Health Insurance

Sooo.. another post about health insurance..

I work for a very large corporation, and one of the benefits of that is supposed to be having a good health insurance plan. Up until this year, it's been pretty good. My in-network costs were $15 for an office visit and $5 for a prescription. That's not bad.

The company I work for is trying to "save money", which of course means "increase profits" by changing our health plan. They call this plan an "employee controlled" plan. The idea is that if an employee uses health care services less, they save money. If they use them more, it costs more money. They want to "reduce health care costs" - by providing a financial disincentive to seek out medical care.

That's just so typical of the way that the rich and powerful re-frame the terms of the issue to make it sound like it's good for you. However, in this case, by giving people incentive to NOT get medical care, that's actually really fucking harmful to their well being.

So.. the specifics. Now I have a $1000 deductible, and instead of a co-pay, I have co-insurance. The co-insurance rate is 20% of the "allowed amount" for a particular service. So, if a doctor visit costs $150, and the contracted allowed amount is $100, the insurance pays $80 and I pay $20. I'm not sure how much the real allowed amounts are because I've always just had a co-pay before. Ultimately, the more I go to the doctor, the more it's going to cost me.. which of course sucks.

But wait.. there's more.. prescription drugs.

I'm on Advair, monthly. It used to cost me $40 a month because it's a specialized drug. I got the prescription refilled yesterday, and it cost me $182 because the entire cost of the drug was applied to the $1000 deductible.

To complicate things a bit more.. the company has put $500 in the prescription account to offset the cost. Basically, 3 months uses up that $500, and then 3 more months at $182 each before I hit the deductible limit. Then, I don't even know how much insurance will pay for after the deductible is met.

Then.. there is this.. "In Network Annual Share of Amount Remaining (Coinsurance)" of $1500, and I have no idea what that even means. I've worked in health care financials for many years, and I can't make sense of my own health insurance plan. I think that's by design.

Finally.. that $182 Advair script can be purchased (and I'm talking the name-brand, exactly the same thing drug) from an Indian pharmacy for $35.

So.. to sum up. I work for MegaCorp. I have what is considered to be "very good" health insurance by American standards. I can buy the prescription drug I need for less by purchasing it from over-seas and having it shipped, even though I "pay" for insurance coverage. I can buy an entire year's worth if I want. I don't have to have a prescription either. However, the United States Government says it would be illegal for me to do so.

When my annual salary increase comes around, I'm going to demand more money to offset this additional cost the company has put on the employees. I'm lucky to I can do this.. and I guess lucky I even have health insurance at all.

What if I had no insurance.. and I needed that drug to be able to breath.. at $182 a month.. just for one fucking drug. Ya, I could manage it.. but there must be millions that can't... and while America spends billions on killing a million people in Iraq, we don't even take care of our own. It's a fucking disgrace.

And.. idiots like Douglas V. Gibbs think's we have the greatest health care system in the world. Other idiots think for-profit insurance companies are good for us.

Fucking morons, is all that's left to say.