Matter of Life and Death

From the St. Petersburg Times (12/9/09):

Matter of life, death
By Robert Steinbeck

 I am scheduled to begin dying on Feb. 1, 2010.

Although I have been an insulin-dependent Type 1 diabetic for 22 years, my health has always been very good. My condition has never impaired my enjoyment of life; I've never had a diabetic emergency.

Luck, of course, has played a part, as has educating myself about diabetes management. By far, though, the single most critical element of my vitality has been excellent health insurance coverage.

That will end on Jan. 31, the day my COBRA insurance benefits run out.

I worked for 24 years for the Miami Herald. We parted ways in July 2008 during a staff-reduction effort. I have been unable to find work since.

I continued my insurance coverage under COBRA, paying the entire $579 monthly premium.

Aetna has notified me that when my COBRA eligibility expires, it will not insure me for any price. Why not? The company didn't say, but the answer is obvious: my "pre-existing condition" isn't profitable...

...It's hard not to notice the irony of the debate in Washington over health insurance reform...Some who describe themselves as prolife say they will oppose the bills if there is even a hint of funding support for abortion rights. The American Journal of Public Health estimates that 45,000 people die in the United States each year for lack of health insurance coverage. Failure to pass health care reform is going to kill a lot of people like me — so how exactly does defeating health insurance reform qualify as prolife?

Some say they won't accept a so-called government-option health insurance plan. I don't understand people who fear government bureaucrats — who have no profit motive and ultimately must answer to the people — yet feel fully at ease with corporate bureaucrats whose sole interest is the bottom line and answer only to shareholders.

Thirty-nine U.S. senators voted to kill the reform bills without so much as a debate. All but one House Republican opposed the bills. Additionally, many provisions in the bills won't kick in for years, and the Obama administration insists that reform be revenue neutral. I'm scheduled to begin dying in two months. One of America's political parties doesn't want to talk about it, and the other fears taxes and is in no apparent hurry to solve the matter.

>>> For more

Comment Below: Mr. Steinbeck, we feel your pain and we share your fears. There are so many of us who have similar stories or who have loved ones who have walked that same path. Share your stories below; better yet, share your stories with your congressmen.

Comments

[CAROL LOEFFLER]

That happened to me. Fortunately because you are exhausting your COBRA benefit you are eligible for insurance through HIPPA. This guarantees insurance for anyone denied insurance because of health. The benefit cost is the same for the insurance companies in the HIPPA plan. We had Blue Cross PPO.
As with COBRA, iIt is expensive but it is medical insurance.

WHATEVER YOU DO...DO NOT GO WITHOUT INSURANCE.
HAVING NO INSURANCE CURRENTLY IN PLACE MAKES IT IMPOSSIBLE TO GET THE HIPPA INSURANCE.
STAY ON COBRA AND APPLY FOR HIPPA INSURANCE.

IF YOU CAN'T FIND THE INFORMATION SPEAK WITH A MEDICAL COMPANY FOR THEIR APPLICATION. I HAD TO DO THIS SEVEN YEARS AGO SO I DO NOT REMEMBER EXACTLY WHAT AGENCY I USED TO APPLY.

[CAROL LOEFFLER]

US DEPT OF LABOR INFORMATION
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)
http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq_consumer_hipaa.html

THIS IS COPIED FROM THIS SITE TO HELP YOU IN YOUR INVESTIGATION FOR HOW TO APPLY
How does HIPAA apply when changing from group health coverage to an individual insurance policy?
HIPAA also protects those who are otherwise unable to get group health insurance.
The law guarantees access to individual insurance policies and state high-risk pools for eligible individuals. They must meet all of the following criteria:
Had coverage for at least 18 months, most recently in a group health plan, without a significant break;
Lost group coverage but not because of fraud or nonpayment of premiums;
Are not eligible for COBRA coverage; or if COBRA coverage was offered under Federal or state law, elected and exhausted it; and
Are not eligible for coverage under another group health plan, Medicare, or Medicaid; or have any other health insurance coverage.
The opportunity to buy an individual policy is the same whether a person quits a job, was fired, or was laid off.

