Go Suck Hose Water!

Does anyone else find it absurd that the only people who can get health insurance are the ones who don’t really need it? That’s right—those of us with pre-existing conditions, or chronic diseases, or hideous multiplying warts, or a need to sit on a therapist’s couch, or any other of a host of medical scenarios—we are the folks that insurance companies don’t want to touch with a ten foot pole! (And no, those conditions do NOT all apply to me. If I had warts, I probably wouldn’t cop to having them—at least not in print.)

Let me see if I can put my recent experiences in a nutshell.

-         Workplace closes. Lose job. Move back two spaces.

-         Pay into COBRA for umpteen months with government subsidy signed by the president. (Affordable, thankfully!)

-         Pay into COBRA after government subsidy expires. (Not affordable, but I can squeeze by for a few months.)

-         COBRA expires. Offered HIPAA insurance. (Nowhere near affordable.)

-         Looked for options beyond HIPAA and was offered major risk pool insurance. (Costs more than the HIPAA!)

-         Spent half an hour banging my head against the wall.

Meanwhile, the folks at the insurance company, which shall remain nameless, are practicing their evil villain laughs… MWAAAAAHAAAHAAAAHAAA!

Long story short, (too late), now I wait to see if the government will help me out. As a conservative, this is kind of a mixed bag for me. I believe the government needs to spend less, yet the only possible way I will be able to be insured is if they give me a hand. Ah, sweet irony.

So, to sum up, I am willing to pay reasonable premiums, but no one will insure me unless I pay them in body parts. The health insurance industry has basically told me to go suck hose water.

Lousy aftertaste, hose water.