MAULED BY A BEAR THEN MAULED BY BLUE CROSS

Allena

CA, US

MAULED BY A BEAR THEN MAULED BY BLUE CROSS Last summer, while working on my ranch in the Southern Sierra mountains, I was attacked and badly mauled by a predatory black bear.

Although my face was ripped off, and I was blinded, I was able to make my way back to my vehicle and drive myself down a rutted mountain road to a fire station for help. From there I was airlifted to UCLA Medical Center where a team of nearly a hundred people put me back together in a grueling seven-hour emergency surgery.

That was the easy part. Although I’ve maintained a private individual health insurance policy with Blue Cross of California for thirty (30) years, they have, at every turn of my ordeal, tried to waffle, obfuscate, or outright deny me benefits for medical care.

Because my injuries were mostly to my eyes, my facial structure (including my nose and most of my teeth,) and obviously, cosmetic appearance, my policy “does not cover services,” for putting me back together, and demands 30% co-pays before they will pay for the hugely expensive ($300,000 and counting,) reconstructive surgeries

I need to regain a degree of functionality. I am, not surprisingly, disabled and unable to work. My assets and savings were exhausted long ago, (the deductable and co-pays reset every calendar year and my reassembly is a multi-year project.)

I always thought having a "good" insurance policy was not only my civic responsibility, but would cover my medical expenses should I ever face a catastrophic illness. But it turns out that Blue Cross's $2,500 deductible is actually more in the order of an $11,500 deductible before they kick in for 100% of what they deem "reasonable and customary" care.

Even that determination is subjective and skewered in their favor. All this is on top of Blue Cross's insanely expensive monthly premiums. Twice in the last month, Blue Cross denied payment for ophthalmologic consults I had arranged to see if some of my eyesight can be retained.

Then there is the $600+ per month Blue Cross doesn’t cover in specialized prescription eyedrops I need to save what is left. My other medications are similarly extortionate and not covered. MediCal, for which I now qualify, does not have any participating ophthalmo-plastic, maxilla-facial, periodontic, or reconstructive surgeons here in Kern Kounty who are qualified to do these surgeries.

Nor will they or Blue Cross pay for anesthesia if I DO find someone willing to do them! (There’s nothing like having an acute PTSD episode when you’re trying to lie very still for a delicate bone or tissue graft.)

On the plus side, I DID fight off a bear attack and survive to tell the tale. As I am also the daughter, sister, mother, sister-in-law, niece, and former wife of physicians–and spent my 20’s working in the medical malpractice insurance industry– I am, more than most, familiar with all aspects of this issue--and am convinced that the health "insurance" industry is at the very least criminally incompetent-if not outright corrupted.

Eliminating the seventy-three middlemen between my doctors and my wallet would be a good first step to corralling the mess that is our American health care system. We need a standardized single-payer system.

PLEASE VOTE TO GET THE INSURANCE INDUSTRY OUT OF MEDICINE!

source: http://stories.barackobama.com/healthcare/stories/189195

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