare had no prescription drug coverage before 2005, so don't want to gripe too much. Glad to have it now.

All that will cost extra. And, traditional Medicare has to move more toward coordinated care. The uncoordinated care that traditional Medicare favors, has killed a lot of folks too. These things will cost money, either in increased medical expense, or administration to coordinate care.

I'm for Medicare for all, but we need to understand it will have to change to really be as good as folks think it is. And, that is going to cost more -- I don't see Congress funding that anytime soon.

and could have wallpapered my entire house from every INSURANCE COMPANY pushing their Medicare Advantage plan. Not givining my money to Insurance Companies. No Medicare Advantage "Plan".

Then how should the American public view Congress and this Administration?

And people who think that the ACA is a tiny baby step forward they don't seem to grasp that if Big Insurers' money could buy them this POS legislation before every American is mandated to buy an insurance policy, how will it be better when they have ever so much more money, generated by our having to pay them their "protection monies" every month?

All the legislation passed that benefits them is ridiculous. There is a reason the largest buildings in town are usually insurance companies and banks.

Peace

exactly the same thing "The Insurance Industry Is Organized Crime", 30 years ago,
when I first came out of college having to experience insurance companies for the first time.

I have been quietly relating my experiences with Anthem for years on this board. (And being called a troll or worse for doing so.)

The "Anthem" that you get when you are employed and your employer helps pay for your policy is a totally different Anthem than what unemployed folks get.

I had the same experience as your wife, five years ago, when Anthem handled my dental jaw surgery. Never any resolution. In order to survive, I ended up borrowing money from relatives, telling them they would be paid back. I knew I had done every single thing that Anthem required - I went to the first doctor I could find in my area that was Anthem-approved. Then I had them refer me to another Anthem-approved surgeon.

But after the surgery, they never paid the bill. The folks on the phone told me the surgeons' office needed to submit a bill. Meanwhile they told the surgeons' office staff I needed to submit the bill.

But hey! At least I had a very pretty white and pastel blue insurance card I could carry around with me!

Sorry for your ordeal. USA! USA!

"ACA is wonderful because millions can now get health insurance." Why aren't those folks in this thread defending the wonderfulness of the ACA?

As I posted elsewhere, of the four doctors I go to (primary, neurologist, pulmanologist and cardiologist), in the last two years one has left the medical practice, one has moved to a smaller town, and one has quit the network of my insurance carrier (United Healthcare, which I've had for almost twenty years). Insurance issues played a role in all three cases, and changing three out of four doctors when you are 70 years old, have had multiple strokes, emphysema, two heart attacks and Parkinson's Disease is not a lot of fun.

How much of that was caused by the ACA? Well, I can't really say, but it certainly doesn't seem that the ACA has helped much, has it?

"So, where are all the ACA cheerleaders? 'ACA is wonderful because millions can now get health insurance.' Why aren't those folks in this thread defending the wonderfulness of the ACA?"

...if it makes you feel better here:

Obamacare boosting household income and spending
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024606074

Not sure why you think people who support Obamacare need to address every single anecdote or individual situation. No one said there aren't flaws, and for every bad experience, there are likely many more very goods ones.

I don't think a lot of people here get that.

I too have an immune system deficiency (RA). I also have a heart condition. I was unable to obtain insurance to get in the door to see an actual doctor. Most of us do not have cash sitting around to pay up front for a cardiologist, rheumatologist, and hematologist. So, I went without for four years. This ACA is not perfect, and my heart goes out to Will and his wife and I am rather positive I will probably come upon some of the stumbling blocks that he has...

...however, it is better than what I had before.

If that makes me a "cheerleader," then rah rah... I guess.

Well, it seems that they bought one of the 2 choices I had for coverage in Iowa.
Trying to get covered was unreal - I wrote about it here:
Whoops hit the post button too soon:
http://www.blogforiowa.com/2014/01/25/health-insurance-hell/

Fortunately I was not in dire straits -
Also fortunately I get Medicare in October so I only have to survive a few more months.

Despite the 40 hours or so I logged trying to get covered, it is still thousands of times better than the shit policy I had before.


SINGLE PAYER !!!!!

cover everyone from birth to death. All that premium money if put into Medicare instead would give everyone Cadillac medical coverage and it has been estimated for half the cost.

buy in for people over 50? I was so excited I could hardly sleep that night.
Then the next day he changed his mind and left it one vote short.

