Monday, June 02, 2008

Health Insurance Companies

Big problems in Ohio with some of the health insurers. Dispatch:

When you are sick or injured, you want your doctor to concentrate on making you better and your health-insurance company to pay for the bulk of the care he or she prescribes.

But physicians say they are spending more time trying to convince insurers that a treatment plan is necessary....

....Health-insurance companies say they are trying to control spiraling costs, and questioning doctors' orders is one way to do it. Physicians should have to explain, for example, why they write prescriptions above a recommended dose or order expensive MRIs before prescribing physical therapy.....

It really is horrible that while a patient waits for his/her insurance company to approve his/her cancer treatment, the cancer can actually be taking over his/her body. If your doctor increases your dosage for a medication, a clerk at the health insurance company decides it would cost too much, and you are denied.

While these health insurance companies claim that they are trying to control costs, their real motivation is that to enable the corporation to gain more profits and the CEO to get a larger million dollar bonus. Health insurance coverage is a necessity, but health insurance companies are in business to make a profit. If that means you are denied medical treatment to save your life, just remember the health insurance company will pocket the money they saved.

Many doctors' offices have to employ people who deal with health insurance companies all day. When a medical claim is denied, these doctors' employees get on the phone and plead for the patient. The person working for the health insurance company might actually qualify for a bonus by denying your claim. This is just not right.