I am currently paying $500 a month for medical insurance. I put in an application to Kaiser for a lower plan and I was denied. Here is their letter:
Unfortunately, we are unable to offer you coverage at this time. Kaiser Permanente for Individuals and Families is a cost-effective individual health care coverage program. We maintain its cost-effectiveness by only accepting for membership those individuals who successfully pass the medical underwriting screening process. Based on the information provided on the application for membership, we cannot approve enrollment due to the following:
Hospitalization and/or outpatient or skilled nursing care within the last 12
months
Your history of acne
Your history of back or neck pain or injury within the last 12 months
Your history of kidney stones
Your history of mild depression/anxiety
Your unspecified condition of the eyes, ears, nose, or throat
Sooooo.... I am pretty much denied for having anything wrong at all. I couldn't just lie on my application because they have my medical records. I am thinking that unless you have absolutely nothing wrong with you and you have never had any thing wrong with you THEN you can have medical insurance. That way, you never have to see the doctor and they can keep the money. This is bullshit. I am writing a letter of appeal. I cannot afford $500 a month. I am already $4500 in debt from the medical insurance alone. I have maxed out my credit card because of them. I am going to have to cash out my 401K just to pay off my credit card and the rest of my credit card debts that I have accrued from unemployment.
I had the same problem when I did not have company health insurance. I'm overweight and am nearsighted, but I have perfect blood pressure, perfect cholesterol, have never been hospitalized, never broken a bone, etc. but they assume that anyone who doesn't fit their little cookie-cutter ideal of a person must be too great a risk to allow the privilege of paying money for services they might rarely use.
Granted, my friend does use services, and needs them, in fact, to get back to work. But spreadsheets lack a basic function for operating in a humane society - a heart.
Why is it so fucking difficult for so many of our elected officials to understand that healthcare in the free market simply cannot work? Is designed, in fact, to fail the very people it is ostensibly intended to help? Why are so many so-called free market options on the table, without guidelines that prohibit this kind of nonsense? And why the fuck are some people so scared of regulation that will help our fellow Americans get ahead in the world?
Sorry for the profanity, but I'm really, really angry on behalf of my friend.
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