Costs...chicken or the egg

[Lisa]

My husband's company, through which we pay $700+/mo for health insurance through Aetna, has been trying to find a new insurance carrier for several reasons. But on each application has been "Do any of your employees or families have cancer?" Believe it or not, out of around 125 employees plus families, I'm the only one with cancer. So because the answer to the question is "Yes" they have been turned down by all. Legal? Moral? Flat our wrong??

So let's follow this trail. The insurance companies, who are now charging outrageous premiums to employees and paying less and less to doctors will NOT cover more than 200 people if ONE has cancer. The insurance companies are having to pay more for treatments due to doctors and hospitals increased costs. Doctors and hospitals are charging more because the drug manufacturers are charging more. Although they say they are charging more for research, former FDA officials have disagreed, saying most new drugs are simply new versions of old drugs. Marketing is where the big budgets are, not R& D.

Now don't get me wrong. I gotta love my chemo. And I'm very fortunate that my husband's job allows this treatment. But when he starts looking for a new job (very soon), the first question he will ask is "What is your healthcare coverage?" And will the company ask back, "Do you or any member of your family have cancer?"


So, where does this end? I guess the poor will get poorer and sicker and the rich will as well.

Love and light,

Lisa