REGARDING
the
SANCTITY
of
PRIVATE
HEALTH INSURANCE
I go by reality -- not "reports."
A very good friend of mine was diagnosed with terminal cancer six-and-a-half years ago. He was "supposed" to die within six-months of diagnosis, but he has put up an incredibly courageous fight against the disease which has meant undergoing actual TORTURE for three-month blocks at a time.
He has lived with six weeks of chemo-torture, six weeks off, then back again for six more weeks of chemo-torture continuously for more than six consecutive years.
It's not just the effects of the chemo which include violent headaches, vomiting, diarrhea, painful aching in the joints, teeth loosening and falling out, and hair loss. He has had to endure many kinds of secondary infections as well, which have caused high fevers, terrible cramps, hideous rashes, bizarre painful swellings that look like acromegaly, temporary blindness, and flu-like symptoms worse than any flu you've ever put up with under normal circumstances.
He has also undergone radical experimental treatment -- allowing himself to be used as a human guinea pig in two far off locations -- and also radical surgery which they told him he had only a fifty-fifty chance of surviving.
The bravest person I have known -- or could ever hope to know -- by far!
At any rate, after ALL THAT, he was just told today -- very abruptly -- that his insurance company, Humana, which is one of the biggest and best -- will not pay for any further treatments, because HE HAS USED UP HIS LIFETIME LIMIT of WHAT THE BASTARDS WILL PAY.
In six years his treatments have cost ONE MILLION DOLLARS.
A very good friend of mine was diagnosed with terminal cancer six-and-a-half years ago. He was "supposed" to die within six-months of diagnosis, but he has put up an incredibly courageous fight against the disease which has meant undergoing actual TORTURE for three-month blocks at a time.
He has lived with six weeks of chemo-torture, six weeks off, then back again for six more weeks of chemo-torture continuously for more than six consecutive years.
It's not just the effects of the chemo which include violent headaches, vomiting, diarrhea, painful aching in the joints, teeth loosening and falling out, and hair loss. He has had to endure many kinds of secondary infections as well, which have caused high fevers, terrible cramps, hideous rashes, bizarre painful swellings that look like acromegaly, temporary blindness, and flu-like symptoms worse than any flu you've ever put up with under normal circumstances.
He has also undergone radical experimental treatment -- allowing himself to be used as a human guinea pig in two far off locations -- and also radical surgery which they told him he had only a fifty-fifty chance of surviving.
The bravest person I have known -- or could ever hope to know -- by far!
At any rate, after ALL THAT, he was just told today -- very abruptly -- that his insurance company, Humana, which is one of the biggest and best -- will not pay for any further treatments, because HE HAS USED UP HIS LIFETIME LIMIT of WHAT THE BASTARDS WILL PAY.
In six years his treatments have cost ONE MILLION DOLLARS.
So now, unless a miracle occurs, he will simply be abandoned by the system and left to die.
So, yes, Virginia, Death Panels have been in place all along -- and always will be. Don't kid yourself, Virginia. The BOGEYMAN is REAL -- and some day he's gonna GETCHA.
And yet Marxist maniacs think this is NOT going to continue happening -- EXPONENTIALLY -- once the GOVERNMENT has full control of the Medical Industry?
DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH!!!
If ever a person deserved every chance to live it's this guy. He has six children, and his fondest wish is to be able to see them grow up and become happy, independent adults.
AIN'T LIFE A BITCH – sometimes?
~ FreeThinke, who is furious with impotent rage
A Ducky would waddle in here and quack that this is the current system Obama is trying to replace.
ReplyDeleteThere is a simple fix for this (too late for you friend): Government simply says that insurance companies may not drop you if you are paying premiums.
Such a law would make all premiums go up, but there is no free lunch.
On the other side, insurance costs would go down if we used it for what its purpose really is: to pay for unforeseen circumstances, not routine doctor visits
" ... insurance costs would go down if we used it for what its purpose really is: to pay for unforeseen circumstances, not routine doctor visits ..."
ReplyDeleteAB-SO-LUTE-LY!
What you're saying, of course, is we should aim for MAJOR MEDICAL coverage for CATASTROPHIC ILLNESS ONLY, and insist that patients pay out of pocket to tend to their own hangnails, colds, coughs, sore throats, diaper rash, and fever blisters, etc.
Despite being a mean old conservative curmudgeon, I would even go so far as to say that patients should pay on a generously tilted sliding scale.
After all, if you have nothing, you can't pay anything, but little kids, and their parents can't be left to suffer unattended. That's barbaric in a society as rich as ours.
There MUST be a way.
