Thrive. Whatever.
So my health insurance application got rejected. Rejected! I applied to Kaiser for the same individual coverage into which they accepted me nearly two years ago. They have all my medical records, including my past application. I left this coverage because I got excellent Kaiser coverage through my job, and I didn't think it would be hard to get back into it, as the only thing that I have done in the intervening time is to get a physical and go to the TMD clinic for a nightguard, which I thought was very much in the alleged Kaiser spirit of preventive care to fend off future problems.
I was rejected for three reasons (identified, no doubt, by the computer that read my application):
It's not the end of the world if I stay rejected, since I can get crappy coverage through school, but it's ominous. I am a healthy, youngish person with only minor health issues in my past, and I really think I'm a pretty good bet for an insurer. Sure, I need to eat less and exercise more, but that's not exactly an uncommon situation, and I have really no other behavioral risk factors in my life. I get preventive healthcare when I need it, I don't take risks. If I can't get individual coverage now, at age 31, I will never be able to get it again. Seriously, never. This means I'll have to either always have a job with benefits (a rare and rapidly disappearing thing), or I'll have to have only catastrophic insurance, in which case I wouldn't be able to get preventive care.
I'm pissed off on my own behalf, of course, but I find this to be a really frightening indicator of the disastrous condition of our national healthcare non-system. The employment-based system works great for people who get jobs with benefits and stay there (and don't get their benefits taken away), but for the many many many people who move from job to job, it's terrifying. My experience suggests that I should never again seek preventive care, lest it become a barrier for getting coverage in the future. I should wait until I am seriously injured or ill to seek care. That is NOT the way people should be encouraged to use healthcare. Nobody benefits from this.
There's another reason I think we should have universal single-payer health insurance (though I know it'll never happen) - when the government pays for the healthcare of its citizens, the government is invested in protecting the health of its citizens. The government does things like regulate to ensure that consumer products don't contain hormone disruptors. I think this is an excellent role for government. I know that there are lots of issues with single-payer universal coverage, but I think it'd be hard to pretend that those problems are worse than the problems we have with healthcare in this country. I'd much rather pay lots of taxes to government to strive for healthier communities than pay lots of taxes to unregulated contractors to kill people in a country halfway around the world. But hey, that's just me.
Also, I'm just mad at Kaiser. Thrive, my uninsured ass.
*Remember that, Trapeze Girl? Remember how your adorable and sensitive son was so worried about me, and my adorable and insensitive daughter abandoned my prone body to beg crackers off a stranger? Thanks for taking care of me!
I was rejected for three reasons (identified, no doubt, by the computer that read my application):
- "minor height/weight variation" - I think this is because the online form doesn't accept half-inch increments, and I may have in the past reported myself as being 5'4", but this time said I was 5'3" (I was feeling short when I filled out the form.)
- "TMD" - yup.
- "Unfavorable hospitalization or medical attention" - The only thing I can think of for this is the time I went to my (Kaiser) clinic for a checkup after I unexpectedly passed out two years ago.* They screened me for any possible cause (apparently it was a random episode of something crazy called "vasovagal" something-or-other) and I thought the case was closed. Also, this happened before I was accepted into individual coverage last time.
It's not the end of the world if I stay rejected, since I can get crappy coverage through school, but it's ominous. I am a healthy, youngish person with only minor health issues in my past, and I really think I'm a pretty good bet for an insurer. Sure, I need to eat less and exercise more, but that's not exactly an uncommon situation, and I have really no other behavioral risk factors in my life. I get preventive healthcare when I need it, I don't take risks. If I can't get individual coverage now, at age 31, I will never be able to get it again. Seriously, never. This means I'll have to either always have a job with benefits (a rare and rapidly disappearing thing), or I'll have to have only catastrophic insurance, in which case I wouldn't be able to get preventive care.
I'm pissed off on my own behalf, of course, but I find this to be a really frightening indicator of the disastrous condition of our national healthcare non-system. The employment-based system works great for people who get jobs with benefits and stay there (and don't get their benefits taken away), but for the many many many people who move from job to job, it's terrifying. My experience suggests that I should never again seek preventive care, lest it become a barrier for getting coverage in the future. I should wait until I am seriously injured or ill to seek care. That is NOT the way people should be encouraged to use healthcare. Nobody benefits from this.
There's another reason I think we should have universal single-payer health insurance (though I know it'll never happen) - when the government pays for the healthcare of its citizens, the government is invested in protecting the health of its citizens. The government does things like regulate to ensure that consumer products don't contain hormone disruptors. I think this is an excellent role for government. I know that there are lots of issues with single-payer universal coverage, but I think it'd be hard to pretend that those problems are worse than the problems we have with healthcare in this country. I'd much rather pay lots of taxes to government to strive for healthier communities than pay lots of taxes to unregulated contractors to kill people in a country halfway around the world. But hey, that's just me.
Also, I'm just mad at Kaiser. Thrive, my uninsured ass.
*Remember that, Trapeze Girl? Remember how your adorable and sensitive son was so worried about me, and my adorable and insensitive daughter abandoned my prone body to beg crackers off a stranger? Thanks for taking care of me!
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