I define my circle of friends by the kind of health insurance they have: those who get coverage through their employer, stay-at-home moms covered by their spouse and senior friends on Medicare.
Sadly, mournfully, despondently I stand on the other side of the fence from these cool kids.
I have happily shed my employer, my husband can’t add me as a dependent on his plan and I don’t yet make the age cutoff for Medicare. Each December I have the unenviable responsibility of finding health insurance for the next calendar year.
Let me take you through a day in my life and its aftermath for a glimpse of the underbelly of our healthcare insurance ecosystem.
For weeks I had an on-and-off pain in my back that I dismissed as muscle spasms. Ice and rest seemed to make the pain disappear. I would pat myself on the shoulder, proud of my ability to manage garden variety ailments. Good job, me. Three weeks ago, my pride evaporated into ether.
The familiar pain intensified and would not cease. It came in waves, knocking me out of bed at 12:30am. The only person awake at that time was my nephew, a very capable doctor in India. He considered my symptoms and diagnosed the possible root cause. He assured me that the pain would eventually subside but encouraged an ER visit for relief. The last thing I wanted to do was to jar Tarun out of deep sleep so I waited until he stirred. At daybreak, he took me to the ER.
The doctor concurred with my nephew and sent me home after making sure I'd be fine. It felt like taking a squeaky car to an auto mechanic only to have it purr. My body realized I was in the ER - and poof! - the pain began to subside.
Hallelujah and what the heck?!
Fast forward three weeks when the bills started to arrive. My insurance pegged my share of the allowable cost for the ER visit to 40% or 50% depending on the service.
Based on his previous employed-with-a-fancy-insurance status and recent Medicare experience, Tarun was convinced there must be a better plan. I knew in the back of my head that it was unlikely because I do considerable research to pick my plan. As I revisited my choices for his benefit, he was confronted with the absurdity of health insurance for folks like me.
There is nothing significantly better.
The available plans are incrementally better or significantly worse. All of the options center on high out of pocket maximums that run into the tens of thousands of dollars per year. I am blessedly healthy and don’t hit the limit which means I pay for most things on top of paying hefty monthly premiums. The insurance I have is for catastrophic events, to protect me from a complex disease or emergencies that will propel me over the maximum before I can blink my eyes. This kind of coverage can break people financially if you frequently fall ill with run-of-the-mill events. I cannot wait to join Tarun on the Medicare roll and be done with this absurdly crazy mess of private insurance.
Cool kids, please wave to me from the other side of the fence. Until I can jump over, I will continue to feel like this cat...
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