How screwed up are our priorities if my health insurance

[Ilsa]

now provides for coverage and a discount for Lasik-tye eye surgery, but fight me on coverage for my autistic son's speech therapy bills? That's right: I can get glamor eyes on the cheap, but my son won't be able to tell me how nice it is that I don't have glasses any more.

[IntiRaymi]

1. And I am at a loss as to why dental insurance is not like health insurance.

[proud2BlibKansan]

6. My dentist hands out pamphlets

that say WHY DENTAL INSURANCE IS NOT REALLY INSURANCE

[IntiRaymi]

15. Then what is it then?

It is a health concern, right?

[Monkeyman]

2. Or they cut your doctor visits

[babylonsister]

3. I'm speechless. That is really messed up. One is a 'cosmetic'

procedure, the other is necessary; priorities are screwed imo.

[vanlassie]

4. Employer Sponsored Plan?

If so, it is the employer who is determining the menu of benefits that you are provided, not the health insurance company.

[Ilsa]

9. Yep.

[proud2BlibKansan]

20. Not really

I used to sit on the committee that negotiated health insurance coverage for our employee group. We generally had very few options. The health insurance company dictated the coverage and the rates.

[jtrockville]

5. Anyone who thinks providers in USA don't ration health care ...

hasn't had an illness/disorder in the family. Good luck wrestling health care for your son out of your provider Ilsa.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

7. Actually I Think It's Awesome That They're Covering Lasik. It's About Time!

But I do find it discouraging that they won't cover your son's speech therapy. They absolutely should. I just 100% find them to be separate issues and completely unrelated for sake of this argument. Whether or not they cover lasik has nothing to do with the fact they don't cover the speech therapy. Their lack of coverage of the therapy is deplorable on its own for its own reasons, while the coverage of the Lasik is honorable on its own for its own reasons.

Regardless, I hope your son does in fact get the help he needs and look forward to the day when all different types of therapies are covered for everyone.

[Graybeard]

8. There is so much denial by the gov't...

...regarding autism. They are trying to hide something IMO.

[KT2000]

21. What they are hiding

on behalf of huge corporations is that autism has an environmental cause. Chemicals are NOT tested for what effect they have on the developing fetus or on young children, whose brains are still developing. This is so chemicals cannot be banned or regulated on that basis.

Quoting the authors of research Lancet: "The combined evidence suggests that neurodevelopmental disorders caused by industrial chemicals has created a silent pandemic in modern society."

http://www.thelancet.com/journals/eop

One in six children has developmental disorders.

They are doing the same thing with hormone mimicking chemicals. Corporations do not want that part of the testing protocol. (Breast, prostate cancers)

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

10. Actually I Responded Too Impulsively Below. You Make An Absolutely Valid Point. n/t

[Ilsa]

12. No sweat. I am glad when anything is added for coverage.

Of course, it took them six months to pay my anesthesiology bill earlier this year. It's not like I had a choice as to whether I was put under for three hours, or even which service to use.

I just hate that the govt hasn't mandated coverage for autistic kids, and not abbreviated coverage. I mean full coverage for all services, including speech, ABA training, etc.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

17. Well Don't I Feel Embarrassed LOL I Meant To Reply To VanLassie Above :o)

The point about the employer sponsored plan was a very good one. It is more than likely that it is your company at fault, not the insurer.

But you did make a good point too in your OP anyway, I just generally always try and separate issues uniquely unless they are explicitly related. But I can definitely sympathize with your argument.

Peace,

OMC

[K8-EEE]

11. My autistic daughter needs gen. anesthesia for dental work

She just cannot do it no matter how much she tries, it's just too invasive for her to have her teeth drilled on. Many autistic people are very very sensitive to touch; even casual touch, if you have seen some therapists touch kids on the arm with a paintbrush and some of them freak out!

Anyhow, not covered my my med or dental ins....cha CHING! For her to get a cavity is like, thousands of dollars because of the general anesthesia.

Autism is very, very draining financially in ways that most people never even think about...

[Ilsa]

14. I know what you mean! We will eventually have to go that route.

My son has been able to get most of the stuff done in the chair, but sometimes the doc has had to stop early because he was becoming too restless. I have an arsenal of drugs, but it is hard to say whether they will work to sedate or rev him up at the wrong moment. Yeah, we're looking at $2-3 grand for anesthesiology and the hospital surgical suite at some point later. I feel your pain.

My husband and I fully expect to retire destitute.

[proud2BlibKansan]

13. Blue Cross refused to pay for hormone shots to treat

my endometriosis because they were also used as a fertility treatment. The shots cost around $100, and I needed 2 shots a year. My doctor sent Blue Cross a letter telling them I had had my tubes tied, was in my mid 40s and couldn't get pregnant. Blue Cross replied with a recommendation for a hysterectomy.

So instead of spending a couple hundred dollars a year for a few years until I went through menopause, Blue Cross paid $38,000 for my hysterectomy.

[Ilsa]

16. Is that

fucked or what? (pardon my language; I'm too angry these days) It's not as if they got to get themselves cut open and go through months of healing, either.

[proud2BlibKansan]

19. Actually I am very glad I had the hysterectomy

I was very very sick. But I still am amazed by their refusal to opt for the more inexpensive treatment. The shots worked. And they were far less risky.

Yes, it is fucked up.

[Reverend_Smitty]

18. Not to mention the pain and healing time you had to endure with an invasive procedure

Something HAS to be done about the state of healthcare in this country

[northofdenali]

22. Our insurance will pay if you're hospitalized with lung cancer.

They won't pay a dime toward smoking-cessation prescriptions or patches. Go figure. A good one is that Zyban, a smoking-suppressant drug (supposedly) is identical to Wellbutrin. Insurance pays for Wellbutrin (antidepressant) but not a dime toward Zyban.................

:wtf:

[originalpckelly]

24. These are some of many reasons health care is so fucking expensive...

There are some things which nothing can be done about, such as the money physicians and nurses make, but there are so many other common sense improvement which could save lives, but are not because of the stupidity of these companies/governments.

[originalpckelly]

23. Actually these types of mandates are one reason...

health care is so fucking expensive. There are states with actual laws which require people to cover birthmark removal! Yeah, about 100 birthmarks removed could save someone else's life.

[mcctatas]

25. They don't cover my autistic son's theraputic listening sessions,

his vision therapy, or his special lenses for his glasses. Thank God my mom is an autism specialist so she exchanges services with his providers, or he would not have mades such dramatic progress. I agree, it sucks, my husband could get viagra(God forbid), I could get colored contacts or meridia for weight loss, but autism care....nope. Of course since it is a disorder with an exponentially increasing rate of diagnosis, it could eat into thier profit margins:rant: