Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Waiting periods

Waiting periods for pre-existing conditions are what I want to write about (I think). I talked a bit about this before, but I have looked some more into it. Most insurance plans, far and wide, will make you wait anywhere from 3 to 6 months or more before they will cover any pre-existing health condition you have. Now, I can understand that an insurance company would not want to have to suddenly pay for hundreds of thousands of dollars of surgery or treatment immediately when that person gets the insurance policy. People could definitely take advantage of the system in such a situation. You have something really bad coming, and the procedures are going to be really expensive. You decide to get X-Company's Insurance to pay for all of it about three days before you actually plan on having the stuff done to you. Insurance companies have to protect their financial butts somehow. Insurance companies can also decide whether or not they want to treat a person who they know is going to charge them $1.84 bazillion and soon.
However, not every pre-existing condition is going to be like this. I, for example, have epilepsy, and I need to take a certain drug twice a day. It is a 200mg caplet that went for around five bucks without insurance four or five years ago. I am sure that number is up now, though I don't know by exactly how much. Anyway, my medicine completely controls my seizures. In fact, today "celebrates" my last seizure, 1 April 2001. I cannot miss a single dose of my medicine or I risk having a really big seizure, possibly to the point of death. Because of how long and strong it was, my last seizure actually probably should have killed me, seriously. Anyway, if I can just take this pill twice a day, I am totally fine and fully functioning. Fortunately my current insurer through my employer requires no waiting period. I'm learning that is the exception and not the rule. When I quit my employer (and believe me, I will quit working at Macey's when I'm done with Provo), I will have to go to another insurance plan. I think, though, that I will have to wait before they will cover my medicine costs. Three to six months is a long time to go without medicine coverage. Unless I get a HUGE refill right before I quit, I will most likely have to get my drugs from Mexico. I did it before, and they worked just fine. (Yes yes, we had that discussion about the reliability of Mexican pharmaceuticals) I will be kind of forced into doing that, though.
I gotta stop rambling. How do I shape my paper to address this issue? I need help.

2 comments:

Suzanne C said...

When you need your meds, let us know...ain't nuthin' like livin' 10 minutes from the Mexican border! BTW, this is the first time I have looked at your blog...I vaguely remember being able to think deep thoughts like you do...when you have oh say 2 or 3 more kids and you are still having these thoughts, I want to know your secret! Because I think my deep thoughts left me after child #2... have a great day and hang in there!

pztpaco34 said...

Most deep thoughts will stop when my class ends, actually. I may actually start posting normal stuff on here. The blog was started for my English class and is a requirement thereof, and we have to write about certain topics.