Wednesday, November 12, 2008

And Now Let's Talk Health Insurance...

What the fuck.

I moved to LA back in March and was very excited for a number of reasons:

1. Sun

2. Jobs

3. Space

4. Leave those evil ex-boyfriends to rot in the sweltering summer heat of NYC

5. Positive thinking

6. CHEAP-ASS HEALTH INSURANCE!!

Yes, it's true! California has great cheap health insurance. All types. Great doctors. Tons of facilities. Low deductibles. Yippee yahoo!! So once I was here, I started shopping around. Blue Cross. Blue Shield. Pacificare. Kaiser Permanente. Who was gonna be the lucky company to get to insure little old me. I even got a broker to help me over the phone, to talk me through the plans, help me understand them. So finally I chose one. Very exciting! One of the higher end plans at a measly cost of $200/month (or something like that). After paying $600/month in NYC for the past two years I was flying high just at the thought of switching plans. Oh the money I would save! I could buy a motorbike!

So the broker sent me the application, and I immediately got under way filling it out. But wait... what is this?... list your pre-existing conditions? But I've never had a break in my insurance so that doesn't matter, right? NOOOOO SUUUZYYYY!!! YYOOUUURR WRROOONNGGG!!! (said the Ghost of Health Insurance Future). In the wonderful state of California, pre-existing conditions come into play when applying for individual health insurance, EVEN if you've never had a break in insurance. Oh crap. Well, I decided to plow ahead. But I'll tell you, if there's one thing that's going to make you feel the worst about yourself in the span of 15 minutes, it's filling out a list of your health history. I have Crohn's disease, but I've been healthy for 3.5 years. (Don't ask, just look it up for god's sake). I also have been in therapy before. And I take a few pills here and there. Nothing fancy. But as the application went on, it became clear that I was bad news in the health insurance world. So I called my friendly broker. "Um..." "Yeah you're gonna be denied." "But..." "Not much that you can do." "Why..." "There's the MRMIP." "The what?" "Yeah it sucks. Keep your New York insurance."

What what WHAT!?? But California!! My love!! My new wonderful home!!! What have you done to me??!! It was not to be. California's phenomenal low-cost health insurance is such because they don't insure sick people. Fact. Well aren't all you healthy people so fucking lucky! Huzzah! And this MRMIP crap. It exists so California can say, "Oh, but we have insurance programs for everyone! No one will be denied insurance here in our wonderful state!" MRMIP costs around $400/month and won't pay out more than $75,000/year. I stayed in a hospital in 2004 for four days and it cost $40,000. Dear MRMIP, I'll be sure not to get hit by a bus. Love, Suzy.

So I've kept my New York health insurance, which lucky for me happens to be Oxford, which happens to be under the insurance umbrella of United Health Care, an LA company. So yay! I pay $650/month (yes, the cost went up last month. woohoo!!), pay $60/month for meds, pay $40 whenever I see my doctors (which is every few months for this lovely Crohn's thing), and every now and then owe money for tests that Oxford won't fully cover. Oh, and by the way, I'M UNEMPLOYED.

The other day I decided to tackle this problem again, because I don't think Oxford will start taking Monopoly money. I remembered that NYC had a Freelancer's Union through which one could get insurance. Well, lookee here! California has one too! And they have insurance benefits! So I call the insurance rep at Pacificare and ask if they will consider pre-existing conditions if I'm applying through Freelancer's Union. He tells me they might but I should try and if they reject me I'll get my money back. He was actually a very nice guy and hooked me up with a plan that cost only $138/month. Aaahhh, but pennies. BUT IT WAS NOT TO BE. I was... DENIED! Sigh... Oh but wait, Pacificare has a plan called HIPAA for people who have been denied coverage due to pre-existing conditions, but who have not had a break in their insurance. Ooh!! That's me!! Oh, but it costs $400-$600/month depending on the plan. Sigh again...

So I might do the HIPAA thing, but for now I'm sticking with my cushy $650/month plan. Dear Mr. Obama, Thank you for winning. Now please hurry up and make health care affordable. Love, Suzy.


I also went to Joshua Tree last weekend. Isn't it pretty? California rules!

How Do Some Writers Know Just How I Feel?

http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2008/11/07/havrilesky/index.html

Thank you Mr. Arons for pointing this article out. :)

Friday, November 7, 2008

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Monday, November 3, 2008

VOTE GODDAMMIT!!!

I know that you have nothing better to do.

http://www.getoutthevote.org/