Can we get some health insurance reform up in here? Seriously. I just received the bill for my spinal and brain MRIs: $807.75. And that’s after my Aetna insurance plan (supposedly) paid 80%.
And that’s not all. Last week, I received a bill for $292.85 for, I think, my neurologist visit and for my neurologist and the lab to just process the MRI results. I also had some blood drawn, at their request, to see if my Avonex (which is not covered by my Aetna plan, BTW) was damaging my liver (nope).
A week later, I met with a general practitioner for just a consultation to establish care and had more blood drawn to check my vitamin D and cholesterol levels (both okay). That visit cost $158 and is still pending with my insurance. Another amount of $221 for … I’m not sure? Maybe the two blood draws? … is also pending with Aetna. So if they don’t pay for those preventative procedures, I’ll get billed for those amounts, too. FU, Aetna (and my employer, who chose the plan, can suck it, too.)
I suppose none of these visits were absolutely life-and-death necessary. I didn’t have to see my neurologist or get those MRIs. They just let me know if my Multiple Sclerosis is getting worse or not. No big deal, I guess. At least, not if you’re an insurance company looking at the bottom line. But then if I’d been in some horrific accident and had lost an arm, they’d just pay 80% of those bills, too. Pah.
I can’t afford to just pay out $1,000 (or $1,400, if those other amounts get billed to me), so I’m going to have to call my hospital and get on a payment plan that will take months to pay off. This makes going to the neurologist once a year very expensive–and I have a job that provides health insurance! So I guess I should consider myself lucky. What do people who can’t work because of their MS, or another condition that keeps them from having employer-provided health insurance, do?
I don’t know where y’all fall on the two sides of the health insurance reform debate, but I am seriously scared of what will happen if President Obama and the supporters of reform can’t make it happen. If I lose my job for some reason and have to apply for individual plan, I will be turned down because of the pre-existing conditions clause. And I will be screwed–financially and otherwise. I don’t know how people do it.
And for the wahoos out there screaming “death panels!” and “don’t brainwash our children, Prezdint Obama!”: fuck you, too. Obama isn’t trying to take away your health care. He’s trying (unless he caves to wahoo pressure) to give us another option. The Public Option is not a mandate. It’s a way for people left out in the cold by greedy insurance companies to still get necessary health care.
I know I’m oversimplifying here. It’s a complicated issue and I don’t pretend to understand all the ins and outs. But what seems very clear to me is that we need a change and that the current system isn’t working. And no, I don’t just think this because I just got slapped with a ginormous bill. I thought this when I went to a health insurance reform rally in downtown Seattle last week, too.
I thought we needed reform before I saw this very simple video, too, which is a must-watch (and share!) for anyone trying to begin to grasp the many variables in this debate.
