Mike's employer switched from Anthem to Medical Mutual about a year ago. Medical Mutual has no history of Mike's knees problems and as such, will not pay for a knee replacement surgery. First he has to go through a few rounds of cortizone shots and another reconstruction to see if that will alleviate the problem: in other words, they want to start all the way back at the beginning. Don't they have access to his medical files? Oh wait, our world is not completely on line yet, so the answer to that question is probably no. But here's the real kicker.
When I started bitching about how out of touch our country is with regard to quality of care, my republican husband defended the status quo! Has his memory lapsed? Does he not remember the astronomical fees Anthem charged us to put me on his plan, because I have a pre-existing condition? Has he forgotten that I was denied coverage when I tried to buy private insurance? What about the fact that cobra wouldn't cover the cost of my prescription when I was between jobs and we had to pay $434.28 for a 30 supply of my medication?
Then there is the fact that when he weighed 360 pounds, Anthem refused to pay for bariatric surgery because they didn't see how that would aid his diabetes. They then refused to cover his consultations with a nutrional doctor while he worked to lose the weight on his own. He successfully lost one hundred and fifty pounds. He called Anthem to ask about skin removal surgery. They refused again and we now have a monthly payment on an eleven thousand dollar tummy tuck which removed ten pounds of skin and fascia. Anthem refused to pay for any of the procedures that effectively rid Mike of Diabetes, but they were more than happy to pay for the Avandia he would have had to remain on indefinitely had he not lost the weight.
We are the richest, most powerful country in the world. Mike loves to remind me of that fact whenever I launch into my health care reform pitch. He's right. I googled it. We are. So if we are, why can't we be treated humanely by our insurers? Why is this not being addressed as the human rights violation that it is?
When I lived in New York, I was a massage therapist to some of the wealthiest men on Wall Street. I heard some deplorable confessions on my massage table. During the 2001 election, these bankers were told by their employers that they had to make at least ten thousand dollar donations to each politician as each came into town. These bankers would be invited to political functions held at the Waldorf Astoria, and the W and the like. How many porfolio managers from how many investment firms representing how many different insurance companies' assets wrote checks? Lieberman's name was even brought up on my table on more than one occassion. How many insurance company kick backs did he recieved via the back door, ie: the investment firms that protected the insurance companies' assets?
We are the richest, most powerful nation in the world. But we are an oligarchy, and oligarchies shit all over their poor. The ironic thing is how many poor people buy the propaganda the oligarchs feed them via their own television stations, newspapers and websites. A nation duped is an unhealthy nation indeed.
Mike's immune systen is now flooded with cortizone. Odds are, he'll do too much and do further damage to his knee. This is highly likely since he needs to figure out why my car won't start tonight. Maybe if he slips and falls in the driveway, Medical Mutual will grant him his knee replacement.
I wonder if Medical Mutual has offices in Hartford and what their relationship with their Independent Senator is like.
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