Notes on My Chemotherapy

Re:Notes on My Chemotherapy by tehwebguy on Friday February 05, 2021 @08:59PM (#26043453)

It's so cruel that it's hard for me to call it absurd. For instance this part from the article:

    Instead, insurance wants to make sure that you really-super-duper-need
    whatever it is they're going to give you, to the point where there's
    basically no way they can say no.

is directly connected to this part:

    And, then, when my company switched insurance providers at the beginning
    of 2021, this nurse service stopped abruptly.

Insurance companies are financially incentivized to not only say "no" to covering treatment but also just to kick the can down the road a bit. The later in the year that they reject an approval the higher the chance that you'll:

1. have to cover part of it in January when your deductible resets,

2. have to pay more toward it than you would when your plan invariably gets more expensive in January,

3. it will be some other insurer's responsibility by then,

4. you die before you incur any more treatment costs.

Truly sick stuff!

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Notes on My Chemotherapy by wholinator2 on Saturday February 06, 2021 @08:35AM (#26046391)

It happened with my mother and her chemo for stage 4 colon cancer. She hadn't worked in years due to being laid off, not having a degree, having an extremely sick child (me) to care for. So she's temporarily working for my father, enough hours to get insurance. But dads company just switched insurances specifically because of the cost of her treatments and now they're drrrraaaaaaaagggggging out the process of getting much needed new chemo as it has grown back. It's easy to look at the situation and assume they're honestly just trying to kill her before they pay. As well it's a drug that would cost over $100,000 for a single course if she were to acquire it with no insurance.

Another point is that our insurance systems are so needlessly complex that there is no single person or pair of people that understand what's actually going on. If the insurance is denying you get trapped in a continuous loop of appeals, approves, offices, pharmacies, prescribers, etc. and no one is able to tell you 1. Why they're denying you 2. What exactly you need to do to not fucking die.

Im sorry but the system had become both absurd and cruel. I keep trying to remind myself that 80 years ago they wouldn't have been able to save her if they tried. It's still better. But to see this carrot perpetually yanked further and further away from you as you slowly lose your ability to keep up or keep going. And then, as the last light dims from your eyes, to see someone sprinting the carrot back to you and attempting to help you as best they can even though you're nearly past the brink.

That is the story I've learned.

Our system does have success stories. It is better than nothing. But any system that has the capacity for such inhumane cruelty in the face (in spite) of genuine humans trying to help sets a dangerous precedent for the future of its society.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Notes on My Chemotherapy by johnyzee on Saturday February 06, 2021 @05:33AM (#26045636)

I suspect that 'nurse service' was basically the insurance company checking that they weren't paying for more than was needed.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Notes on My Chemotherapy by spopejoy on Sunday February 07, 2021 @02:02PM (#26057208)

It's actually worse than that.

> The insurance company even assigned me a nurse to "check in on me" as a resource back in November and December, which sadly was more of a nuisance than anything else.

Sadly but at least that's all it was. These nurses will try to FUD you out of critical treatments, or "suggest you ask your doctor" if they're sure something is really covered. I nearly had a major treatment go seriously off the rails where I'd need to go to another hospital, before my doc's hospital was like, "wait, no, there's no problem, that's totally covered."

They spam you constantly on the phone too even once you're hip to their game. Stay away.

[ Parent | on HN ]