If we could reach through TV sets ...................................

But I think it's part of what is going on behind the curtain. We would have gotten single payer in California except that four democrats in the senate voted against it. When I called up the office of one of those CA senators, the staffer yelled at me and hung up on me, a Democrat no less. So it's all fixed so the insurance companies can continue to add people's health care and lives to their bottom line.

She took credit for Killing the Public Option,
and was campaigning on that in the Arkansas Democratic Primary 2010 when President Obama and Bill Clinton rescued her failing Primary Campaign.

I found it exceedingly odd that President Obama would give her an Oval Office endorsement
in the Arkansas Democratic Primary as a reward for her "treachery",
and send Bill Clinton back down to Arkansas to rescue her failing Democratic Primary campaign against a Pro-Public Option challenger.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024586209

Max Baccus was rewarded for his "treachery" with the Peach of ALL Presidential Appointments... Ambassador to China!!!
Max will really be able to fill up those offshore accounts with THAT Presidential Appointment!
Most Senators would KILL for THAT appointment.
All Baccus had to do was torpedo Medicare for All.

...and old Joe Lieberman...the guy who played Judas in the Democratic Party health Care Kabuki Theater?
Well, Old Joe, the former Chairman of the Koch Brothers funded DLC had nothing to lose after his performance in Connecticut,
so he was more than happy to Take One for Team DLC in exchange for NOT being drummed OUT of the Democratic Party.
He was well rewarded with a Standing Ovation from the Senate Democrats who welcomed him upon his return,
was given back his tenure,
all of his committee appointments and chairs.
He didn't even lose his spot in the Parking Lot!

But HEY! President Obama doesn't have a Magic Wand!!!
and you can't let the Perfect be the enemy of The Good!

The MANDATE to BUY Insurance from For Profit Corporations,
and a $100 Billion per year tax payer funded subsidy to the For Profit Health Insurance Corporations
opens the door for Single Payer!!
.
.
.
.
.
and if you believe THAT....

a lot of people remember what happened.

I'm so sorry for what you and your wife are going through. I know the fear you and she feel. When you have to cut your dose of medication to ration it something is seriously fucking wrong.

I asked a former state insurance commissioner where I could find information about the insurance industry; specifically, number of policies sold vs number of policies with claims filed. He threw his head back and guffawed, then wished me good luck. He indicated that if such information exists it's too closely guarded. Then he asked me to share that information with him if I ever found it. Another insurance commissioner hung up when I asked for those numbers; no conversation, just disconnect. Hmmm.

I have worked for an insurance company for ten years now, and I can honestly say that I believe insurance is the most crooked business in america.

It's getting so bad that it's hard to tell the ones who're merely out to rip everyone off from the ones that are driven to control everyone. Maximally ripping people off increasingly depends on controlling them, even to the level of what they are allowed to know and therefore what they are allowed to think. Debt is used to enslave as more and more basic requirements of life (such as education) begin to require going into long term debt. Does the government regulate banks or do banks regulate the government? Am I sending my monthly check to a telecommunications company or to an unaccountable surveillance aggregator and secret police agency? Is "healthcare", in the U.S. context, a word that means people caring for each other's lives and well being, or does it mean squeezing ever increasing profit out of the herd - or else thinning out the herd for maximum efficiency if no more profit can be wrung from an individual? Government policing functions and cradle to grave planning for corporate profit maximization are converging in what can only be described as a new totalitarianism.

ACA was most definitely not passed for your benefit.

I'm in NH, and my experience with Anthem has been mixed. And since I'm rushing out the door, I won't go into that. But one point I would like to make is that there is anything but a free market for ACA health insurance in NH. As WRP observes, Anthem is the only provider. Sure, they have 11 plans, and that's okay, but, well, but. . . monopoly. Okay, let's say you've found the plan you think you need and can afford. How the hell can you compare it to anything else? Other insurers in the state might not offer insurance of the same type, so you're never given the opportunity to compare apples to apples. And even if you thought you were comparing apples, you'd never know because the plans are so fucking dense with conditions, options, and the like.

On balance, the insurance premium for me and spouse is almost to the penny the same as it was with my previous Anthem plan and my wife's previous plan from another insurer. So far the coverage is pretty decent, and in the event of a disaster our out of pocket will be less than under the previous plans. So that's a positive. And they couldn't turn us down, so that's a positive as well.

