Attempted Murder Or Just Business As Usual?
Love, love, love the fact that people against the public option worry so much about rationing, but not so much about stories like these:
Via HuffPo: Rather than continue to pay for Ian Pearl’s million dollar medical treatments, one insurance company has decided to end certain lines of coverage altogether, reports William Ehart of the Washington Times. Pearl, 37, suffers from Type II spinal muscular dystrophy, and has been using a wheel chair and connected to a breathing tube for most of his life. Patients with his type of muscular dystrophy rarely live past infancy, but Peal credits his vitality to the care he has received all his life.
On December 1 his insurer, Guardian, is discontinuing a portion of its coverage, which will effectively kill him. Without his extensive coverage Pearl will be admitted to a state hospital under Medicaid, with less treatment. Pearl’s mother said that in a state hospital her son would be lucky to live more than a few weeks. Pearl’s plan, as of now, covers 24-hour home nursing, which Medicaid, and the vast majority of plans, do not.
“This is attempted murder” said his father, Warren, “the insurance companies are cheating in order to have obscene profits.”
Seriously, why isn’t this against the law? Isn’t the insurance business based on risk? Apparently not. The deck is rigged in their favor at all times, and their tactics are amoral and disgusting. Ooh, we lost the bet on Pearl, guess we just take his cards and kick him out of the game rather than pay our losses. Hell, insurance companies don’t even play the odds. They’re like a seven year old who calls “time out” right before getting tagged. And, not only is Guardian screwing over Pearl, they’re screwing over everyone else in the state who relies on this service.
And, then there’s this big fella.
By the numbers, Alex is in the 99th percentile for height and weight for babies his age. Insurers don’t take babies above the 95th percentile, no matter how healthy they are otherwise.
“I could understand if we could control what he’s eating. But he’s 4 months old. He’s breast-feeding. We can’t put him on the Atkins diet or on a treadmill,” joked his frustrated father, Bernie Lange, a part-time news anchor at KKCO-TV in Grand Junction. “There is just something absurd about denying an infant.”
Bernie and Kelli Lange tried to get insurance for their growing family with Rocky Mountain Health Plans when their current insurer raised their rates 40 percent after Alex was born. They filled out the paperwork and awaited approval, figuring their family is young and healthy. But the broker who was helping them find new insurance called Thursday with news that shocked them.
” ‘Your baby is too fat,’ she told me,” Bernie said.
Simply amazing. And Republicans claim that the public option will come between you and your doctor. Hello? So already happening… on a daily basis. Funny, how a three card monte tables get shut down while insurance companies run the same scam.
Update: Score one for baby Alex! He’s covered! (Thanks, MJ)
Tags: Health Insurance Reform
I can’t wait until we get healthcare reform and no longer have to read these stories. Right now we only have bad publicity to get companies to change their ways. That’s a lousy way to do it since only some stories get attention.
And Stephen Hawking is alive and well, thanks to the British National Health Service.
I love how the insurance companies whine that if we regulate away all these practices, their profits will go down. Well, YES! That’s like a pharmacist complaining that he won’t make as much if he can’t sell extra Oxy in the alley out back. If you can’t make a profit without resorting to dubious, immoral, or illegal tactics, then maybe it’s time to rethink your business model. If you still can’t make enough of a profit, then move the hell out of the way and we’ll take single-payer. Nowhere does it state that insurance companies have the God-given right to obscene profits, especially when it comes at the expense of our lives.
(OK, Scott — in with the happy air, out with the mad air) Better now.
Hey, I feel better, too! Thanks! 🙂
The insurance company in CO backed down and insured young Alex. They even changed their in-house underwriting to delete baby weight when considering selling a policy.
Thanks, MJ. I’ll add a link in the post.