December 10, 2007

One Issue Voter

I fear I have become a one-issue voter. My issue? Health insurance.

Surely there's got to be a better way to do health insurance, from a country that is so technologically-sophisticated, and customer-service orientated.

This always happens:

1-I go to the dentist/gynecologist/doctor once a year.

2-I work with the medical office to ensure that my paperwork is accurate and up-to-date.

3-I pay the entire bill. My insurance promises to reimburse the allowable fees. That still leaves with having to pay $538.20 that day, of which $300 will be covered by my health insurance and $248.20 (I sometimes really wonder why I am paying $150 per month and yet still have to shell out $250 out of my own pocket).

4-I go home feeling healthy, yet disgruntled at having had to wait 1 hour to see the dentist/gyncologist/doctor, when I arrived perfectly on time.

5-Three months later, I still haven't been reimbursed the $300.

6-I call the insurance company. They tell me that my dentist/gynecologist/doctor hasn't submitted the claim.

7-I call my dentist/gynecologist/doctor. The office tells me that they did. In fact, they sent the claim months ago. The office is annoyed, but sends the paperwork again.

8-I wait another month until reimbursement.

Can you imagine if you had 3 kids, which means three times as many appointments, and just a 1/3 of the time to follow-up with all of these? What if you were a cashier at Giant on your feet all day, then had to rush to school to pick up the kids at 4 pm, then spent all your evening cooking, checking homework, giving baths, and doing laundry. It's impossible!

No wonder people are reluctant to go to the doctor's.

Whichever candidate proposes to streamline and simplify the process, gets my vote in November 2008.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

You couldn't have outlined the problems with America's health insurance system better.

I don't have a candidate, but there was an article on AlterNet about Senator Edward's proposal that I featured on my blog last month.

http://www.alternet.org/healthwellness/67917/

Anonymous said...

I have three kids, and I spend a lot of time on the phone sorting out health insurance. Even my husband, an actuary, is sometimes baffled by their decisions. You have my vote!

Anonymous said...

And then of course, imagine if you were really sick and had to go to the Dr. often....
Solution: move to France when you have kids :)
-Ammo

007 in Africa said...

Thanks Steve in Wisconsin, I especially liked the following quote: "What we would do is we would submit legislation saying if universal healthcare is not passed by this summer, that the Congress and members of the administration would lose their healthcare coverage." :)

Astrogirl, this really drives the point home--that even smart, well-trained individuals find the insurance system a maize...

Ammo, I can't even imagine what it's like to have a chronic illness and have to go to the doctor on a regular basis.