Sick but Insured? Think Again
Something everyone should read. You may think you and your family are insured because you pay premiums every month to an insurance company. I had a personal experience with this last year. It is somewhat complicated and also personal, and I'm still not sure exactly what happened here. But our long-time insurer suddenly dropped us, and (here's the interesting part) refunded our premiums retroactively.
So all this time I only thought I had health insurance, when I was really making a no-interest loan to a big insurance company. The core issue involves a crooked medical entity who was overcharging my insurance company and making certain false statements. Even though we were in no way involved, and there were other ways to remedy the situation, the insurance company dropped us. We fought it, and even considered getting a lawyer, but getting new insurance seemed cheaper and easier, at least in the short run (although now we have a blot on our insurance record and our premiums went up 2x).
I thought we just had some bad luck, and moved on. But I see 1,500 people a month in California alone have similar experiences. Here is a LA Times article that you ought to give a look, at least if you really think you have health insurance. It may in fact by largely mythical.
Sick but Insured? Think Again
Paul Krugman had a similar piece in the NYT on Sept 22, 2006, but it is not avialable for free.
So all this time I only thought I had health insurance, when I was really making a no-interest loan to a big insurance company. The core issue involves a crooked medical entity who was overcharging my insurance company and making certain false statements. Even though we were in no way involved, and there were other ways to remedy the situation, the insurance company dropped us. We fought it, and even considered getting a lawyer, but getting new insurance seemed cheaper and easier, at least in the short run (although now we have a blot on our insurance record and our premiums went up 2x).
I thought we just had some bad luck, and moved on. But I see 1,500 people a month in California alone have similar experiences. Here is a LA Times article that you ought to give a look, at least if you really think you have health insurance. It may in fact by largely mythical.
Sick but Insured? Think Again
Paul Krugman had a similar piece in the NYT on Sept 22, 2006, but it is not avialable for free.
posted by Dr. Steven Morphy-Godchaux III at
8:51 AM
2 Comments:
I mis-quoted the article. One large insurer has 1,500 such cases in California per week (not month).
By
Dr. Steven Morphy-Godchaux III, at Tue Sep 26, 11:17:00 AM CDT
That sucks. Insurance companies should be required to provide coverage once they issue a policy. If they suspect fraud, then they should have to take you to court and sue you to get out of the policy. I don't accept the argument that costs would rise if they had to review all applications prior to issuing a policy. What other business signs a contract without reading it (what they're doing if they don't examine your application)? Once you sign a contract and take someone's money, you should be obligated to fulfill your duties, unless there is a mutual agreement to terminate.
By
Murphy "Mac" Morphy, at Tue Sep 26, 12:10:00 PM CDT
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