[Daniel Stark]

Hi Robert Steinbeck,
My name is Daniel Stark and I feel for you and hope you can get the medical care that you require. I was in a similar situation with my old doctor when I got hurt on the job and totally blew out my L-5, S-1 disc. My Aetna insurance refused to help pay my doctor bills after the DHL Freight company here in Corpus Christi, Texas refused to pay for the work related injury, they also pay the lowest wages to their drivers compared to U.P.S., FedEx, $7.00 to $8.00 an hour, they have went out of business here recently. My old doctor refused me service after that. I tried to go back with him the first of December 2009, and after making an appointment and waiting for an hour and agreeing to pay the backpay for the visits that Aetna refused to cover after the company refused to cover the work related injury, he once again refused me service! I have been suffering ever since. On medicaid I have never received the proper medications, and now with medicare the same thing is happening.
I was able to get S.S.D., due to herniated discs and A.D.H.D., P.T.S.D., and have after two years just received medicare along with my medicaid, but the doctors don't want to treat my illness due to the medications being controlled by the government. So at this time I am a basket case and due to my herniated disc's lay on the floor or in bed sixteen hours of the day, then I am on the computer for a while.
Keep trying and surf the internet to find out information on what you can do. But take it with a grain of salt, as Medicaid says they will pull a infected tooth if need be, I have seven, and the dentists refuse saying that my roots are curved, and that they only do simple extractions. A tooth extraction is a extraction period. Medicaid and Medicare are not what they say they are cracked up to be. My Medicaid support nurse after I told her my problems told me that it is between my doctor and myself. Who can you trust today? I research a lot of programs for the disabled on the internet and have made hundreds of calls and can get no help for discrimination from one of the largest hotels chains in the nation with hotels in numerous other countries. I currently have a federal case with pro se status due to no legal aid with extremely visible disabilities, yet even at the federal level they have been whittling my discrimination case into the ground with falsehoods and misrepresentations of the facts even going so far as to question the numerous doctors medical reports dating back to 1994. Also sixteen years of doctors reports to get my Social Security Disability in three different states. Figure that one out. Only in the State of Texas where one mentally ill person in a group institution dies every three days, and Texas leads the country with one child in three being unable to get the proper nutrition they need.

[Joni Pinkney]

Mr. Steinbeck, I feel for you! Thank you for speaking out so clearly and eloquently! With voices like yours maybe we can persuade the sheeple to allow the US gov't to provide the sort of health care that the rest of the developed world enjoys.

I hope you can at least get medicare. While not as good as COBRA, it is adequate in some places for some ailments. In fact, I believe that simply allowing medicare for all (after all, we all pay into it) would be a good start to resolve the health care debate.

You made some excellent points in your essay. Keep up the good fight! - JP

[Eric Henzler]

I too am on COBRA that will expire next Sept. Luckily(sort of) I am on disability and can get Medicare when it expires. In any case, I will be 65 in Nov. Here's my dilema. My wife is 3 years younger than I am. She too has some pre-existing conditions and I wonder if, because she was covered under my COBRA,she will be eligible for HIPPAA?

[CAROL LOEFFLER]

Yes. ONLY if she exhausts her COBRA benefit. You would want to contact the insurance representative to apply for HIPPA when it gets close to ending the COBRA since there is a time limit on when you must apply. All the plans that are offered cost the same so you select the one you want.

http://www.healthinsuranceinfo.net/

This one is a very good site if you are from CA. If not, perhaps they can direct you to your state site.

Medicar doesn't pay for everything. So a supplemental is worth it for you. I don't know which ones are better than others but make sure you decide carefully if you are going to a traditional fee for service, PPO or HMO supplemental since there are different coverage restrictions for each.

http://www.healthhelp.ca.gov/dmhc_consumer/hp/hp_hipaacp.aspx