How Did I Get Here, Part 6
April 26th, 2006 | by Scott |Or, Insurance
Health insurance had never been a problem for me personally. I had been covered throughout my adult life either through self-employment or by the church I worked for.
Now, granted, I did not have any grandiose notions about the benevolence or the ethics of health insurance companies. For three years BCBS tried to stick us with the bill for Chloe’s birth, despite the fact that Tracy had been covered throughout her pregnancy and delivery. It took years of attorneys, threats of litigation, and stress to get them to pay what they rightfully owed.
When I moved to Michigan and began pastoring a congregation of less than 100 people, the luxury of provided insurance was no longer viable. I now had to secure coverage for me and my family.
Tracy and Chloe were no problem. I got them insured soon after we arrived in Port Huron, although at astronomical rates.
Yet, no one would cover me. I was 34 years old and without insurance. With one child and another one soon to be on the way there was no safety net if something happened to me. I was deemed too much of a medical uncertainty for ANY insurance company to take a risk on me.
Sure, I was overweight with elevated cholesterol. I was on synthroid for hypothyroidism. During the final days of my disastrous youth ministry in Texas, I had taken some anti-depressants. But come on, Zoloft is like candy in our prescription happy society.
But, I was healthy. I had no serious problems. I had never been sick a day in my life. There was no alarming family history of medical problems.
Yet, no one would cover me.
And in the state of Michigan, no one had to. That’s capitalism, friends. Competition is good, right?
3 miles away, across Lake Huron, however, my Canadian neighbors had insurance. They had quality coverage, cheap prescription benefits and access to expert care. Everyone was covered.
Yet, on the streets of America, I was one of 44 million uninsured people. The richest, most powerful country in the world offered little to no protection to its citizens in the event of a medical catastrophe.
The game was driven by HMOs caring more for profit and competition than for patients and care. These organizations proscribe choice and hamstring doctors from providing complete and total treatment.
Fortunately, I found one doctor who made it easier for me to navigate this period. She continually waived large portions of the office visit fee and kept me stocked with samples so that I did not have prescription costs, which would have been sizeable without coverage. To me, she was the epitome of what American health care should be.
Eventually the prospect of what could happen forced my wife to return to work. She works, to this day, for the sole purpose of providing health insurance. Her paycheck usually amounts to less than we pay for child-care. (But that’s another issue, entirely.)
My experience was a wake-up call to see the health care crisis that we face in this country. My first-hand encounter with the heartless pursuit of capitalistic competition was enough to give me pause.
We can spend billions of dollars a minute on a war, we can send rebates and “economic stimulus” checks but we can’t provide better coverage for hard-working Americans?
I became a proponent of health-care reform.
Next-OIL and Lee Camp
For further reading, I suggest Critical Condition : How Health Care in America Became Big Business–and Bad Medicine.
20 Responses to “How Did I Get Here, Part 6”
By Phil Wilson on Apr 26, 2006 | Reply
I am anxiously looking forward to the next one. I just started re-reading Mere Discipleship again in preparation for a class on the Kingdom I’m teaching this summer.
Also, for anyone interested, Lee’s class on atonement at Otter Creek Church is being podcasted. It’s very, very good.
By Jenny Perkins on Apr 26, 2006 | Reply
Scott,
I have been wanting to chime in to just to let you know that I have been enjoying these last several posts. Even though the details of our lives are totally different from each other we’ve managed to start at and end up at the similar places.
Then you wrote Part 6 and our experiences collide. My 3 year old son is unable to obtain health insurance as well. Without going into too many boring details, he does have a risky medical history (not terrible though) but it was only during his first few weeks of life. My husband is a financial contractor and does not recieve benefits. I have come face to face with the same decision Tracy has had to make about going back to work. Right now I still stay home, but when I do go back to work, it will be for the sole purpose of health insurance (that is unless… we elect a president who cares more about health care reform and less about oil =)). My “Republican” ways were once again questioned during this past presidential debate when Kerry would speak of health care reform. I thought, “if this Kerry guy would ensure that my son would actually have insurance, I just might vote for him.” The thoughts that had been engrained in my head that “there is no way to be a Christian and vote for a Democrat” won over and to this day I find myself regreting that decision. It has been such a journey for me too.
I enjoy your blog. I found it though GKB’s but then I realized that your wife and I read a lot of the same “mommy-type” blogs too. You have a beautiful family!
