Have you seen this movie yet? Go see it. It will open your eyes... and make you want to move to another country. It pissed me off and it's not some kind of propoganda, cultish, manipulative movie, it's just simple and horrifyingly factual.
Through the years it provided me with great coverage (even though I was paying some pretty costly premiums seeing that I was doing this individually and not through my job). When I moved to Chicago, I assumed that I wouldn't be able to be covered by blue cross... of MINNESOTA, and when I looked into how much it would cost to be covered by Blue Cross... of ILLINOIS, it shocked me. You see since being with the MINNESOTA branch, I had been diagnosed with Adult Attention Deficit Disorder. Quite truly once diagnosed and once taking medication for it, I was happy that treatment was working. I went to a therapist, took Ritalin, all covered by insurance. Fortunatley when coming to Illinois (returning that is) I found out that ofcourse, I could continue my coverage with Blue Cross of MINNESOTA. Phew! So life went on, I tried other treatments for ADD (still am) and segued from ritalin to Lexapro and now am on Wellbutrin (which seems to be the one working the best). All covered by my insurance, all was well with my world.
However, let's look into ADD and this is not an excuse or a cop out, it is truly a very real situation. I get scattered, as I am getting older I am getting more and more scattered and am learning how to cope with it. Being scattered, I found it difficult to keep track of my bill payments across the board. One of the bills I missed paying, was my premium for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota. Through the years, I had always paid my premium, on time... ahead of time... but with various insurance payments some of them monthly, some of them quarterly, it started to confuse me. Also my various methods of payment, via check through mail, via billpay through my bank which I was at that time just getting used to, with all of these things adding up and I am trying to adjust and maintain it all, I slipped up and forgot to pay my premium for Blue Cross. I thought that because of my history, I could call them and have it taken care of, pay the tardy payment and move on. But no. I was dumped from Blue Cross... terminated. Done. Nothing to be done. AND because of my now previously existing medical condition, denied being able to re-apply for insurance.
So, because of what I was being insured for and because this condition played part in my missing a payment, I am punished, kicked off the island... left out to sea with NO health insurance.
I did manage to obtain another agency, Assurant Health Insurance.
Not as good as before, but atleast I am insured.
The unfortunate part is that blue cross is now refusing to pay for therapy I have had in the past months (some of those months when I was still with them. So I owe more than $1400. Also, there is dispute about some preventative treatment I had removing some moles... which for the doctor doing the job, a cash cow. I had the treatment done when I was still covered by Blue Cross but according to them my payments were retro-active and not paying for the months ahead of my payment. I was paying quarterly and so the time I had assumed I was paying for coverage was actually the previous four months. This still doesn't make much sense to me.
I know, it's not THAT much money, but it is still alot to have to pay for what should be FREE.
SO anyway, Adult Attention Deficit aside (with a huge emphasis on deficit) I TOO have been screwed by our health care system.
On a related note, after being dumped by BCBS, I was worried about filling my prescriptions. Well, I joined assurant and assumed now, my monthly seven dollar payments for my medication would go unchanged. I went to pick up my prescription. $150. What? That is a wee bit more than SEVEN.
I bit the bullet and paid it. Then later when I had to refill and after looking into TARGET to be my new pharmacist, it was only $15 dollars. Sure, twice as much as seven but much less than 150. I asked about the price difference. It was because I was now purchasing GENERIC. I had always assumed before when I was paying seven dollars, it was generic. When I had trusted CVS to refill my prescription as always and before, I assumed they were looking into my best interest and even when I was obviously shocked by the $150, they didn't blink. They didn't even remind me or offer me a generic alternative. Which I think they should have.
So CVS owes me $135.
When I think about how much of my money went to premiums for Blue Creeps Blue Assholes, the thousands and thousands of dollars paid to them over the years, to have been just dumped like that was unbelievable. And then to be denied returning to them, the very company that had MY money in their bank. And to have to pay through the nose for prescriptions when you are getting medication for a condition that makes you scattered and confused and perhaps unable to remember to ASK about generic... it just makes me, well, SICK...
And that is EXACTLY what they want because with the added stress of all this burdening me, perhaps I will need MORE medication that they can bank off of. I opt for herbal tea.
Go see “Sicko” and start thinking about your own coverage and your own story.
Note: From reading this entry, is it not obvious that I have ADD? Re-reading, I was going to correct my several run on sentences but thought to illustrate my condition, keep it as is. Or as ani defranco would say, “as is as is as is as is...”
