Occupation:: Customer Service Supervisor

I currently have private health insurance with a health care company who I have been employed by for 10+ yrs. After two years of appeals and negotiations my insurance finally agreed to approve a neck fusion. Not only did they take so long to make a decision they also denied claims submitted by my specialist for authorized services ( I appealed this as well). I have been in a great deal of pain and also have had numbness and tingling just waiting for approval of my surgery. The surgery was finally approved during the holidays but unfortunately MD was not able to perform the surgery until the new year and they also mentioned to me since the insurance took so long I needed a new MRI (more money out of pocket). I also have a huge deductible that I pay out of pocket, that MD’s office said I would also have to pay this up front before the surgery. When I called to schedule the MRI and my surgery I was informed by my MD’s office that I have been in care with for 12+ years that they were no longer contracted with my employer/Insurance and I would need to find a new provider. This is devastating to me and so unfair! To think of all the time, effort and money I have spent to have to start all over. I pay for my insurance! Where are my rights!? Who cares about my health? Please help!

Occupation:: Student/Employee

I work retail and go to school as well, I found out after being hired that because I was short of being considered full time (5 hours at most), I could not get full time employee benefits which included health care coverage. My job also did not make this apparent to me when they hired me, even with me asking questions regarding this topic. Since then I have had an emergency room visit, (which I have to pay out of pocket) and because of my anger of the situation refuse to pay it. It’s been about 2 years now.

Occupation:: Homemaker

My husband wants a divorce. My health insurance is through his job. Will I lose my health insurance when we divorce or will I be able to continue to be covered under him?

Diagnosed in 1979 at the age of 19 with narcolepsy and what today is known as ADHD, I was treated with Desoxyn and my 2.0 GPA doubled overnight… I went from Secondary Ed major to Communications to Aerospace Engineer… Working for NASA… In 2002, I moved to California and because Desoxyn is Methamphetamine HCI, a physician accused me of “SPEED ABUSE”, as I was to discover 18 months later when my inability to get treatment for narcolepsy/ADHD had forced me to apply for SSDI. Once on Medicare, I was able to find a physician to treat me. I went back to work but my treatment stopped and a sleep attack during a meeting put my job in jeopardy and I was let go.

Recently, I spent six months waiting for a clinic to treat me. But they didn’t. They billed Medicare but never provided treatment or testing. During the course of 6 months, I was incorrectly diagnosed with schizophrenia and the treatment they provided resulted in serious anxiety. Doctors I have never seen send me bills and bill Medicare. This is not the way it used to be.

If we want decent healthcare for the next generations, we need to provide the younger generation with medical and pharmacological training in grades K12 and have individuals citizens take a greater share in their healthcare treatment. We need to revolutionize drug policy, replacing the fear, ignorance, and shame with knowledge discipline, and trust, expanding medicinal use of drugs and reducing the social use, limiting abuse potential. The more medical education that the public has, the more effective providers will become in research and advancing medicine.

Occupation:: Law Student

Absolutely disgusting that I can’t get insurance for cheaper than $320 per month.

About my general Health:

I am a 27 year old female. 5’2″, 105 pounds. I have never smoked in my entire life, never had an alcoholic beverage. I only drink water and lots of it. In short, I am a health nut. I have been to the doctor 3 times in the last 8 years for routine exams.

I haven’t eaten fast food in 10 years. I am a runner and athlete, and have never had a heath problem until last year. I fell from an indoor rock climbing maze when the person holding my rope let it slip. Now I have a small pain in my lower back that showed up every 3 months. After an MRI at the request of my Dr. they found a slightly herniated L4 disc. No biggie. I have been doing exercises and haven’t had pain in a year.

I have been unable to get approved for health insurance that is under $320 per month. I am a full time law student, building law school debts and am struggling to pay for rent, food, utilities, books and tuition.

I find it is absolutely disgusting that someone as healthy as myself is unable to be insured at a reasonable rate because of a small condition that hasn’t caused pain in 3 years.

I am currently uninsured because of this.

I immediately contacted the hospital to see how much his procedure would cost in total. I was told that without insurance, this procedure would cost over $100,000. This news was devastating to me, as I did not know how or where I could come up with this kind of money in a short period of time. Faced with such incomprehensible anguish, I decided to proceed with the operation in 4 days and then immediately file for bankruptcy protection. This worst-case scenario would at least alleviate my physical pain and then I would deal with the financial ramifications later.

After a few hours of considering this option,I decided that there had to be a better and more responsible option. I then turned to the Internet to search for possible answers. This is where I learned the idea of obtaining my surgical procedure outside the U.S. by a highly qualified surgeon at a highly reputable hospital at a fraction of the cost in the U.S. It’s called medical tourism. This appeared to be a possible solution to my suffering.

It’s too bad I had to travel outside of the U.S. to receive my procedure.

I am now doing fine and have eliminated my pain…no thanks to the U.S. healthcare system.