Health Care Coverage: Healthy Topic of Conversation

A teacher, a lawyer and a writer walk into a bar and start talking about their health insurance coverage. Not the beginning of a joke, but the happy reality of life in the fall of 2009. A topic that for so long was just not discussed has been propelled into a hot topic for conversation in bars, kitchens and offices around the country. This is a healthy development. It has allowed me to see how passionately disappointed by or happy with their coverage most employed people are. It has also brought into the glare of daylight the maddening inefficiencies of health care coverage today. Some people are responsible for huge copays or aren't covered for some truly basic illnesses while others are merely confused by the complexity of their coverage.

After nearly 18 months of managing to hang on to health coverage through Cobra, I am returning to the workforce this week. I was reminded of my good fortune last week when the operations manager at my new employer handed me a silver platter heaped with benefits. Okay, maybe it was just a folder, but it felt like a silver platter. Fully paid health insurance, life insurance, disability, parental leave...it was a dizzying largesse.

But during my 18 months of consulting, I was also very lucky to have the money to pay for my own health insurance -- and that of my daughter -- through Cobra. It was very expensive. A friend of mine was denied individual health coverage after losing her job because the insurer went back in her history five years and found a time when she was on anti-depressants. They didn't offer her coverage with a higher premium. They just said, "No." A couple I know have managed to go an entire year without visiting a doctor even though they are self-employed and have individual insurance plans. They were fearful that a physican might find something that would count as a "pre-existing condition" and thus deny them coverage when they start new jobs next month.

What is wrong with us as a nation that our health care is cobbled together so precariously and whimsically? And what about those who have lost jobs and couldn't afford Cobra or any kind of coverage? It is a healthy trend that Americans are openly discussing health care, but we should not allow the discussion to be diverted by talk of "Granny killing" or abortion coverage. Nor should we settle for compromises that work for those with money and leave those without lagging farther and farther behind. The past year has shown that anyone can lose a job, anyone can be struck by sudden illness, anyone can begin to lose all those things that make us feel grounded.

It is no coincidence that the lines to receive the swine flu vaccine are long and include Americans of all income levels, races and political persuasions. Potentially fatal illnesses don't discriminate. Neither should our nation's health coverage. Let's keep talking about it and insist that Congress' final health care plan not leave behind any of our neighbors, friends or family.

Comments

[Freestyler]

The title of your post is about health care reform being "a healthy topic of conversation" is so true and there's more: it's a critical topic, which unfortunately gets more confused and obfuscated the longer the debate goes on.

Meanwhile, many people w/ health insurance think it's such a good deal, they feel threatened that they'll have less, pay more -- forgetting their monthly premiums, the co-pays and the parts of coverage insurers reject. At the same time, until health care reform comes along, I am thankful to have insurance through employment.

At the other end, those w/o insurance forego taking care of urgent health needs; we have friends in their early 60s who are successful full-time writers, not a lucrative business for most, who pay $30,000 a year for minimal coverage and are looking forward to being old enough for Medicare.

Too bad politics as usual interfere with the health of people and the economic well-being of our country. Thanks for posting this, Tamar -- and I'm glad you have coverage again. Meanwhile, LizClay's post above reveals the horrors of the current system.

[LizClay]

Someone help me understand. My husband needs surgery on his jaw. The orthodontist said the infection could spread through his body or lead to heart disease...we must operate immediately, The insurance company sais that we need to come out of pocket around 4500. Money we don't have. The insurance will pay a little more if we wait for some of the surgery till next year. I asked them if they wanted him to develop heart disease while he waits? The Blue Cross Blue Sheild representative told me it wasn't her problem. She said that this coverage is determined by his employer. I said our employer pays for the insurance they can afford. We have PPO BCBS. We should be well covered. I just got a bill in the mail saying that my daughters cavity was unnecessary and would not be covered. Now the dentis wants more money!!! What happens if one of us gets cancer? How this healthcare reform help me if we are still stuck with accepting the insurance our employer provides and we cannot pay for the public option. We can scrape together 600 a month for a public option. I just can't afford to wait for surgery while my husband dies... Do people realize that insurance companies don't pay out. They find new reasons not to pay. My mother found that out before she died in 1992 after a long battle with cancer and insurance companies. I am sure the stress didn't help during chemotherapy...

[Tamar Abrams - Huffpost Blogger]

Liz, if I were you, I'd contact my local newspaper or TV station to see if they are willing to do a story on your situation. Because it's related to the vagaries of health coverage, they might and BC/BS might take action to help you out because of the publicity. It can't hurt. So sorry about your husband's situation.

[mamalisa38]

Sadly, with our "representatives" who have been bought and paid for by the health insurance companies, we won't have the one thing that will solve the health care crisis in this country, single payer.