“Sicko” is not a fine-grained analysis of policy alternatives. (You can find some of those in a recently published book called “Sick,” by Jonathan Cohn, and also in the wonkier precincts of the political blogosphere.) This film presents, instead, a simple compare-and-contrast exercise. Here is our way, and here is another way, variously applied in Canada, France, Britain and yes, Cuba. The salient difference is that, in those countries, where much of the second half of “Sicko” takes place, the state provides free medical care.” - A. O. SCOTT (for the New York Times)I have been having problems of late with MY insurance provider (actually now, my former insurance provider, blue cross blue shield of minnesota). I obtained this insurance when I was in “Forever Plaid” years ago. It was part of my benefits package through actors equity. But when the show closed and I was unemployed, happy with blue cross blue shield, I opted to pay for it myself and continue to feel good and safe about being covered by what I thought was a good company.
Through the years it provided me with great coverage (even though I was paying some pretty costly premiums seeing that I was doing this individually and not through my job). When I moved to Chicago, I assumed that I wouldn't be able to be covered by blue cross... of MINNESOTA, and when I looked into how much it would cost to be covered by Blue Cross... of ILLINOIS, it shocked me. You see since being with the MINNESOTA branch, I had been diagnosed with Adult Attention Deficit Disorder. Quite truly once diagnosed and once taking medication for it, I was happy that treatment was working. I went to a therapist, took Ritalin, all covered by insurance. Fortunatley when coming to Illinois (returning that is) I found out that ofcourse, I could continue my coverage with Blue Cross of MINNESOTA. Phew! So life went on, I tried other treatments for ADD (still am) and segued from ritalin to Lexapro and now am on Wellbutrin (which seems to be the one working the best). All covered by my insurance, all was well with my world.
However, let's look into ADD and this is not an excuse or a cop out, it is truly a very real situation. I get scattered, as I am getting older I am getting more and more scattered and am learning how to cope with it. Being scattered, I found it difficult to keep track of my bill payments across the board. One of the bills I missed paying, was my premium for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota. Through the years, I had always paid my premium, on time... ahead of time... but with various insurance payments some of them monthly, some of them quarterly, it started to confuse me. Also my various methods of payment, via check through mail, via billpay through my bank which I was at that time just getting used to, with all of these things adding up and I am trying to adjust and maintain it all, I slipped up and forgot to pay my premium for Blue Cross. I thought that because of my history, I could call them and have it taken care of, pay the tardy payment and move on. But no. I was dumped from Blue Cross... terminated. Done. Nothing to be done. AND because of my now previously existing medical condition, denied being able to re-apply for insurance.
So, because of what I was being insured for and because this condition played part in my missing a payment, I am punished, kicked off the island... left out to sea with NO health insurance.
I did manage to obtain another agency, Assurant Health Insurance.
Not as good as before, but atleast I am insured.
The unfortunate part is that blue cross is now refusing to pay for therapy I have had in the past months (some of those months when I was still with them. So I owe more than $1400. Also, there is dispute about some preventative treatment I had removing some moles... which for the doctor doing the job, a cash cow. I had the treatment done when I was still covered by Blue Cross but according to them my payments were retro-active and not paying for the months ahead of my payment. I was paying quarterly and so the time I had assumed I was paying for coverage was actually the previous four months. This still doesn't make much sense to me.
I know, it's not THAT much money, but it is still alot to have to pay for what should be FREE.
SO anyway, Adult Attention Deficit aside (with a huge emphasis on deficit) I TOO have been screwed by our health care system.
On a related note, after being dumped by BCBS, I was worried about filling my prescriptions. Well, I joined assurant and assumed now, my monthly seven dollar payments for my medication would go unchanged. I went to pick up my prescription. $150. What? That is a wee bit more than SEVEN.
I bit the bullet and paid it. Then later when I had to refill and after looking into TARGET to be my new pharmacist, it was only $15 dollars. Sure, twice as much as seven but much less than 150. I asked about the price difference. It was because I was now purchasing GENERIC. I had always assumed before when I was paying seven dollars, it was generic. When I had trusted CVS to refill my prescription as always and before, I assumed they were looking into my best interest and even when I was obviously shocked by the $150, they didn't blink. They didn't even remind me or offer me a generic alternative. Which I think they should have.
So CVS owes me $135.
When I think about how much of my money went to premiums for Blue Creeps Blue Assholes, the thousands and thousands of dollars paid to them over the years, to have been just dumped like that was unbelievable. And then to be denied returning to them, the very company that had MY money in their bank. And to have to pay through the nose for prescriptions when you are getting medication for a condition that makes you scattered and confused and perhaps unable to remember to ASK about generic... it just makes me, well, SICK...
And that is EXACTLY what they want because with the added stress of all this burdening me, perhaps I will need MORE medication that they can bank off of. I opt for herbal tea.
Go see “Sicko” and start thinking about your own coverage and your own story.
Note: From reading this entry, is it not obvious that I have ADD? Re-reading, I was going to correct my several run on sentences but thought to illustrate my condition, keep it as is. Or as ani defranco would say, “as is as is as is as is...”