ScottKuma

Don't get me started on healthcare....

I am 33 years old, have paid into private health insurance since I was 18. My family and I have made very few claims against health insurance....until this past year.

My son was born with multiple birth defects that have left him on a ventilator. It is likely that he will wean off of the vent within 2 or 3 years. I make too much for Medicaid, but due to my son's handicaps, have been placed on a waiver waiting list to receive some sort of government care. It is likely that we will receive aid within 2 years of the date of application.

IN THE MEANTIME...

My private health insurance company has thrown up roadblocks at every juncture when asked to provide the care necessary for my son. We get 30 nights of nursing a year, yet my son needs 24 hour supervision (read as, a competently trained adult awake with him) per his doctors' orders. At the end of the 30 days, they took the following stand:

1) We won't pay for more nursing, because our contract doesn't cover it.
2) We won't pay for your son to go into the hospital, because he's well enough to be cared for at home.
3) We won't pay for Durable Medical Equipment (his vent & supplies) beyond your contract...and by the way, you'll be at your yearly limit at the end of the 30 days.

If I were home every night, we MIGHT be able to make the supervision thing work. Problem is, I travel 80% of weekdays as a condition of my job. My wife can't stay up with him all the time, and care for him and our 4 year old daughter.

You want to talk about a rock and a hard place? They were basically leaving my son without ANY of the care he needed! (This has since been resolved - the terms of that resolution are confidential, but we're satisfied - but it took an act of GOD, signed in triplicate, sent in, sent back, queried, lost, found, subjected to public enquiry, lost again, and finally buried in soft peat for three months and recycled as firelighters. That and media intervention. ;-) )

Personally, I don't believe that we need more universal healthcare. I DO believe that better management of the current system will result in better care. I DO believe that care should be provided that has the best outcome for the patient, and at the best cost. In many cases, this means care at home...even when the contract doesn't specifically cover it. I DO believe that the legal shield of protection enjoyed by these companies when faced with bad consequences to their decisions should be lowered.

and I DO believe I'm done for now - my blood pressure is going up again....

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A government big enough to give you everything you want is big enough to take from you everything you have.

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