Good morning everyone! Wow, what a great response to our daily discussion topic of the day yesterday! I hear you ladies and I feel you ladies! Medicine is definitely going down a slippery slope these days and it is a slope that I am not enjoying. I think most Americans see that there are BIG problems going on!
Today’s Topic: My vent today is about all of those health insurance companies out there that take patients lives and health on a wild ride for the sake of the almighty dollar. I am chronically ill and have been so since I was 17 months old. I have dealt with a wide variety of health insurance companies all of my life! Heck, I even worked for one briefly back in the early 1990’s and hated it.
My vent’s about those health insurance companies:
1. Please quit telling my doctor what to prescribe for me, how much to prescribe of it and for how long!!! Your stinking butt didn’t go to medical school and YOU do NOT know what is best for my care!!!
2. Quit harassing my doctor when she hospitalizes me for my health problems. She knows when I need to be admitted and when I need to be discharged. Sorry Charlie, not everyone can go in and out of a hospital within 3 damn days! Some of us have serious problems that require lengthy stays and YOU need to BACK OFF! No one wants to be there longer than they need to be!
3. I am sick and tired of you pre-approving me for such and such test or treatment. Then when I have it done…you deny coverage or pay very little of it. What is that all about? If you pre-approve it, PAY THE DAMN BILL and do so timely!!!
4. Why is it when I call into the health insurance company that I know more about health insurance and the laws that govern it than your dang employee who is answering the phone? How can they help me when I know more about it than they do? Really? How about TRAINING them!!!
5. I don’t set the prices that the hospital charges! If they charge you $15 for that box of tissues sitting beside my bed, PAY IT! I am tired of you all socking me with “non-covered” fees or deny paying for something because YOU ALL think it was over-charged. Sorry Charlie, I don’t set the prices. If my policy says my inpatient stay is covered at 100% or 80%…that is what I freaking expect!
6. I would like to speak to someone who speaks CLEAR English when I call into your facility for help. I am tired of being put on hold and listening to elevator music for 2 hours while someone looks something up and then can’t explain it to me in ENGLISH.
7. Don’t tell me I need to take vitamins, chill out, take a nap or a walk around the block. Excuse me…but are you living with this pain? I think not!
What kind of “vents” do you have regarding health insurance companies?
Dont even get me started with the health insurance companies. I was injusred last year AT THE HOSPITAL and broke my hand. They sent me home w/o xraays while my husband was insisting my hand was broken. I was so out of it I couldnt honestly feel it but the next day I went into emergency and was indeed broken and badly. They fought with me and my insurance wanting my insirance to pay the bills. I think not. Youre right , there comes a time to fight.
And this national health insurance is a joke.
OMG yes! Especially #4 and 6! Grrr!!!!
Brandi what I really love is this…
When the rep on the phone tries to tell me that this is their job, that they know what they are talking about and that I am just a “consumer”. Oh…that burns me up! I then let lose on them letting them know that I am an ex-nurse and that I also worked for an insurance company. I have a LOT MORE experience with this than that rep does. That usually shuts them up pretty quickly.
Amen again! I was nodding when I read this post just like yesterdays great post. SPEAK ENGLISH CLEARLY!!!!! Sometimes I just hang up and call the insurance company back until I get someone that I can understand and who doesn’t make me crazy! I am on a new insurance and just last week I went to pick up a prescription at the pharmacy, which was supposed to be covered at 100%. When I get there they tell me at the pharmacy that it is not covered at all!!!! I thought I was going to totally Nut Up!! I had to go home call the insurance company and have it out with them, call my doctor’s office, call the pharmacy again, go back the next day and wait in line forever to finally pick it up then they couldn’t find it. In the end it was covered at 100%. Boy tomorrow you should do a post on Pharmacies I could rant about those for a long time.
I have a surgery coming up and I am not looking forward to the pain and then having to deal with the insurance company. Thank you for these kinds of posts. It is nice to read about your experiences as well as the other comments. It makes me feel like I am not along out here and that people all over the country are fed up with the current system.
Have a great day everyone and stay healthy. Congratulations to the winners.
Oh I have some pharmacy horror stories to tell too! I will hit up on that topic next week. The medical system is a royal mess & if anyone thinks it is going to get better…think again!
Here’s another one: In order to be reimbursed for services, even small medical practices have to have several billing specialists on staff to submit and follow up on all the paperwork required by the insurance companies. This means that the practices have to cover a lot of overhead, which is reflected in their bills. What a vicious circle!
Totally agree! I couldn’t afford to practice medicine…the malpractice insurance and overhead is ridiculous! This is part of the problem with docs all going into large group settings and NO ONE getting personalized care anymore. I hate large group practices!
I am so sorry for all your problems with them, but I understand. It’s sad, maddening, and sickening to think that people already going through so much have to deal with and stress over health insurance issues. We fight and fight and get no where. If you do get to finally speak to someone, you are never talking to the right person or they can’t help you. I don’t understand why some things are charged one way to the health insurance and another if you don’t have insurance. The coding, price changes, them saying what you can or can’t have would make even a well person sick.
I read through each word of your justified rant (!) and totally agreed, especially with the part about denying a pre-approved treatment. With more in the system, it should be a challenge. Then I read that I won the Axel DVD and felt a little better! Thank you for brightening my day!
I am just so tired of it Deb. I have been fighting insurance companies since I was 18 years old and out of the house. It is completely exhausting me! Whatever our policy states is covered…then it should be and it should be done so FULLY. There shouldn’t be freaking loop holes! Once something has been pre-approved…that should be it. They shouldn’t be able to deny a dang thing after that.
I do have a piece of legal advice for all of you. If your medical insurance company doesn’t pay something and it gets turned into collections…don’t pay it! Fight it! Once you pay it to get it out of collections, they can use a loop hole against you stating YOU assumed responsibility for it by paying it before they did it. Always FIGHT IT!!!
Jo-Ann,
I am just sick of it! I have $32,000+ in medical bills right now NOT being paid my the health insurance company! I am fed up! We pay HIGH premiums for our insurance and have a top-notch policy but thee fools are finding loop-holes to NOT pay and to stick it to me. Tired of it. I will fight them tooth and nail over this and will take their butts to court if they don’t pay up.
Last year I had to fight them for 3 months to get my hip replacement. They said I was “too young” and they don’t cover them on 40 year olds. WTH? I fought them on that, got my new hip (after their pre-approval) and now they don’t want to pay what they are supposed to pay! UGH
Congratulations to the 2 winners.
Wow. You really vented again and I agree with every statement. Health insurance companies have too much say in what medicine is being prescribed. Some doctors are afraid to prescribe more than a certain amount because they will be audited (Yes a doctor said this to my husband) – even thought the drug can be completely justified by the condition.