I know that writing a blog is usually done on a more regular basis than once a month. However, this is not easy for me. I am caught in the web of concerns that are vast and influence that is limited. So, when I write each month, I try to share whatever has risen to the top of the pile. Lately…and actually for a very long time, the healthcare debate has kept me up as if I am watching the World Series in the 14th inning. Yes, the players are exhausted, most of us have lost track of who should win, the losers and winners all look alike…and most of all, no one is paying attention to the millions who could not afford to buy a ticket to the game.

What is really haunting me is what is not being talked about. For example, my brother, who works with many insurance companies, long ago told me that ones insurance is only as good as 30 days, between premium payments. And, the paid premium buys the 30 days and the unpaid premium lurks in the dark so that if the payment is one day late, the insurance company can cancel the policy and we would have to start over. Further, 30 days is the real length of the binding contract where you can count to some degree on the terms of the insurance you understand.
What this really means is that you and I are living premium to premium with some degree of security, which can be interpreted in many ways.
Years ago, I sent in a healthcare premium on the Monday prior to Thanksgiving. The check got caught up in the flood of holiday mail. It posted not when it was postmarked, but when the insurance company had time to post it. They posted it on the second of the month. It was due on the first of the month. Our policy was cancelled. Period. Cancelled. Also, we couldn’t reapply for six months. No discussion. No options. Nothing. To say we were upset is a gross understatement. I called the company, pleaded on the basis of three years of on time payments and low utilization…nothing. “They” could do nothing.
Another time, we were with Great Republic Life Insurance. The policy for two of us was $227/month. We, at that time, were in our early 40’s. Every month we paid on time. I then get notification of a fee increase effective in 30 days. The premium was being increased to $587/mo. I called the agent and asked her to find new insurance… that would, of course, require another medical history and time to check. Fortunately, we had not even used the policy. We had had it for three years. Within the month, Great Republic cancelled the whole master policy, leaving 40,000 people without insurance. It made “60 minutes” …so many of the 40,000 people had cancer, heart conditions, were diabetic…were trapped in the prison of pre-existing conditions.

This discussion about healthcare reform is absurd. No one is willing to say that the current system buys everyone with insurance 30 days and those who are un-insured never get into the ball park.

While the problem seems unsolvable, the reality has yet to be clearly stated so every person in the country who is fighting to the status quo gets what exactly they have. The problem is hardly the doctors. Their fees are relatively low. The problem is not the hospital…after all; they have to cover their costs no matter where the money comes from. The problem is not the attorneys because who else is going to advocate for patients who are victims of either faulty care or insurance companies who claim they do not have to pay. The problem is not the patient? Hmm. Right now that has not come up directly. But, clearly the best way to manage the healthcare system is to not use it.

What if we were playing a shell game and the pea was not under any shell? It may not matter which one we pick, because the game is set up for us to lose. I would rather change the rules so that at least patients and families had the upper hand. Oops! This could be considered heresy! That patients and families would actually have some stake and control at the table of this debate would be a major change. So major that maybe all the players would start working together. In truth, when it comes to illness, life threatening diseases, accidents that render us at first helpless and then trapped in the needs that follow…when it comes to all of these terrible events we all dread…then the shell game should be stacked so that there is a pea under every shell…so that patients and families cannot lose..…but have ample support among the best available.