This story will make you hope and pray you don't get sick

[trumad]

My Country tis of thee----sweet land of liberty---oh fuck it!

Dick Turrill was too young to die and too old to save.

He was in desperate need of fast medical care but had an insurance company that balked at providing it.

His battle for life gives disturbing insight into the bureaucratic maze of an industry that holds our lives in its hands.

<snip>
Last June, Dick found himself getting easily winded, having to take three and four breaks just to cut the grass.

Doctors at the University of Florida Shands hospital eventually diagnosed him with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). It is a disorder in which bone marrow produces misshapen blood cells. It often is a precursor to leukemia.

<snip>
The doctors gave him a year to live if he did not have a bone-marrow transplant. It is an elaborate procedure, requiring weeks of hospitalization and months of out-patient care. The cost is about $500,000, according to the National Foundation for Transplants.

Shands could do the transplant but was not on the list of facilities under contract to Dick's insurance carrier, the Mail Handlers Benefit Plan.

<snip>
So Dick went to the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa. He was scheduled to have a port inserted in his chest for chemotherapy infusions, which precede the transplant. But then the insurance company did not renew its contract with Moffitt and Dick had to find another hospital.

That led him to the University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center. Dick says the delay cost him two months.

"Any delays increase the risk of mortality and morbidity," wrote Dr. Teresa Field, a specialist from Moffitt, about his need for quick treatment.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orl-mike-thomas-health-care-071209,0,516363.column

[SmileyRose]

1. THIS is why medical care should be universal

I faced a similar circumstance in 2000. People WITH insurance coverage and all the necessary approval are being jerked around.

God help you if you lose your job while in the middle of a medical crisis - or if they switch to a different carrier - or if your carrier has a contractual battle with the medical providers - or if some desk jockey at the insurance company decided to outlaw you after the fact due to "pre-existing".

[izquierdista]

2. This is why uninsured is better

No false hopes. You don't lose time depending on the kindness of insurance companies and find another country where you can get treatment at a better price.

[nashville_brook]

3. check out the comments to this story if you can stomach it.

people ostensibly read the whole article and responded that this is why "socialized medicine" is wrong.

[MadMaddie]

9. Is is that they are just too stupid to comprehend anything?

This was a health insurance company that screwed this guy.

[slipslidingaway]

4. knr #2 nt

[OhioChick]

5. K&R n/t

[wayfaringstranger]

6. sickening story

Just a bit over 3 years ago, my (late) wife was diagnosed with
ovarian cancer, and referred to a top-rated surgeon, who said
it was imperative she be operated on at once....but....he
didn't take insurance, and his fee would be $35,000.- up
front,please.

We had to find another doctor, covered under our plan,and, by
the time the operation took place, it was 4 months later,by a
surgeon who was not-so-good. She did survive his care -
barely, but the damage was done-and 3 months later she was
gone.

I'm told the medical/insurance establishments are spending 1.7
million a day to prevent any real reform of healthcare.

That makes me a bit testy.

[madrchsod]

7. the people who are against socialist healthcare

should turn down their medicare and buy their own insurance,but i bet they`ll sign up for that socialist medicare as soon as they turn 65

[MrScorpio]

8. I'm sure the people who invested in his insurer were happy with their dividend checks

As long as health insurance is for profit in America, people will needlessly die

[unblock]

10. this is why insurance coverage should relate to ALL care stemming from a single diagnosis.

if insurance companies have the right to cancel contracts, they should still be stuck with the bill for any illness that was first diagnosed under during the period of their coverage.

otherwise, we have exactly this problem, where the insurance companies have an incentive to push out the medical procedures until it's someone else's problem.

plus, there should be a death benefit as well, to avoid insurance companies having an incentive to literally kill the patient through this sort of denial of coverage because it's cheaper.


or we could just get rid of insurance altogether because it's inherently filled with these types of moral hazards on the part of the insurer. just plain government paid medical services would work great.

[salin]

11. but to hear repubs... only a public option would lead to health care rationing. eom