Health insurance, anyone?

Where do I begin? I'm from the US, so I only know here. I'm still paying health care debts from my cervical cancer because I didn't have insurance and the public medicaid I applied for didn't cover the Anastesiologists bill, nor the surgeons bill. Currently we pay around 600 a month in premiums for medical/dental/vision out of my husband's check and that doesn't include the deductable that we have to meet each year plus copays. Copays, prescriptions, etc don't count towards deductables so needless to say I'm heavy medical debt! It irks me that we pay so much for so little coverage. We had one lady what was going to deny us service because we couldn't pay the copay. It's just sick in the US. We're covered but under covered if that makes sense. Our daughter is having surgery next month and we don't even know how we're going to pay that off. Most of the time my husband and I dont' even go in for checkups because we can't afford them. Dental is just a joke. They don't cover anything except a once a year filling. They get away with this by making sure all of your normal fillings are written up at the higher end so they aren't covered at the 100%. Supposedly according to paperwork the day to day fillings are to be covered 100%, but every time I've gone in they have said I needed much more work done and charged me the higher rate that ws only covered by 50%. So, this year I just haven't gone in even though I need work. That's the other crap. I've spent over 5 grand on my mouth in the last 5 years, and still need work done. The one rootcanal and crown I had, the crown fell off but they want to charge me full price to replaceit! Shoddy work if you ask me. Oh I get so irrate over insurance, medical community, and such. Anora

I saw this on IFC the other day and was just sick over it. I'm ready to move to Canada! I am lucky to be insured through my husband, but would have a lot fewer options available to me if we relied on my insurance. I was laid off recently and don't know what we would do if we did not have the insurance. The film makes a good point that employer based health insurance keeps workers in line. You will put up with poor treatment at work if that is the only way to stay insured.

I just ran across this discussion and it's an interesting one. I live in the U.S. and find it remarkable that we are still the only industrialized nation that does not have national health coverage. With any system there will be problems and explotation of one kind or another, but medical bills in the U.S. are literally wiping out people financially and the cost of even simple procedures are absolutely beyond belief. My great niece, four years old, just had to have a small biopsy done to rule out a tumor. The cost of the biopsy, just the biopsy and not the other treatments, was close to $25,000. That is ludicrous. We have health insurance only through my husband's employment, so I'm thankful for that, but it always a major struggle to get them to pay what they're supposed to pay whenever there is a medical crisis. Last year I fell and had to have surgery on my arm and this was a new one.. once we finally got the insurance to pay what they were supposed to cover, our insurance company's legal department started sending me forms that they demanded I fill out because they said it was my responsbility to help them find someone to sue so that they could recoup the medical bills they had covered for my surgery. There wasn't anyone to sue, it was just an accident. Still, they only let up when my husband finally called them and told them what they were doing was bordering on harrassment (it was) and if they didn't stop we would think about suing them. Then they stopped ,but only then. I mean, we pay them a huge amount of his paycheck so they will cover the medical bills..and they're telling me I have to help them find someone else to sue so they won't have to cover them? Makes no sense. Then just today I got a copy of a letter my insurance company sent to my doctor's office. The letter basically said they were denying a claim, some $399, for a 30 minute office visit last November. Why? Because the doctor's office did not send in all the paperwork in the time the insurance company requested, so the insurnace company now considers the claim denied. So I called my doctor's office and they basically said yes, they messed up so they would appeal it to the insurance company and try to get them to pay the $399 owed. However, the clerk said, even though it was the doctor's office's fault that this claim was not covered, if they had done the paperwork right it would have been paid with no problem via my insurance, the clerk at the doctor's office told me if the insurance doesn't pay this claim, which would have been covered if they had not messed up at the doctor's office, then I will be held responsible for this bill. What???? And why on earth should a simple office visit cost $399? After all, I'm rarely able to actually see the doctor. I think I've seen her twice in the whole time I've been going there. Most of the time they just give me appointments with the physician's assistant, who is good, but $399 for a 30 minute visit? Medical costs in the U.S. are just beyond the pale now.

Our company provides free health insurance, thankfully! We can also add another dependent but we need to pay a certain amount for them to avail the benefit. Meanwhile, there are other companies who offer free health insurance to the immediate family members as well. So far, I am satisfied with the health care company that my employee has chosen.