Blessing,
Jenny Perkins
By Tracy3906 on Apr 26, 2006 | Reply
Jenny, that is just unthinkable! Its not illegal to deny insurance to a 3 year old? What about State provided insurance?
If you do have to go back to work, I work as a bank teller 20 hrs a week and receive full benefits for Chase. Do you have Chase there?
Hugs to you,
Tracy
By GKB on Apr 26, 2006 | Reply
Sweet, we should start a club.
I have been uncovered by insurance since moving to Abilene in 2002. I don’t make enough to afford the high cost of premiums through ACU’s insurance (I am only considered a part-time employee, so the option is available to me, but not provided), so I have to rely on the generosity of a friend from church.
But, I’m hopefully moving to a big, fat Democratic state soon, and perhaps coverage will be a little easier to come by there!
Oh, and head’s up: you mess with Capitalism, and you’re going to attract some very interesting readers. Didn’t you know that Jesus Christ was a capitalist?
By Scott on Apr 26, 2006 | Reply
Jenny,
Thank you for commenting. It is unthinkable that you cannot get insurance for a child. It is high time that we admit that the health care industry has failed in this country. I too regret my vote.
By Scott on Apr 26, 2006 | Reply
Greg, good luck with that. I thought living in Michigan would make coverage easier to come by but I was sadly mistaken. Now, anybody can be covered through BCBS but you have to be pretty stinkin’ loaded to get that.
By matt elliott on Apr 26, 2006 | Reply
Our church pays hundreds of dollars each month so my family can have what pretty much feels like major medical. God forbid one of us should actually get sick; I can’t imagine what it would cost us. (Naturally, that’s not the ONLY reason I hope none of us gets sick…)
Funny thing is, I’m learning to be grateful to have insurance at all. What a mess.
Loving the series and am still reading every day even though I haven’t been commenting.
By Jenny Perkins on Apr 26, 2006 | Reply
Scott and Tracy,
It has been such a crazy “insurance journey” for us! There is this state program called Texas Health Insurance Risk Pool that is contracted out through BCBS (which I think you elluded to in your comment to Greg). Not only is it way expensive, but it also has managed to find some creative way to keep Zachary out. You see, the company that my husband works for that contracts him out doesn’t have comprehensive medical insurance (like I said before), BUT it does have a supplemental plan (AKA “crappy”) that is available to all employees and dependents. There is absolutely NO WAY this would be adequate coverage for my child (all it does is supplement hospital stays up to $5000). HOWEVER, since it is open enrollment and they would not deny Zachary, the Risk Pool will not cover him since he can receive benefits elsewhere (some kind of legal non-competing clause they have signed). I know this may be more info that you wanted to know, but you are right… something MUST change. Not only is Zachary a child in this great state of Texas, he is also hearing impaired. I literally find myself screaming at the state “Does anyone not care that there is a 3 year old boy with a disablity in this state that has NO insurance?!” Apparently they don’t.
Tracy, thanks for the suggestion about Chase. I really might look into that. Before staying home, I was a special education teacher. I really enjoyed my job, but it was very draining and with two young boys, I just don’t think I’m ready for that (someday I will be though). However, 20-hours a week as a bank-teller… I might be able to swing that.
Blessing to you both,
Jenny
By Amy on Apr 26, 2006 | Reply
Scott, I haven’t been by here in awhile, so I started at the beginning of your “How I Got Here” series. Reading it backwards was just too confusing!
I appreciate your sharing this story and how you have grown and changed. I see myself in a lot of your words.
On another note, I didn’t realize you lived in Lebanon, too. Were you at College Hills with Johnny and Bruce?
On yet another note, we decided to abandon the traditional insurance route this time around. We just got a very high deductible plan, so we pay a low monthly rate to HumanaOne. This is just for major hospital stays and things we hopefully will never need! And then we pay ourselves monthly into a Health Savings Account.
Any time I see a doc or order contacts or anything like that I pay out of the HSA. It is tax deductible too. This way we don’t feel like we’re throwing tons of money out the window to these insurance companies.
This may be too much info, but I thought maybe it could help someone else with insurance woes like we were.
By scott on Apr 26, 2006 | Reply
Jenny, I’m so sorry that you have to go through this. You are right, something much change.
Amy, I was at Maple Hill. Later, I went to Albuquerque where Bruce was the preacher. Because of my connection to Johnny, I hooked Bruce up with the College Hills opening. Small world, huh? We need to look at HSA’s.
