Cesar Jouvin says:

Their lots of insurance company out there that does not care if peolpe live or die. At longest they get there money in there pockets. It’s so hard to believe that this country as powerful as it is will not help there own peolpe. That’s sad. When you have “insurance” it should be able to cover 100% percent for your life period. Why bother to have insurance if it’s not going to cover everything. That’s why it’s called INSURANCE. I also think doctors should not become doctors if they don’t have COMPASSION for human life in the caring medical field.

roshactor says:

My husband died as a result of the insurance industry. Even though he had
worked every day of his life, had even been in the Air Force, and even
though he had coverage through United Airlines at the time of his illness
and death, his insurance plan (which is now out of business, go figure)
refused him a life saving procedure. Even though doctors at Stanford, UC San
Francisco, California Pacific Medical Center and Baylor Texas said that with
the appropriate treatment in a timely manner, there was no reason why he
could not live 10 more years. And if he lived 10 more years, there was no
reason why he would not have a normal life span. He was 57 at the time.

The insurance carrier used the “experimental” excuse to deny my husband the
treatment advised by these University based centers for medical excellence.
I was desperately calling lawyers to help me fight for care for him. They
told me something had to “happen” before they could help me (in other words
he had to die first). We were scrambling to mortgage our house and borrow
money from my brother in England to pay for his care. But all this cost us
precious time and we lost the battle. I did sue after he died, and did win a
settlement, but it did not bring my husband back.

As an RN who has both provided and received care in England, Canada, Saudi
Arabia and the US, I can honestly say that I know more about the various
types of health care systems than most people and although the technology in
the US is in SOME cases (not all) better than in other countries, other
aspects of healthcare, particularly access, fall way behind. My 90 year old
mother in London recently had 3 home visits in 10 days by a doctor to ensure
her cellulitis was improving. I have many, many anecdotal stories to support
my position and will share these with anyone who wants me to.

I also know the statistical data as I have a Master's in Health Care
Administration. I consider myself pretty smart in these matters, however,
even with a Master's I find the insurance paperwork, the various policy
details and the administrative hurdles overwhelming and at times
incomprehensible. I wonder how it must be for someone who left school at 16,
or for whom English is not the first language.

Thank you

D. “Rosh” Wright, RN, MPA

Atascadero

CA

Anonymous says:

A nephew of my former sister-in-law got sick last summer. Since he did not have health insurance, he did not go to the doctor. He suffered flu like symptoms for months. Finally, it go so bad, around Christmas day, he went to hospital emergency. He was diagnosed with Valley Fever. It was so far advanced, he could not be saved. He died at the age of 33, leaving behind his wife and 4 year old daughter. Single payer would have saved his life. Those who oppose meaningful health reform are criminals as far as I am concerned. It is a matter of life and death.

ronaldmoreno says:

I need single payer healthcare NOW. I lost my Kaiser Permanente insurance because of Kaiser GREED! I'm sick of hearing about the denials of treatment after someone gets sick. Even Kaiser reserves the right to cancel your policy for NO reason at all. Thats a crime

susangentry says:

This is the only place I could find to 'communicate! I have already contributed. I think health care is vital in America. I think we fail as a country if we don't. I've been to Europe and seen, first hand their programs; from Paris to Amsterdam etc….
I personally don't need to worry, but I worry as a part of America, and I find it unforgivable that people die, as we speak.

reverendscottdmaclachlan says:

