Where Do I Fit (in the Healthcare Debate)?

I was raised with the knowledge that health care was important.  That you should never go without health insurance because of "what if".  In my early 20's I had a part time job with no health benefits.  I paid $50 a month on a Blue Cross Plan with a huge deductible.  I just  wanted coverage in case I was in a bad accident.  I later went on to get a job with benefits and this continued into my marriage to Jeremy.

When I was 5 months pregnant with Emily I quit my job and received my health care coverage through Jeremy's employer.  By the time we were trying to conceive Audrey Jeremy's work situation had changed and we were paying $1400 a month to COBRA in the event that I would get pregnant.  We then were faced with infertility issues and began seeing a specialist.  95% of the care I received from my fertility doctor were NOT covered by the insurance we were receiving through COBRA.  On top of the $1400 a month we were paying to COBRA we were spending an average of $500+ a month in procedures to find the cause and treat our infertility issues.  We couldn't drop COBRA because Emily was already dealing with many issues that would have come up as "pre-existing conditions" if we tried to get private health insurance.  At this point my infertility issues were also in that category.

By the time I became pregnant with Molly, Jeremy was working at a company that offered health insurance.  My prenatal care and Molly's birth were covered by this insurance.

When Molly was 5 months, Jeremy's work situation changed again and we were once again covered by COBRA at the cost of $1800 a month.  NONE of Emily's health care issues were covered by insurance so we had an average of about $200 a month to add to our COBRA payment.

COBRA became too expensive.  Something had to give.  We applied for private insurance.  Jeremy, Audrey and Molly were accepted.  I was denied due to "fertility issues".  Emily was denied due to "Plagiocephaly, gross motor skill delays, and mental health issues"  Keep in mind, the plan we applied for did NOT include any sort of maternity nor did we want coverage for mental health, and Emily's physical delays were already resolved.

We are more than willing to pay a reasonable price for health care insurance.  I am more than willing and HAVE paid out of pocket for medical care.  Including, my recent foot surgery, all of Emily's mental health appointments. 

Where do I go to get coverage for a serious health situation?  Where do I fit in the Health Care debates?

I hear a lot of arguments about people who don't want insurance, don't want to pay their own way, milking the system.  What about people like me who WANT to pay my way but my hands are tied due to a decision made by the insurance industry?

Comments

[Lu ~ @masmom]

Wow, SO frustrating and maddening. My SIL has private insurance b/c she is single and we have a small family business. You know that they won't cover her asthma meds b/c it is pre-existing. She was BORN with it, so no kidding. It is UN-REAL what these companies get away with. I really don't know what a good solution is, but I do know companies like that should be regulated.

[Jennifer Allynn]

Wow, this is great. Seriously, one of the major newspapers should reprint it. You hit the nail on the head, exactly. Can I please reprint it? I've been putting a post together in my own head about the healthcare debate, and would love to quote it. We are in a very similar boat to yours. Again, thanks for posting this...it's great.

[Lisa]

Thank you, thank you, thank you for putting such a personal spin on the argument for health care/health insurance reform. The simple fact of the matter is that we need a system that will cover people that share your set of circumstances. We have "good" health insurance through my husband's employer but we pay a big premium and then co-pays for meds, docs visits (with a 200% increase in cost to us in the past four years), and a percentage of most procedures. Rarely do we know what our share of the cost is going to be until AFTER the procedure - great for budget planning, huh? We have no dental coverage, no vision coverage and very limited mental health coverage. There was no coverage at all for Brayden's speech therapy. Is it better than having no insurance? Absolutely. But every year our premium and co-pays go up but our benefits and services are reduced.

I hope our elected officials find a place for you in health care reform. You sound like the perfect candidate for a public option (and no, this is not socialized medicine!).

[Tanya]

Great post!

[Angella]

Oh, wow.

Here, in Canada, we pay a family rate of $108 a month. Every. Single. Person. In. Canada. is under the plan (It's the law) and your premiums are reduced all the way down to NOTHING if you make little or no income.

Every Doctor's appointment, baby delivery, anything NON-ELECTIVE is covered.

And if you have fertility issues? Your family doctor writes you a referral and all of the tests/procedures/etc. ARE COVERED.

I could go on and on...I just don't see how anyone can argue that universal health care is a bad thing.