I'll let you know later if we run into the same brick walls as WRP when you actually need a human response to a human need. It can be challenging.

I had some dealings with Blue Cross a few years ago and they would always "lose" claims and supporting documents. Every fucking time.

You had to have a notarized list of documentation in your package and send it registered mail.

We had the chance to put these parasites out of business but it seems that chance is gone now.

tho your testimony is just one personal horror story, I shudder when I think of all the others across our country who may be experiencing the very same run-around. Your comparison is an apt one.

I hope that people can get the help they need, including your wife. But getting satisfactory medical care now will not erase that "Fuck you, pay me", until medical care is no longer profit-driven.

for your little family!

you didn't even touch the homeowners or flood insurance market.

The heads of all these insurance companies are nothing but dons.


I truly hope the best for you and your wife.

We can't get a single payer healthcare system going without taking the House .. nothing gets done as long as these Republicans are in charge .. nothing. I think the people in this country are fed up and need some relief .. in terms of healthcare, cost of living in general .. But as long as we have FOX spewing out the lies .. and the other Corporately own channels of info telling half-truths and rallying around the Corporate Take .. we are basically screwed. Good luck to everyone who is hurting right now.

by the insurance industry putting up roadblocks to effective health care.

Hubby, who is a psychiatrist, has been a supporter of single payer
for years and years and years. I am a retired hospital administrator and I was
convinced 30 years ago--before I met hubby--that we needed
to take health care insurance companies out of the process of providing
health care to people in the US.

I hope people in this country wake up one of these days. Until then, I hope
you can find a way to stockpile your wife's meds so she won't run out
waiting for some a$$hole to approve what she needs.

Crooks writing policy for the rest of us!

But on this, we completely agree. Great work.

force everybody to participate in the farce. woo-fucking-hoo for the ACA.

Last edited Thu Mar 6, 2014, 09:54 PM - Edit history (1)

A typical scam tactic of these vultures is to whittle down any costs you incurred to what they will allow when you're trying to obtain reimbursement for medical expenses. For example, we had some lab work done that was ordered by an out-of-network doctor. The test cost us around $375. Blue Cross allowed us $2.76 that was applied to the deductible. Since we hadn't met the deductible yet, they wouldn't even reimburse us 60% of the $2.76, as if $1.66 would kill their profit margins. Who the hell are they to allow any amount they damn well choose? Some governmental agency needs to monitor these "allowances." Single Payer is the only way to stop these dregs of society or at least rein in their blood money.

Some here on DU are so affluent that they don't think of the deductible as much of anything. And their health bills are high enough that by February or March they are utilizing their actual insurance to pay for things.

But for many of us, even having a deductible to pay means we can't think of using the services that health insurance should bring us.

Please sign the petition and share it with your friends. The link is http://wndavis.blogspot.com/
Thank you.

...elect people who support the idea - even if this means primary challenges to the pro-insurance Corporate Democrat-types like Landrieu and Pryor.

There's no Anthem BC on Twitter, but there's a national account: @AnthemBlueCross.

They pay a LOT more attention to what people say on Twitter. Blue Cross in my state had someone contact me ten minutes after I complained online.

The other thing is, contact your state insurance commission.

https://www.nh.gov/insurance/consumers/complaints.htm

And finally, call your local elected representatives. I guarantee you that your state senator's or congress critter's constituent services staffers will have a direct number they can call -- especially when you tell them your wife is running out of medication.

Good luck!

Before the bastids kill us all!

accomplices.

I was sitting at dinner, and he proceeded to lambaste me in public over "the gays". He also espoused the idea that women with black men means both are doing drugs. I don't think I have ever been offended than what he drew out of the can of ugliness, and rained on a parade before it even had floats going down the street.

He works for the insurance office as an assessor, and excuse me, but he is more crooked than a barrel of snakes. My father and his wife (his sister - she's a bigoted shithead, too) often get into disagreements, then when they realize they are both shitheads, they relent and turn it on someone else.

Heinous bastards, belong under a jail somplace, along with their skeezy brethren at Cigna.

Best to you and yours, in the "Live, Freeze, and Die" state.

so they can't deny they received it. On the other hand ...why do you hate Obama.