While working Construction/Effects on HBO's “Deadwood” I sustained two debilitating stress (pars) fractures causing a 25% shift of my L4-L5 spine. I had just lost my Motion Picture Insurance six days earlier, and was denied any consult by Cast & Crew's insurer Zurich American Ins.
Workers' Compensation lawyers wouldn't take my case as I had an earlier lifting claim which was denied 12 days before these fractures, and because of the Governor Arnold's signing of SB-899 (Workers' Comp. Reform Bill) to keep businesses in California, and reduce litigation in W.C. cases.
Having no insurance, three months later I was forced to be examined by a state appointed Qualified Medical Evaluator (who also worked for insurance companies in jury trials as an “expert medical witness”, an obvious conflict of interest which California allows.
This QME admitted in exam that my injury was new and required a spinal fusion, (comparing his new X-rays against my recent MRI) but he failed to order a CT scan, the next common Medical-Legal step to determine if my injury was pre-existing, or if fractures caused my injury.
In his report he suspiciously gave me a clean bill of health, said my condition was an exacerbation pre-existing, (covered by the State Labor Code, which he was admonished for) that there was no industrially caused disability, and that I could return to work.
Within one month of his fraudulently concealing, misleading, and contradictory report, my legs progressively began to spontaneously collapse (all during the next 15 months of my Workers' Comp. litigation).
In a preliminary Workers' Comp Appeals Board hearing, the judge ordered a second opinion, insisting it come from another Q.M.E., whose findings contradicted the first Q.M.E.'s findings.
At trial, the WCAB judge ordered the first Q.M.E. to write a rebuttal against the findings of the second opinion. The first Q.M.E. cited four records in his rebuttal, ALL ABOUT MY ANKLE. (Not my spinal injury in question).
The WCAB trial judge would ignore the DWC letter of admonishment, the rebuttal citing records about my ankle, eventually finding for the insurance company, and finding them free of any liability.
Within two months, neurosurgeons at LA County + USC would discover dual spinal (pars) fractures (proven to be caused by the work related injury) via a CT scan, which the first Q.M.E. should have ordered upon my initial exam.
I would undergo an emergency multi-level spinal fusion, which the first Q.M.E. recommended in exam, but omitted from his report.
Due to the delay in treatment/surgery, I underwent a second multi-level spinal fusion this past December, I am now permanently disabled, have half of my previous leg strength, legs which still collapse, and have lost everything, including our home of 20 years this past November, rendering my self, wife & two children homeless, dividing my family for two months until we finally found a landlord who would rent to us, considering our (now) poor credit after years of living day to day.
Many things have & continue to go terribly wrong, but had there been Single Payer, I'm convinced I wouldn't be sweating the monthly rent, now on a fixed income, one third of what I had made in the past.
I pray for the passage of Single Payer, so no one has to go through what my family has again.

marcia says:

February 1st I went to see my “primary care physician” at my home clinic to ask about two things:

• the infection under my nose that I had had for several months (this was my 2nd visit for it) and still had.

• the left ankle sprain that no matter what, would not heal. I was not treated, but told to live with it.

Two days ago, wearing athletic shoes, I was crossing the street in the crosswalk, when my left foot found a deep ridge in the road as I fell, feeling my ankle twist and snap as it gave way under me. Thanks to my friend, I was able to get up and get out of the middle of the street. As I'm sure you can guess, it is sprained again.

I was lucky enough to be with a good friend with a car, and after some getting food, (expecting there would be a long wait before being seen at the hospital) we drove off to SFGH ER. I have had to go to their ER one other time and they were fantastic and a great team considering the large volume of triage and lack of working equipment they are faced with.

The ER was extra crowded and the intake nurse directed me to the SFGH Urgent Care facility across the campus. My friend was lovely enough to drive me there and even wait with me for a while. After taking the deli service like number at the waiting room entrance, we were seen for intake shortly after arriving. The staff was clearly, over worked and stressed out; one of the smaller reasons became clear as soon as I asked for an ice pack for my ankle. They had no ice packs “please go and have a seat”. It was about 5:30pm.

We waited, my friend left after an hour (after the beginning of the 2nd viewing of My Best Friend's Wedding), and bid me call him when I was ready to go or be moved. I was called in to see the Dr. around 8pm and it was decided that I needed an X-Ray. Understand that I cannot walk with any kind of stability or without pain, I am struggling to move about and have a fierce limp. The Dr. asks me how tall I am and then tells me to come back after getting the X-Ray.

Moments later the intake woman comes into my room with a set of crutches and asks me how tall I am. Once we get the crutches sized, I am told to get myself to X-Ray. X-Ray is 2 flights of stairs, uphill, about 3 blocks away, or out the back door, around the building, through a construction site and then 2 blocks away down the long hallway. Or, next door to the ER.

