Take Two Rolaids And Call Us In Six Months
Yes, according to a letter submitted to Ezra Klein, someone was denied health care coverage because he had HEARTBURN!!
I am a very active 28 year old male, who exercises regularly (4-6 days a week), does not use any tobacco products, eats organic foods whenever possible, takes vitamins, gets enough sleep, rarely even catches a cold and has absolutely no history of disease. I recently applied for one of your "Tonik" health plans because it was finally affordable to me. I have been without health care for over 5 years and felt that the time had come for me to make a financial commitment to my health. However, as a young, perfectly healthy average male, I am appalled that you would deny my claim for health insurance. After speaking with a representative over the phone, I was told in a very polite tone and with no hint of sarcasm that I was ineligible due to the fact that I had had Heartburn in the last 6 months; and furthermore that I could reapply in 6 months (again with no hint of sarcasm or acknowledgment of the fact that I clearly wouldn't state I'd ever had Heartburn if it meant no health care).Needless to say, I find it insulting and ludicrous that such a benign
symptom as Heartburn can deem me uninsurable by even just one of your plans
Not to mention that I received an email stating that I should apply to the
California Major Risk Program. Major risk of what I ask you? (rhetorically)
Not only are you compelling applicants to lie about seemingly innocuous
symptoms that nearly everyone experiences from time to time (I challenge you
to find any member of society who doesn't experience Heartburn occasionally
from spicy foods or even minor food allergies), but you are standing
hypocritically against the very reason that we are forced have health
insurance in this country. If I can't get health care without insurance
(alas I am not a millionaire), and I can't get insurance to obtain health
care if I need it, then to whom and for what does said insurance serve it's
purpose?
All in all, it's kind of cute how this individual thinks corporate leeches such as Blue Cross/Blue Shield exists to help peons like him instead of making sure their pockets are kept lined with green. This is part of the reason Michael Moore's Sicko is going to be such a phenomenon, because it will hit very, very close to home.
BTW, the myth about socialized medicine having long wait lines is just that, a myth:
There is no systemized, nationwide collection of data on wait times in the U.S., making it difficult to compare delays to those in countries with national health systems, who typically track and publish data on wait times. But a 2005 survey conducted by the Commonwealth Fund of sicker adults in six highly industrialized countries found that only Canada was worse than the U.S. when it came to waiting six days or longer to schedule a doctor's appointment for a medical problem.Of the countries surveyed, 81% of patients in New Zealand got a same or next-day appointment for a nonroutine visit, 71% in Britain, 69% in Germany, 66% in Australia, 47% in the U.S., and 36% in Canada. Those lengthy wait times in the U.S. explain why 26% of Americans reported going to an emergency room for a condition that could have been treated by a regular doctor if available, higher than every other country surveyed.
No. 1 in Foregone Care
The Commonwealth survey did find that patients in the U.S. had shorter wait times than every country except Germany when it came to getting an appointment with a specialist for nonemergency elective surgery, such as hip replacements, cataract surgery, or knee repair. But Gerard Anderson, a health-policy expert at Johns Hopkins University, says most doctors know how to "game the system" in those countries where there are queues for elective surgery, by putting at-risk patients on the list long before their need is critical. "Their wait might be uncomfortable, but it makes very little clinical difference."
The Commonwealth survey found one area in which the U.S. assumed first place—by a wide margin: 51% of U.S. adults surveyed did not visit a doctor, get a needed test, or fill a prescription within the past two years because of cost. No other country came close to that percentage.