Reply #132: My wife and I can't get private insurance. Period.

[hunter]

We've been on the wrong end of COBRAs too.

Insurance companies do everything they can to exclude people with chronic health problems.

Our current insurance, a group plan, is essentially a catastrophic policy. Every year we go over the limit, more than $10,000 and maybe closer to $15,000, and that's in addition to the obscene premiums we pay.

I honestly don't know what the point of my insurance card is. Yeah, it's something they can copy when I first see a healthcare provider, but when I meet them we both know we're going to get screwed over one way or another by the insurance company.

No matter how crappy I feel, I always try to be cheerful with doctors and nurses and therapists, because then maybe they will see me again even if the bills haven't been paid.

It's long reached the point where I simply don't give a damn about money. If a medical bill goes to collections and I start to get calls, so what? Once the collection agencies realize you simply can't care anymore, then they suddenly become less nasty dealing with you, like maybe if they are nice to you they'll you'll put them on the list of people you send partial payments to every month.

But I get so tired of it. I hope the U.S. gets a healthcare system of the sort all civilized nations have before I qualify for medicare, either by age or disability. Or maybe I'll get lucky and find a job with excellent health care benefits, although those seem to be getting rarer these days.