Once I arrived there and called in by the X-Ray tech, she promptly asked me where my wheelchair was. The conversation went like this:

XRT: Where is your wheelchair?

MW: What wheelchair?

XT: You have an ankle injury right?

MW: Yes I do.

XRT: Why do you have no wheelchair? You are supposed to have a wheelchair for ankle injury!
MW: I have no idea. They gave me crutches and told me to walk over here.

XRT: You walked over here? From Where?

MW: Urgent Care.

XRT: ER?

MW: No. Urgent Care over on 21st.

XRT: WHAT? You have an ankle injury right? And they gave you crutches?! And you walked all the way over here on crutches? No wheelchair?

MW: Yes.

XRT: They are not supposed to do that. They are supposed to give you a wheelchair. We hate them over there. They are the worst. Never go there. ER is better. You are supposed to have a wheelchair.

MW: Well, what can you do? Had to get here.

She agreed and very professionally X-Rayed my foot, looked at the films and said it was not broken (YAY!) and sent me on my way, bidding me “good luck and be careful”.

Calling my friend to let him know that I'm off, back down the long hallway, through the lobby, out the door up and across the streets, back up the stairs and down the hallway to Urgent Care, getting to my seat about 9pm. My friend comes back and asks me where my wheelchair went. I point to the crutches. From there, I think we can figure out how that conversation went. It was then that we decided that after the fall, we should have just gone back to my house, where there were ice packs and I could have been off of it for the last 4 hours instead of walking around on it and letting it continue to swell.

Around 9:20pm the Dr. (nurse practitioner) came back and told me what I already knew, that it was not broken, but as to the soft tissue damage, it would be a good idea to get an MRI, but she can't prescribe that, I have to get that from my Primary Care Physician. (See the beginning of this story).

They wrap up my foot with an ace bandage (just like the one I have at home) and send me on my way with a medical report to give my Dr. that is unreadable. The nice nurse copied the original for me and sent me on my way with a prescription to:
Recline
Ice
Compression
Elevation

I could have gone home right after the fall and…well I said it already.

It is unacceptable to me that these clearly COMPETANT and hard working people are trying to do a good medical job in absurd circumstances. An Urgent Care facility with no ice packs? They are not expensive, and they are an URGENT CARE facility. Isn’t that the definition of urgent? They are there for NON-Emergency/immediate need for medical attention episodes. At a Grateful Dead show you can get an ice pack and a wheelchair, but not at a hospital Urgent Care facility. Thank God there is a task force for a compromised iPhone.

david martin says:

Pre-existing condition donut hole crisis every year with Medicare.

Shannon Player says:

I have never been able to afford health care insurance. Luckily, I have been relatively healthy and haven't needed much over the years. However, now that I am 58, things are starting to change. I have some health problems and can't afford to see anyone as I don't have health coveage and at this point, am not taking care of my health as I am very low income and just don't have the money. This is very scary to me. Most of the problems need to be addresses now so they don't get worse. Please pass SB810, so people like me can affort to have our health care needs met.

Marjorie Niland says:

It does not matter how many degrees one has-when you are ill and trying to get care from your M.D. their hands are tied also. The HMOs and PPOs make the rules concerning pre-existing conditions as well as what tests they will approve. If the doctors want to keep their jobs, they had better abide by the rules that the insurance companies have decided on. Medicine has undergone huge changes due to the power of the insurance giants.

Wendy Rosner says:

When I became eligible for Medicare recently I needed insurance which would pay for my expensive cancer medication. My HMO of longstanding assured me on the phone that my benefits wouldn’t change once I was on Medicare. I needed to be sure so in between chemotherapy treatments I poured over the fine print in the contract. I found that, indeed,l I would become liable for about $2,000 every three weeks. I was lucky to be able to switch to new insurance. Almost all of my medical expenses are now currently paid, but there is a “cap” on payments which I could easily reach in a few years. Now I just have to expire before my insurance does.

I need Single Payer Healthcare now!!!

Wendy Rosner

Florydea says:

I tried to write my story to you but the process was so complex that it would not take the information. Dean Flory Why don’t you just have an email address to write to?

