once again, i wonder how anyone in the u.s. who has private health insurance and who has had to deal with their insurance company could possibly believe that this system makes any sense. in the 1990s i had a protracted battle with blue cross over mrs. noz's coverage. it took several weeks, a few letters on legal stationary, and a bunch of close readings of insurance regulations, but ultimately i managed to win that battle. still, i'm fairly certain i would not have if i were not a lawyer. in fact, since that time, i have occasionally written "lawyer letters" on behalf of friends to help them navigate their own private insurance nightmares.
what brings this up now is that we added noz jr. as a dependent and suddenly i'm wasting a ton of time again fighting for what should be a fairly simple matter of having his effective date of coverage reflect when my work started paying his premiums. and this follows last week's battle when the insurance company notified me that it had dropped my primary care physician as an acceptable provider and i was told that i would have to choose a new one. (no need to fear the government taking over and telling me who i can have as my doctor when private for-profit bureaucrats are doing that already) i won last week's fight. this week's fight is still currently pending as i am still on hold as i type this.
and yet, so much of the resistance to health care reform seemed to be driven by people's fears of no longer having insurance they already have. who are these people? have they ever tried to actually deal with their insurance company?
what brings this up now is that we added noz jr. as a dependent and suddenly i'm wasting a ton of time again fighting for what should be a fairly simple matter of having his effective date of coverage reflect when my work started paying his premiums. and this follows last week's battle when the insurance company notified me that it had dropped my primary care physician as an acceptable provider and i was told that i would have to choose a new one. (no need to fear the government taking over and telling me who i can have as my doctor when private for-profit bureaucrats are doing that already) i won last week's fight. this week's fight is still currently pending as i am still on hold as i type this.
and yet, so much of the resistance to health care reform seemed to be driven by people's fears of no longer having insurance they already have. who are these people? have they ever tried to actually deal with their insurance company?
