I'm nyhcmaven84, an entrepreneur and writer very active on Alternet. Former tax advisor who was disturbed by the massive wealth disparity I saw and became morally opposed to the system I had to help keep in place, and the clients I was charged to advocate for.
Someone on Daily Kos already covered awful coverage available from NY State of Health. But this diary is less about the concrete aspects of why Metroplus blows rocks (though I'll certainly cover some of them), and more about an angering conclusion I came to after I read other peoples' opinions of this plan.
I also swear like a sailor so you may want to skip this diary if dirty words offend you.
Okay, as it is the entire private for-profit healthcare system is entirely made of fail. Big fat epic FAIL.
Insurance is the biggest fucking scam imaginable: not only do we have to pay premiums, but then you have deductibles. For things like basic preventative care, even a mammogram or an MRI can wind up costing hundreds if not thousands of dollars and then some of them may not count towards your deductible. Then of course, the insurance company can just decide to not even cover you for these things at all even if their handbook says that it will.You can have paid in tens of thousands of dollars and not gotten a single dollar worth of healthcare.
I'm on Metroplus' Silver S2-1 plan which has a deductible of $2,000: $2,000 is not that bad compared to the average $6,000 deductible I saw for both silver and bronze plans in NY state. But this plan does not provide actual healthcare despite claiming it has dental and vision coverage. The only benefit I have received AT ALL from being on Metroplus is that they covered some of my prescription costs when I was incredibly sick with a massive throat infection last fall. Other than that, I have received zero benefit. I had to go to City MD (urgent care franchise in NYC) to even get seen and while the doctor on duty and staff were wonderful, I had to pay MORE than my premium after subsidy to get seen because almost no doctor takes this plan and when I asked for a reimbursement, I was told I should've gone to the ER. Yes. Because wasting ER resources on my throat infection that the City MD doctor diagnosed in barely 10 minutes is SUCH a great use of them, let alone my sitting there in suffering for 6 hours. Wasn't the point of Obamacare to STOP making the working poor use emergency rooms for non-emergencies?!
So Metroplus garbage plans are basically a step above being on Medicaid: catastrophic coverage only. Mine is a shitty plan that only helps you out if you get hit by a bus or have another huge illness.
Oh wait, even then not really.
(This is the one time Yelp reviews can be 100% trusted!)
But now, while the reviewers are totally spot on in their assessments of Metroplus' suckage-- high premiums for little or no return, very few doctors accepting it, needing a PCP (primary care physician) to send you to a specialist when you likely don't even have a regular one to start with because they rotate at the hospitals Metroplus sends you to, the so-called dental and vision plans really requiring coinsurance-- there was something in their vitriol against this company scummy as they are that just revolted me. Look at the commentary. What do you see?
"This plan is clearly meant for people on welfare."
"I had to sit in the waiting room at a filthy clinic surrounded by people who clearly don't pay $400/month for this awful insurance."
"I pay full price for my insurance and don't get a subsidy. I don't deserve to go to the same back-alley places as someone in the Projects!"
So basically, yeah: if you can't afford to pay over $500/month for really good health insurance, you don't "deserve" proper healthcare. Awful clinics are only for the poor. If you can afford to pay the full $400/month for the same crappy insurance that only becomes affordable on account of the Advanced Premium Tax Credit for most people on it, you're entitled to better treatment.
THIS is what the hell is wrong with America. Here you have all these people who definitely are not in the 1% or even top 10% but think that only if you're poor enough to need a subsidy or on welfare (WHAT welfare? AFDC went in the shitter 20 years ago, morons!) that you are not "good enough" to receive comprehensive and routine healthcare. I have a fucking master's degree and bust my ass at multiple hustles and this garbage plan is all I can afford and even WITH the subsidy it's not worth it.
Healthcare should be a right, not a privilege. Driving a car is a privilege, owning a house is a privilege. Being able to not suffer and die should not be a goddamn privilege.