Dear Health Insurance Companies:

I am writing to inform you that no matter how difficult you make it to use your services; I am going to use them anyway. I am paying your bill every month; I believe that qualifies me to use your services when I deem necessary.

If you require me to look up on your network to verify the doctor is in your network, I will do so. If you require me to get call and get a pre-authorization code to see a doctor, I will do so. If you require my doctor to fax you an authorization request form for future visits, I will make sure my doctor does this.

This, however, does not mean that I am not disgruntled. I am disgruntled.

I am disappointed that you insist upon making it so difficult to receive treatments when you so willingly take my money every month without question. In fact, paying you has never been easier. It comes out of my paycheck before I ever see it. But me using your services has become increasingly difficult. I must call ahead and verify the doctor takes my insurance plan. I must call you and verify I can go see said doctor. I must go online and make sure you are paying claims the way you’re supposed to. And if there is a billing problem, I am expected to liaison between you and my doctor.

While I am tempted to go off the grid and go see a doctor and tell them I don’t have health insurance, I will not do this. I won’t because I am already paying you for the supposed privilege of going to the doctor and having the bill subsidized. To go off the grid is to pay double when I don’t have to, especially since I cannot drop you during the year, except during a 1-week enrollment period. I am stuck with you for a year, whether I like it or not.

Don’t think that you will be able to continue this for long. Things will change. I remember once upon a time, you only charged us for the big scary unexpected medical expenses. Somewhere along the way, this got flipped upside down. Now you will pay for preventive care and wellness visits, but you want us to pay a deductible for anything deemed “unhealthy,” whether it’s found at a preventive care visit or we go in because we are hurt. Once again, you’re shooting yourselves in the foot, because people will now not go to the doctor’s when they should and when they finally do relent and go in, their medical issue might be so much worse. That simple UTI might turn into a bladder or kidney infection, simply because a person is not willing or able to pay $125 to go to a doctor and get a correct diagnosis. Instead, they’ll wait it out, hoping it will get better on its own. Which it won’t.

I do not appreciate the lecture from your representative that this is supposed to encourage us to take more responsibility for our own health so that we don’t go running to the doctor every time we have a sneeze or a sniffle. I am not buying this excuse for the increase in health insurance premiums and deductibles. Increasing the cost of the plan by half a million dollars cannot be due to everyone running to the doctor’s office for every bump, scrape and bruise. I’ve sat in several waiting rooms this year and I can vouch that people between the ages of 20 to 60 are not flocking in with coughs and colds. I have seen only young children and retired folks. Most people are healthy and working and are not going to the doctor’s office at all.

Oh, and by the way, your representative sucked. She seemed like she’d never seen the slide presentation before, and her telling us that we’re “lucky” that our new deductible is so low (only $500) did not make the news any easier to take. Her lack of empathy and understanding of our company was downright painful. She did not convey any confidence in what she was telling us. I wouldn’t be surprised if she quit soon.

I wish you would fess up and just admit why you are increasing your fees. Admit you got into trouble when you paid only for big expense items. Admit your shareholders want more money. Admit the reason you flipped was because you thought if you could encourage people to go in for preventive visits, you could avoid so many large medical claims, but that you over-shot the idea and underestimated how much we all hate going to the doctor’s so you got stuck with big medical claims anyway. And for what it’s worth, if you provided more benefits for mental health services, I think you would see a decrease in big medical claims later on.

But what do I know? I am merely a peon, unable to understand your funny math. I do, however, know that something is very, very wrong with this picture.

Thank you for letting me air my grievances.

Sincerely,

Holly