Healthcare

Happy 2017!

I hope all of you had a great holiday season and that your guts behaved themselves and your families and friends were kind and understanding. I’m getting back into my usual advocacy work but lately it’s proven difficult with morning sickness knocking me down. But I’m determined to push through it.

Today, I want to introduce a series I’m starting on healthcare without getting into politics. Colitis Ninja is nonpartisan and neither endorses nor publicly supports any side of the political spectrum. It is our personal belief that you should do your own research in regard to politics and come to your own conclusions based on your findings.

Why I’m Addressing Healthcare

My reason for choosing this topic today is because lately I’ve been running into issues with health insurance when searching for an OB to deliver my baby. I know that mine is not the only instance of trouble when it comes to getting proper care.

A couple of weeks ago, I contacted my surgeon’s office to get his recommendation on an OB. I want to see someone who is familiar with j-pouches and if I have to have a c-section, I don’t want them to screw things up. I got a name and immediately called the office. The first thing I noticed is that the staff was rude. Strike one. The first thing they asked me was who my insurance was with. My insurance isn’t your typical insurance. It’s a health share (more on what a health share is in a later post). Because it’s a little unusual, the OB’s office instructed me to email a copy of my card to them to see if they would take it.

Denied

This isn’t anything out of the ordinary for me. As stated before, my insurance is actually a health share. Up to this point, I’ve had no problems getting in with the doctor of my choice. Most doctors who have dealt with my insurance have raved about how easy it is to work with them. I waited a day and didn’t hear back from the OB’s office, so I called back. Strike two. I was, again, met with the rude office staff who informed me that they didn’t take my insurance. Upset, but determined, I called my insurance.

There have been a few instances where my insurance attempted to work with the doctors’ offices. And so far, they’ve had great success with it (I absolutely LOVE health shares!). This time, they were met with rudeness and lack of cooperation. Strike three.

Why Am I On Health Share Instead of ACA Exchanges?

The short answer is because the Affordable Care Act (ACA) screwed me over in the following ways: terrible coverage, being kicked off the ACA twice, skyrocketing premiums, not getting timely care, unwillingness to work with people with physical disabilities, jumping through hoops to get care, not being able to choose my doctor, not being able to keep the policy I was perfectly happy with, being forced to buy a sucky policy (for more money), the ACA website kept crashing on me… I could keep going. Again, that’s the short answer. I may get flack for this, but I can’t help my experience!

I understand that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has helped roughly 12.7 million US citizens. But what a lot of people don’t realize is that it doesn’t help everyone. ACA was designed to help the entire US population (roughly 330 million).  Both me and my family have had some really terrible experiences with them (see examples above). There are a LOT of other stories out there where the ACA has hindered patients. You can read real stories (both good and bad) here.

Access to Great Healthcare Should Be Available for Everyone

What is my point? Honestly, I couldn’t care less what happens with the ACA. Regarding healthcare, I truly believe that the system is broken and has been for a long time. The best thing, in my opinion, that came out of the ACA is that it covers pre-existing conditions–but care for pre-existing conditions, while not easily attainable, has always been available (more info on that in a later post). Patients should not be short-changed or rejected just because they are slapped with a disease they didn’t ask for. Being sick is expensive. Healthcare and medications should be more affordable.

My ultimate goal in this series, is to help you navigate a hopelessly complex system and to give you power and control over your own healthcare and well-being. Because you deserve excellent healthcare.