Apparently, Obamacare really DOES address the issue of lifetime benefit limits, so maybe it's not so bad after all.
I just wonder who the hell is going to PAY for all this? WHERE will the MONEY COME FROM?
"The EVIL RICH" don't have anywhere near enough, even if we took every penny they have way from them to give to the needy.
Even so, when it's personal, and you have a lot of respect for the patent-victim, the idea of just casting him to the wolves so the insurance can pay for other people's HANGNAILS or whatever really frosts my keister. The man is 47. Too young to die.
As far as I'm concerned the far gone Alzheimer's patients, the insane, and the living human vegetables should be gently-but-firmly eased out of this world -- but let's save that discussion for another thread at another time.
Thanks for stopping by, Kurt. Always glad to get input from you.
Funny! I'm surprised Canardo didn't jump all over his -- but give him time. ;-)
See ya!
~ FT
Very unfortunate for your friend FT...
ReplyDeleteThe aim of the HC bill is to put private insurers out of business and therefore put the government in its place. Which net means, re-routing all that money through DC. It was the only thing they were ever interested in.
Then you'll have to see the equivalent of an incompetent TSA agent before getting denied HC.
If your friend lived in England, Canada, France, or any number of other "Marxist" countries he would still be getting care in a medical system that works.
ReplyDeleteFT, sorry to hear about your friend. We seem to be in agreement, I can recall when 'insurance' was for 'hospitals' and not doctor visits, which one paid for in cash.
ReplyDeleteMr. Charleston, you really believe that? Hmmm, wonder how that's working out in Greece.
Cheers!
I said the following about this topic at my site in a comment to one of your comments, FT:
ReplyDeleteOne does not have to reach the limits of coverage to have services stopped by a health insurance company.
I will now relate the reality that Mr. AOW and I discovered with no hyperbole whatsoever....
Mr. AOW's health insurance plan (contracted June 1, 2009, his stroke occurring on September 15, 2009) offered 60 days of rehab in the hospital. I believe that this level of care was called "sub acute."
About 10 days into the rehab, I was informed by the head of the rehab unit that termination of rehab was nigh. I protested, of course. I could see that he was making significant progress (won't go into the graphic details at this time). Too bad! He wasn't meeting particular benchmarks -- never mind that those benchmarks were unrealistic for a thalamic hemorrhage the size of a plum. The head honcho said to me (I'll never forget the words!), "We never keep patients more than three weeks."
The unit did have empty beds, so the issue was not one of needing space.
Anyway, out the door he went within about two weeks of admission. Anybody could see that he couldn't come home in that condition: incontinent, no sense of balance on all four sides, mental confusion, pureed food required because of swallowing issues, etc.; he could communicate with no problem at that point. The hospital tried to force us onto Medicaid. I balked, and Mr. AOW went to an exceptionally nice "skilled care facility," one with rehab and a facility exactly 1 miles from the door of our home.
He was in the skilled nursing facility for 10 weeks and clearly would have been able to return home (with caregiving support, of course) within 8 weeks of his admission to the sub acute facility.
I took Mr. AOW out of the skilled nursing facility at the 10-week mark, but he could have come home from there at the 8 week mark.
I have no doubt that he would have made enough progress in 60 days in the sub acute facility to have returned directly home from there or, at worst, with only two weeks in the nursing home. He would have made more progress in the hosptial as he was getting 3 hours a day/7 days a week of therapy there but only one half to one hour of therapy a day 6 days a week at the nursing home.
As I mentioned above, Mr. AOW had a new policy. He was nowhere near having exceeded the policy limitation that you referred to in your comment.
Today, Mr. AOW, pronounced compos mentis about 1.5 years after the stroke, can ride the paratransit system alone, manage his credit card, use the phone, etc., etc. Yes, his limitations are severe: hospital bed in the living room with bedside potty. HOWEVER, the cognizance is there, and he is making progress physically -- albeit at a snail's pace. We may well be approaching the day when I can rent a handicapped-equipped van and take a short road trip for a vacation (Charlestown races?). We make museum trips all the time.
Back to the health insurance industry....Although we had a few bad moments with Blue Cross, overall the company was most cooperative. In fact, they extended home therapy well beyond the normal policy limits and did the same for outpatient therapy. At the one-year mark, they terminated all therapy. However, now that Medicare is on board, Mr. AOW should be receiving another round of therapy very shortly for a short period of time.
Sorry for the long comment, but it does pertain to this blog post.
FT,
ReplyDeletewe should aim for MAJOR MEDICAL coverage for CATASTROPHIC ILLNESS ONLY, and insist that patients pay out of pocket to tend to their own hangnails, colds, coughs, sore throats, diaper rash, and fever blisters, etc.
