Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Time for an Editorial

Health insurance is always in the news and with an election coming, the Republicans and Democrats are busy debating what is best to cure our country's problem with being able to afford health care. As a Republican, I cannot endorese anything that the government runs. It is plain and simple. They will screw it up.

However, I do believe that there has to be a way for everyone to get health care. I cannot encorse a system that allows people to suffer or die because they are out of work or underemployed. For the most part, I do believe you should earn what you have, but when I hear a kid in my kitchen say they need an operation, but their parents can't afford it, my heart breaks. I heard that last week. The little girl can't hear.

Insurance companies are now playing doctor. In order to fuel their profits, they have decided to change the doctor's prescriptions to cheaper pills. It was a bit ironic yesterday when Laura told me that she was recovering from surgery WITHOUT her pain pills because the type her doctor prescribed wasn't covered and she had to wait a day to get the doctor to rewrite it. That is a night of severe pain because her doctor cannot know what each insurance company covers!

Two hours later Joe returned from the pharmacy to tell me that TWO of my prescriptions were not filled. I have taken both in the past, but the insurance company recently decided not to cover them because they are expensive. The pharmacist said she had to call my doctor and request that I be changed to other drugs. I am furious because I already took the "other drugs" and one didn't work and the other interacts badly with my other medicines. So now the insurance company doesn't have a complete list of what I am taking and they will mandate drug changes that could end up to be dangerous for me.

Catie recently needed some eye drops for an infection. The insurance company wanted to switch the prescription. When I called the doctor, he said the drug they offered would not work as well. I paid in full for the right drug.

It has come to a point where profit is overriding good quality medical care. This is when we need a law. There is a reason we go to the doctor. He or she prescribes what we NEED to get well. I cannot get over Laura suffering last night. It is wrong.