Dr. Borah's Chiroblog

Healthcare Has Changed Right Under Your Nose!

Remember the promises?  How wonderful things would be if the healthcare reform passed – how it would benefit everyone – how it was a win-win solution?  Oh yeah, and we were all supposed to get the same healthcare as Obama, right?  Well, wake up America!  Healthcare has changed right under our noses, and we’re all left scratching our heads and wondering just how it all happened.

Last week, in the news, a cancer patient, Ronald Flanagan, was dropped by his insurance company over a balance due of 2 cents!

Insurance companies were supposed to be held to a higher standard of accountability, business owners were supposed to get a break if they covered more employees, and weren’t rates supposed to go down?  Did yours?  Ours actually increased 46%, and we received a letter stating that our plan was “grandfathered” so we weren’t eligible for the new preventive care coverage.  Blue Shield led the way by promising a 59% rate increase to individual policyholders.  Almost all our patients’ deductibles were increased, as well as their co-insurance, and, surprise, their coverage was often reduced.  Now, patients with pre-existing conditions can get insured, but at what cost?  Triple, and who can afford that???  And on top of it, the reform mandates that people purchase insurance even when they can’t afford it.

So, how did insurance companies fare so far with the reform?  Were they forced to be accountable?  Were they forced to lower their premiums?  Were they really forced to, now, include preventive care?  Hardly!  A “preventive” colonoscopy automatically turns into a “diagnostic” procedure with one little snip.  And then, it’s no longer considered preventive and is subject to your deductible.

Insurance companies don’t have to care about the policyholders.  They are out to make a profit.  They can deny you, delay benefits, drop you, dictate which doctor to use, make your deductible higher by ambiguities in your policy, and basically make you jump through hoops just to get your routine healthcare.   You are just a number to them, and they aim to keep you just well enough to make the next premium payment, nothing more.

And maybe we’re feeling a bit more antagonistic right now because a close relative of ours was just denied necessary surgery by a major insurance company after learning that her breast implant had ruptured and was leaking silicone.  They called it “elective.”

What are your stories?  How do you feel about the current status of healthcare in America?  Please leave us your comments on our blog!