Hear, hear!
It used to be that we DID have such policies! I recall when "major medical" came along; from that point on, the cost of premiums took off.
Thanks Kid, and Finntann for your understanding.
ReplyDeleteYes we three are in agreement all the way 'round.
Sooner or later we all have to come to terms with our mortality, but it's especially poignant when it happens to someone who is raising six children and has barely entered his forties.
I doubt if there is enough money in the world to render everyone -- or anyone -- completely safe from all manner of disease or the consequences of accidents and natural disasters.
I know people in Britain, Mr. Charleston, who have told me quite frankly that once one reaches a certain age the advanced, comprehensive treatments and surgical procedures we have in the USA are simply "not available." The British government doesn't put it quite this way, of course, but the fact is they want you to die before you start costing the system too much money.
Sad as it may be, MONEY always seems to sit on the bottom line.
~ FreeThinke
Thank you, AOW. People who have been "on the front lines," as you -- and I -- have been for protracted periods of time are the only ones truly qualified to make comments evaluating the effectiveness -- and the degree of compassion and common sense -- shown by The System.
ReplyDeleteThe academics, statisticians, and "theoreticians" who vainly imagine they have the knowledge and wisdom necessary to run our lives "by remote control" should be taken out and horsewhipped for their lack of common sense and common decency.
Nevertheless, when all is said and done MONEY will -- as I just said above -- will be sneering, thumbing its nose and giving us the horse laugh when we arrive at The Bottom Line.
Marxism-Socialism-Liberalism-Progressivism -- whatever you choose to call it –– they're all COLLECTIVIST systems, run by CENTRAL COMMAND at root –– disparage and put tremendous impediments in the path of wealth creation. Unless a society is constantly increasing its aggregate wealth, it will NEVER be able to sustain these overly-ambitious, burdensome, limiting, freedom-denying programs.
I shudder to think where we are in all likelihood heading in the no-too-distant future.
Most advocates of government interventionism either don't know, have conveniently forgotten -- or simply choose to DENY that Government Regulations do more to Drive Up Costs -- all across the board -- than the much-vaunted "greed" of business executives.
~ FreeThinke
blogginator said...
ReplyDeleteI am sorry to hear about your friend.
The current system with all of its failures allows for something that is crucial and why the survival rate in America is higher than most Socialist countries (Concorde study-UK). Experimentation on a large popultaion. This sounds cruel but it is why we lead the large in cancer research and development and why Freethinke's friend was able to live this long. Again, this sounds ort of cruel but many get to live longer and that information helps countless others. When the government runs things, that research will come to an end. It will be like socialist countries where the economic value of person is guaged and treatment refused for thousands. The result will not be shortened life expetancies for those persons but also a halt to research and development of cancer treatment. Just one of the other benefits of obamacare. Oh dont worry, the rich will still get treatment because as is the case in most socialist countries the rich can buy the best and brightest minds. It will be like our education system. The rich pay for tutors and private schools while the unshowered masses are left with government run schools....
Again my prayers to you Freethinke and your friend.
July 10, 2012 3:30:00 PM EDT
Thank you, blogginator,
ReplyDeleteI hope you don't mind my lifting your post that you had made to almost identical remarks I had posted at AOW's blog?
I appreciate what you wrote very much, and wanted to make sure it was put n record here.
Hope you'll appear here "in person" one day very soon.
Thanks again for your kind thoughts and good insight.
~ FreeThinke
JUST IN
ReplyDeleteA LETTER FROM MY (REPUBLICAN) CONGRESSMAN
Dear, __________
Moments ago, I voted to repeal President Obama’s $1 trillion government takeover of health care. The measure passed the House by a 244 to 185 vote, but unfortunately is not expected to pass the Democrat-controlled U.S. Senate.
Nonetheless, it was important for the people’s House to go on record in opposition to this “government-knows-best” approach to health care. Doctors and patients should be the ones making decisions about health care – not Washington bureaucrats. In fact, a recent survey found that 83% of doctors have considered leaving their profession as a result of ObamaCare.
With a struggling economy, the last thing Americans need is skyrocketing health insurance premiums and a nearly trillion-dollar tax increase. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has stated that ObamaCare will result in the loss of 800,000 jobs. With the national unemployment rate still hovering above 8%, this is the wrong prescription for our ailing economy.
We need to fully repeal ObamaCare once and for all, and replace it with common-sense solutions that will help lower health care costs and make health insurance more affordable to all Americans.
Please let me know what you think.
Submitted by FreeThinke
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