European Experiences "Joys" of US Healthcare Individual Market today
EconomicDemocracy Coop
having the misfortune of flying a small aeroplane in to the sea. His
bill was around $100,000 (£60,000). He told the cashier he had come in
for treatment - not to buy the hospital. "
"I found myself talking to Steve, a chirpy salesman at one of the
larger insurance companies,..Yes, I would still have to pay to see
either a doctor or a specialist but he would throw in a prostate exam
- and a colonoscopy every 10 years.
By the time he had finished, I felt like a winner on "The Price Is
Right". The cost - $9,100 a year!"
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The US health system 'headache'
When the BBC's David Willis recently found himself caught up in the
American healthcare system in Los Angeles, he says he only just lived
to tell the tale.
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It is amazing how within a matter of minutes fate can build you up
almost beyond recognition, only to deliver a well-aimed slap across
the backside.
Going through the mail last week, the first envelope was marked US
Immigration and Naturalisation Service and contained a laminated piece
of plastic, confirming that my application for permanent residency had
finally been approved.
Holding my green card up to the light, I was just about to break into
an interpretative dance of celebration.
Then I spotted the second envelope in the pile, and the exhilaration
evaporated instantaneously.
The letter was from a company which oversees the BBC's health
insurance plan.
Tearing open that envelope, I was confronted with news that my
coverage - extended after I left the BBC to go freelance - had come to
an end.
The news itself was hardly unexpected, but seeing it in black and
white filled me with horror.
Now I was on my own, it was me against the system.
I had the feeling things were about to get ugly, because when it comes
to health insurance, the Americans could teach the British a thing or
two about bureaucracy.
It is difficult to overstate how vital health insurance is in America.
Find yourself in the emergency ward, strapped to machines which go
"bip" and surrounded by sullen doctors who have been called in from
the golf course just to deal with you, and if you do not have health
insurance the chances are you will be paying for your visit until the
end of time.
Even if you are a picture of good health, all it takes is a freak
accident and you are toast.
An expatriate friend of mine spent a week in "outpatients" after
having the misfortune of flying a small aeroplane in to the sea.
His bill was around $100,000 (£60,000). He told the cashier he had
come in for treatment - not to buy the hospital.
... And so, with heavy heart, I set about taking on the many-headed
hydra that is the American healthcare system.
For some reason, there was no way of simply continuing the policy the
BBC had in place and paying the premiums myself.
So I had to apply as if I had never had coverage before.
I found myself talking to Steve, a chirpy salesman at one of the
larger insurance companies, who ran me through the details of one of
their more popular policies.
Yes, I would still have to pay to see either a doctor or a specialist
but he would throw in a prostate exam - and a colonoscopy every 10
years.
By the time he had finished, I felt like a winner on "The Price Is
Right". The cost - $9,100 a year!
Tenterhooks
Steve sent me a form which delved into my every malady since emerging
from the womb. I was reminded that there is one thing that health
insurance companies absolutely hate - sick people.
Sick people have the audacity to require treatment, which not only
eats into profits, but upsets the accountants' balance sheets. Too
much of that and you could completely spoil their day.
Having explained away virtually every cough and sneeze over the course
of the last 49 years, I got to question 41: Has the person applying
for coverage consumed any alcoholic beverage in the last six months?
I read that several times, even at one point substituting a different
pair of glasses, and no, I was not mistaken - it really did say six
months.
Not six days, or six minutes, but six months.
By the time I had finished the form I had a headache and eye strain,
and so I went back and added those to my pre-existing conditions and
then sent the form off to Steve.
He told me my application would be assessed by an underwriter - which
conjured up images of Lloyds of London weighing the fate of the QE2,
or in my case, the Titanic.
And so I wait on tenterhooks to learn whether my application has been
approved.
The tension is killing me. And at my age that is no good for the blood
pressure.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/8345341.stm
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