By Amy on Apr 26, 2006 | Reply
Vicki explained all that to me tonight at Youthreach. Funny! She also said you are an excellent speaker. I’d love to hear you sometime.
By scott on Apr 26, 2006 | Reply
Love those Markhams. That’s so nice of her to say that. Check out my podcasts.
By John on Apr 27, 2006 | Reply
I’ve been lucky enough to have insurance all the time and no problem covering my wife or now my daughter. We have had issues trying to get life insurance because of some issues, such as a bad heart valve on my wife.
I have love for the health insurers though mostly through my work experience. I’m in the business office for 5 hospitals and have to deal with insurances all day and it’s not nice. Can’t wait to read the rest.
By Pat on Apr 27, 2006 | Reply
Scott, what a mess. I can’t imagine you not being able to get insurance. Even though we’re at a small church, part of our package is health insurance coverage. Why is it that people that need insurance the most can’t get it? I’ve never thought about this. The rest of us healthy people are paying huge premiums and we don’t avail ourselves of the services all that often. Where is this money going???
When I was teaching here, I had excellent benefits. Even benefits which covered mental health and mental health prescriptions….which I’m sorry to say, it seemed to me that many teachers had to use. It seemed like every teacher and administrator I knew was on Zoloft.
Maybe I need to read that book you recommended to get up to speed on all this. No wonder you’re disgusted!
By Scott on Apr 27, 2006 | Reply
Pat, do read the book. It is excellent.
Also, next week is Cover the Uninsured Week. Check out their website for an event near you. Jenny, if you read this there are several events in Texas next week.
I’m toying with hosting one in Waco but not sure if I have the time or resources to put one together.
http://covertheuninsured.org/
By contratimes on May 2, 2006 | Reply
GKB asks if you knew whether Jesus was a capitalist, assuming, apparently, that Christian capitalists de facto believe Jesus was a capitalist. Of course, there is the latent assumption in GKB’s remark that Jesus was a socialist. Did you know that, too?
Odd that few notice that Jesus might tell someone such as yourself not to live in fear, or resentment. Why are you toiling? Why are you fearing? Why are you fretting? The very lilies of the field do not toil; the very sparrows do not fret about who shall care for them. Why do you worry about who cares for you? And why do you expect others to rise up and minister to your needs? God will provide, no? God cares for the lilies, he cares for the sparrows; the very hairs of your head are numbered. Why are you living in such fear? How did you get so dependent on a system that makes you fear its absence, its removal or collapse? Where is your god, anyway?
Here is my heresy of the day: I know birds, and I know lilies. Anyone with a smattering of knowledge knows exactly how hard each of them works every second of the day. Sparrows live in jumpy, nervous fear; lilies face drought, flood, pestilence, infestation, disease, and blight from spring to fall. Life, believe it or not, is hard. And Jesus has not come to make any of it easier: He has merely taken away our fear, guilt and anxieties.
You set me up in your tease from the preceding post. I thought you would prove to me that capitalism has failed. Your anxieties over medical insurance, and your inability to afford it, are not proof of anything about capitalism. But, let us agree that medical expenses are absurdly high. Is it possible they are high solely because there is such a thing as insurance and medical subsidies? Yes, of course it is. In fact, it is even likely.
Peace.
“Be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. … My peace I give you, but not as the world gives … a peace that passes understanding.”
BG
By scott on May 3, 2006 | Reply
BG, thanks for your reply. I agree with you. As a child of God I have no fear of tomorrow. That is a continual tension I feel between living here and heading there, so to speak.
But for so many, the insurance problem is not a failure to trust in God’s provision for tomorrow, but a current present reality. It is today, and today has too many problems for some people to handle.
Capitalism does work: for those with. For those without: it is a deeply flawed approach to life.
By contratimes on May 5, 2006 | Reply
Scott,
I want to apologize for my comment: the tone is all wrong. Forgive me. I sound belligerent; bellicose.
Life is too short to listen foiks like me.
Be at peace, my friend. Your faith will make you whole.
Gnade
By contratimes on May 5, 2006 | Reply
Yikes! Did I just write “listen foiks like me”? Did I write that wrong?
Peace and mirth,
Gnade
By Scott on May 5, 2006 | Reply
Gnade,
No need to apologize. I have gathered from your blog that you are a pretty decent guy. Freedom to disagree without being disagreeable is a precious gift.