... service of the insurance co, and I hear a LOT of complaints about BC in general, the ROOT CAUSE of ALL of our medical service problems are COSTS that are by and large RIDICULOUS and would never stand in any industry/business with any true market competition.

Hospitals, surgeons, device and drug makers basically NAME THEIR PRICE, there is no one to stop them. And the only solution to this problem is SINGLE PAYER like the rest of the world does it.

It's simple really. You have to know exactly who your insurance will or won't cover and/or how much of their services they will or won't cover and what medical services or procedures they will or won't cover. Then you need to know where your insurance will or won't cover you and how much they will or won't cover you in which places. You have to know if you have any coverage at all until you hit your deductible or if you have any coverage at all until you hit your out of pocket maximum. You have to know what percentage of which procedure or treatment is covered. You might get the surgery free in a network facility but still pay 30-50% of the jacked up hospital pharmacy and supply costs. You have to know all providers who your network doctor might choose to be in the surgery room and whether they are also in network or you might get socked with their whole fee. You have to clearly understand the nature of your surgical procedures and what facilities they can be performed in. Your hospital scheduled surgery might be possible in an outpatient clinic or doctor's office for thousands less. You need to know what medications you need now and might need in the future and if they are on your insurance companies formulary. Then you need to know what tier they are on and what percentage is paid on each tier. You also have to know how to review your multi page bills for "mistakes" like not deducting the network deductions, double entries, services not delivered and how to appeal that wrongly figured bill etc etc. Oh yes. You will also need to know how to appeal a wrongly issued denial of payment or incorrectly paid bill.

And if you are having to choose an insurance plan you will have to know all these things on multiple plans so you can compare price and features and choose wisely, grasshopper.

See? How hard is that?

Did I mention this is a fucking national disgrace? My heart goes out to you Will. I have experienced similar struggles with the health insurance shitheels. My settlement with one after they fraudulent denied my claim cost me about $6000 or more in unrecovered legal costs. (They paid the bill. Just not my lawyer fees).

From worst to best: Blue Shield, Blue Cross, Kaiser HMO, Kaiser PPO.

At first I signed up with Blue Shield that was supposed to start February 1. My premium wasn't due until January 21. Along about January 15, I get this e-mail stating that, in order to be covered by January 1 (????), my premium needed to be sent in immediately. I sent them back an e-mail explaining that my FEBRUARY'S premium wasn't due until January 21. I called "Customer Service" (there's a reason I put that in quotes) and got some guy with an accent so heavy I could hardly understand him I asked where I was calling to and he stated he could not tell me where they were located. (Like I couldn't figure out it was in India.) I, to this day can't figure out what he was saying. I ended up doing further research and found out that, although Blue Shield may have listed, say 40 carriers in my area that accepted Blue Shield, the reality is that only maybe 3 of those are taking new patients so 40 just became 3.

I ended up cancelling the Blue Shield (Gold plan) for several reasons, not the least of which I started panicking at the $600.00+ per month premiums (that's WITH subsidies) and decided to go with Kaiser's Bronze plan with a $6,000 deductible and a 60/40 arrangement -- iow, insurance that I won't actually be able to afford to use. But it's only 300.00 a month so there's that. The other think Kaiser has going for it is they have an actual US-based Customer Service. I called them about my insurance cards, asking when I should expect them in the mail and I got an actual English-speaking person without the endless "porn music."

your insurance company because they "decide" you shouldn't take a medication your very own doctor has prescribed? And then when the doctor appeals to them in your behalf they STILL deny your request?

I'm infuriated right now that a medication I take for degenerative disk, scoliosis & arthritis in my back is being denied by my insurance company. I have decided that I won't use my insurance to fill the script, but I will fill it and pay the difference. AND, then that means I'm supporting BIG PHARMA which is another kick in the pants.

I know many people who have doctor's write scripts and then they send off to Canada to get it filled. Not sure how they can do it because I thought it was illegal, but they do.

My medication in generic form isn't going to be that expensive so won't hurt too bad. Pharmacist said they will fill it so I said ok, I guess it's not illegal to do this. It drives me crazy because I have relatively GOOD insurance through my husband's union! This just isn't right! They want me to exercise, stay active and healthy and have a "wellness check-up" to prevent illness. Having daily pain ain't no picnic, but I do work out every single day anyway! I can assure you that not even yoga and exercise eliminates all the pain. I SINCERELY want to stay active, but... there are days when it's not so easy!