PookieMD's Blog: Where Physicians Learn About the Business of Medicine

As a small business owner, I buy my own health insurance. Two and a half years ago, my husband went to work at a small cutting edge company that offered only one health insurance option.  It wasn’t a good option for us, so I made the fateful decision that we would pay for our own insurance, believing fervently that the freedom provided by the insurance we would buy would be worth it.

In reality, it was something out of the movie Sicko.

My husband had a screening colonoscopy and removal of two benign polyps.  He was deemed “uninsurable” by several insurance companies I contacted.  (Now, mind you, this is not a obese, tobacco spewing, french fry chewing middle aged man!  This is someone that plays hockey every Sunday with former NHL players, bashes down black diamond ski slopes and jumps out airplanes for fun!)

My daughter was diagnosed with reactive airway disease at age 3, and had 2 ED visits at that age.   Nothing since, and she is now 12 years old.  She was deemed uninsurable because she was on flovent and singulair.  At one time I remember saying to the faceless entity on the other end of the phone, “it’s not like she’s on a vent for God’s sake!  She’s a gymnast.”

Click. Dial tone.

So we ended up buying one insurance policy for my husband, and a second for my daughter and me.  Our combined deductible is $7500/year and we pay approximately $500/month in premiums.  According to NPR, since my husbands lay off, we are under insured as we now pay over 10% of our income to health insurance.

Yesterday we got a notice saying that my husband’s insurance would go up $200/year.  This is the second such notice we have gotten in two years.

So, yes, I support insurance reform.  I pay heartily for the coverage I have, and I have no other options.  I am not saying that all we should have is a single payor system, but I think there should be more options then what is out there.  Health insurance for 3 healthy people is the largest percentage of our budget.  Something needs to change!