If you have been following my blog at all this past year you know that we have not had an easy time. I thought since I was getting a new job we would finally all be insured and we could all live happily ever after knowing we were covered.
My new job situation is such that I have to find the insurance plan and then my work will cover it. They put me in touch with a broker and thought we were in business, real insurance for all 4 of us Yay!!
Until the dreaded question, "Do you have any pre-existing conditions?"
Honestly, I was tempted to lie but I figured that since I work for Jesus lying was a bad life choice. So after some hesitation, I took a breath and said, "well... I have Crohns disease..."
This actually seemed kind of hopeful because Crohns has recently been taken off of the automatic denial list so I thought we might be okay. Then we started chatting about maternity coverage and if I needed it or not. I first said no because I honestly have no intention of having any more children in the next several years if ever. She then went on to mention surprise pregnancies etc. so jokingly I said, "We're infertile surprise pregnancies won't happen."
Apparently being infertile is grounds for an automatic refusal to offer insurance, despite the fact that the insurance companies don't cover infertility treatments in the first place. I decided that since I was totally screwed anyways I would finish my list, so I mentioned I also have von Willebrands disease, which is also an automatic refusal for coverage. Which then means that my two year olds are also not eligible for coverage since they also have Von Willebrands.
I then could no longer contain myself and starting ranting about our health care in the United States and how incredibly unethical all of this was. The only thing that helps my situation is that I've never had a gap in coverage so under HIPPA someone has to give me insurance however they can jack the price up as much as they want and the coverage is not very good.
I'm waiting for the broker to come back with the crazy HIPPA quote but I am so upset and angry. I am honestly flabbergasted when I meet someone who doesn't think our health care needs an overhaul. This is insane and ridiculous.
Seriously the idea of getting a PhD is sounding more and more appealing everyday. University health insurance is often very good. I am grateful that in 2014 the pre-existing condition nonsense will go away with the Obama changes but that doesn't really help me today in 2011.
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3 comments:
Oh the enrages me more than I can even tell you.
It literally disgusts me. I cannot stand the insurance companies and the sneaky, dirty way this all goes down.
I tried googling "automatic denial list" after noticing it and found an article that made me even more livid.
Great :)
I am so grateful to still be under my parent's plan, which I can stay under until 26. I pay them out of pocket for what it costs, but it's so nice to have that.
This is why people lie!
Best of luck to you and I pray you will find great coverage at an affordable cost!
Not sure this is at all helpful, given your profession, but federAl government health insurAnce (All of it) covers all preexisting conditions. If you ever find a position with the federal gov't, the coverage might be worth it!
How absolutely infuriating!I feel so bad for you guys having to deal with this and inevitably get screwed over by it.....grrrrrr!
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