HMO

I guess I was naive. I foolishly believed that my insurance company actually cared about my health. This is no longer true. I have found out the cruel truth about my insurance company. I am no longer that foolish naive woman who believed in the insurance company wanting to improve your health and help save your life from a life-threatening disease.

I pay my premiums. Every 2 weeks it is taken out of my paycheck and sent to the insurance company. And I, in my naivety, believed their "Vision" statement. I believed what I read in the handbook.

When I was diagnosed with the disease, Morbid Obesity, I tried everything that was available to combat it. Even to the point of taking prescriptions diet medications. All to no avail. After talking to my PCP about my illness and all the co-morbities that I have, she referred me to several specialists. There are a total of 4 doctors that have recommended that I lose weight and/or have bariatric surgery. It was not an easy decision to make. The thought of surgery terrifies me. But I am more afraid to not have it because without it, I will die. That is the plain and simple truth. Without the surgery, I will die. After I realized that I did not want to die, I took all the doctor's advice and decided to pursue having the surgery.

Little did I realize that my insurance company would rather see me suffer and die, instead of trying to help me. I was shocked. I was depressed. Then I was angry. What right did "an accountant" have to sentence me to death? Apparently, they feel they have every right to play GOD. They feel they have every right to decide who will live and who will die.

This was not a request made frivolously. It was not made out of "vanity". It was not made uninformed. This was a request made to save my life.

After the doctor informed me that the insurance company denied my request for this life-saving surgery, he told me I have the right to appeal.

I made copies of some of my hospital visits and got a printout from 1 of my pharmacies showing how much has been spent over the last 3 years just to have my health deteriorate more and more. I sent them a copy of an x-ray report taken during yet another hospital stay for chest pain, saying that I may have the beginnings of cardiac discompensation, which are fancy words for heart failure. I explained to my insurance company about my family history, and told them that if the course of this disease is not interrupted, I had maybe 10-20 years left to live.

It made me feel like a beggar. Like dirt under their shoes, begging for a chance to live. Still they denied again.

Now I am working on my next humiliation. You notice I no longer call it an appeal, because it doesn't feel like an appeal. It feels like I am begging them to stop throwing the dirt on me in my grave while I am still breathing. Even before I get their denial, I already know what they will say.

The sad part is, since I found out the truth about my insurance company, I have been doing a lot of research and have found a lot of horror stories about "Murder by HMO". And the HMOs are getting away with it! If I walked down the street and killed someone, I would go to prison and possibly be put to death for my crime. But the HMOs are allowed to commit murder every day and are not held accountable for it.

I believe that the laws NEED to change. I believe that the HMOs need to be held accountable for every murder they commit. And the best way to hold them accountable, in a way that they will feel it, is monetarily. I believe that will be the only way to stop having their accountants decide who will live and who will die.

I overheard someone say the the HMOs determine the health of America. I would not have believed that in my naive days. But now I know that is true. I've even been working on a website that goes through all me feelings and emotions about the bad turn my life has taken. It is www.the-end-commeth.0catch.com

Thank You

Submitted by: Kathi Angel