“Request Denied” 3
With apologies to Kommandant Klink
Ever heard life insurance defined:
The life insurance company is betting that you won’t die. You are betting that you will die. And you hope the life insurance company wins the bet.
Since I entered the world of 1099s, I have been shopping for health insurance.
I do have excellent secondary coverage, but I want primary coverage so I can cover my younger son.
The policy I finally settled on (have you ever shopped for medical insurance?) through my professional society involved a $10,000 deductible and a monthly premium of almost $600.00, but it did include good emergency room coverage.
And, bluntly, what type of coverage is a young person most likely to require?
Yesterday, I got word that the application was denied.
For both of us.
For me, because I am Old.
I’m not in bad health, but I do have That Bad Smoking Habit, high blood pressure (well under control), and very mild sleep apnea. In other words, I’m not atypical for someone who’s lived almost six decades.
My son got denied because he had kidney surgery several years ago to correct what the doctor (an internationally renowned pediatric kidney surgeon, though we did not find that out until later) was pretty sure was a congental problem that, today, would have been detected early, but, when he was born, probably would not have been.
As I said, I have excellent coverage.
But what about my son?
Upyernoz has a related tale.
July 22, 2007 at 11:07 pm
I sure like the idea of healthcare spending accounts. I’m not sure why anyone wouldn’t. In fact, I think there are a lot of ways our healthcare system could be improved, but the problem is that most people already have good health care and aren’t worried about it.
July 25, 2007 at 12:45 am
Yeah, well, but you have to have a qualifying plan before you can open an HSA.
In other words, Second Son is screwed because, by God, he might actually need health insurance. Therefore, I can’t get it for him.
Bastards.
July 26, 2007 at 12:19 pm
When I was checking out our options, Joe was “healthy” enough (no smoking, not obese, no high blood pressure) he could get his own policy. The only way Chris & I would have been able to would have been to take out a commercial policy through Kaiser Permanante (the worst of managed care) & pay $750.00 A MONTH for it. The health insurance companies look at him as a total pre-existing condition, because of the polio he had when he was an infant. Then we both smoke, & my blood pressure maintains at about 150/100 normally. The only good thing we have going for us is our BMIs. His is 26, while mine is 23. We aren’t obese. Since Kaiser almost killed me once, he frowns at them. Big time.