• Health insurance issues

    Posted by jenny-livingston on May 4, 2021 at 9:20 am

    I was talking with a friend of mine last night who is currently sick, but also facing the termination of her health insurance. She is unsure if/when she will be able to secure health insurance and get the care she needs. It’s both heartbreaking and scary.

    Unfortunately, here in the United States, this is not terribly uncommon. In my life, there have been times that certain medications or procedures were denied by my insurance company. I’ve also had to put off seeking care until my new insurance “kicked in.” It feels like there are endless hoops that must be jumped through and nonsensical games that must be played in order to make sure health insurance does what it’s supposed to do.

    Health insurance is what keeps me alive, but navigating the insurance system is the bane of my existence!

    Have you had something similar happen? Have you ever gone for a period of time without access to health insurance? And for our friends not in the US, I’m very curious to hear how health insurance works in your country or area. 

    paul-met-debbie replied 2 years, 10 months ago 1 Member · 1 Reply
  • 1 Reply
  • paul-met-debbie

    Member
    May 5, 2021 at 8:00 am

    In the Netherlands health insurance is available for everyone. Insurance companies are obliged to accept without exclusions, no matter your health situation. If you have a low or no income, the state supplies the money. Every year at the end of december you are allowed to switch insurance company if you think another insurance is cheaper or better, but in practice most companies match each others price and provisions closely.

    I have once been in a situation where the health insurance did not pay for in home antibiotic IV treatment, because the specific antibiotic was not officially registered for in home treatment. The fact that hospitalization would be much more costly for them was not relevant. I did not want to be hospitalized because of infections risks and payed for half of the treatment myself. When hearing of the situation, another large hospital/cf center kindly supplied the other half of the in home infusions for free. Still, it was some $ 1500 I payed myself for the first week of IV. At the end of the year, I could deduct these costs partly from my income tax, so I ended up with a loss of $ 1000, which in my opinion was well spent money. Shortly after, this antibiotic (pip-tazo) became also available for in home treatment coverage. There have been years where I had 5 or 6 IV’s in home, and the insurance costs ran up to $60.000 per year. I could not have paid for that myself, so I am very glad that most of my medical expenses are covered except for some small deductible excess. In practice, together we pay about $ 400 monthly insurance premium for our health insurance. It is by far the most costly insurance – but also the one that delivers the best.

Log in to reply.