Gail Cutshaw says:

I have read over a number of of your current entries and I was wondering if you wanted to swap webpage links? I am constantly hunting to swap links with blogs on very similar subjects! I look forward to hearing back from you before long.

Mamayes says:

Working as an independent contractor, aka “freelancer”, I pay for my health care as an “individual”. My monthly payment for m Blue Shield HMO has gone up from $350 to $700 in the last 5 years. I have tried to switch health care providers when I learned that my doctors network at Cedar Sinai would no longer accept my Blue Shield insurance. After trying to get insured by 6 of the major carriers, I was turned down by each and every one of them for “pre-existing conditions”. Each insurer had explained to me a different pre-existing condition that disqualified me. I was turned down for having voluntary plastic surgery, I was turned down for seeing a mental health provider more than 4 times in one year, I was turned down because I had reconstructive surgery from a dog bite accident over 2 years ago, and I was turned down for having a perscription for pain killers when I had a root canal. I am 45 years old and consider myself to be in excellent health. I eat well. I exercise. I don’t smoke. And because I have sought out basic services in the health care system, I am denied coverage. My heart goes out to those of you with serious health issues. I will do whatever I can to stand up for all citizens of the United States to have affordable and practacle health care.

Sama says:

In order to support the basics of education in Afghanistan, I worked on a project to bring teacher training via satellite to 4500 locations in that country in 2003. I was exposed to Uranium (depleted and non depleted) from the U.S. use of weapons containing these materials. The NGO said I was on vacation (wow); the insurance companies say I have a “pre-condition” and the V.A. cannot cover me as I was not in the military. So I am unable to see a doctor for daily nausea, headaches, bone pains, asthma and other lung problems, CFS etc. California OneCare is my only hope. Let’s get this done!

Anonymous says:

Please fix your “Tell Your Story” links as neither one is working. Thank you.

Galomorro says:

I got downsized after being with one company for 22 years. Due to disabilities (and probably my age) I could not find a permanent job. While a temp worker, I qualified for Medi-Cal (CA’s insurance for the indigent) and was able to get eye tests, glasses and a hearing aid. Since I could not make a living working temp, I was obliged to take early retirement. Then my so-called Medi-Cal “worker” said that since I was now on Social Security, I made too much for free insurance. The problem is that where I live, the rents and cost of living are too high, and I have other obligations in the way of monthly payments I must make, so that I cannot pay extra for any kind of insurance. I used to think after you were on Social Security, all care was free; I never heard any different. I think people who make less than, say, $25,000 or so a year should receive free health care without a lot of red tape. I have been treated rudely by one practitioner who said Medi-Cal did not pay them, so he refused to treat me and was really unnecessarily nasty, like I’d done something wrong. Another practitioner, before I retired, said they had a $50 co-pay for each visit for eye tests, which I paid each time, but after I retired, they refused to treat me for this amount any longer. So I went to the drugstore for glaucoma meds and it was around $100 a month, which I certainly could not afford. I cannot pay anything like even $50 for health insurance; $25 would be a strain. I am uncomfortable around doctors anyway, and would prefer to pay only for the things I am definitely in need of, like eye tests, and hearing aids. I cannot afford to pay for insurance, especially when I may not even use certain things anyway. People should not be forced to buy insurance or taxed for it if they do not think they can afford it. The “powers that be” go by a person’s income, but do not realize that a person may have other obligations and expenses, and that trying to force this could create severe hardships.

Angied5460 says:

I am a type 1 diabetic (39 years old, A1c of 5.8, very tightly controlled). Over the summer, first I was laid off in May, then I had a heart attack and diagnosed with congestive heart failure in Sept of 2010. Fortunately for me, I went to a county hospital and the condition of my heart is so bad that I qualify for disability. The state will cover my care for one year. My new job is part time (looking for full time work with coverage) while i go back and forth to the cardiologist and endocrinologist. I’ve been a tax payer the whole time. All I can say is thank God I was made so sick that I qualify for free services, but also ask why did I have to go through this in the first place? I don’t know what I’ll do when the year is up but I’ll have to keep buying the meds. Hopefully I’ll have a better job again by then.