by Tricia Stewart Shiu
One bright December morning in 2008, my phone rang and—regretfully—I picked up. It was a woman from my insurance company who began with a less than cordial tone.
"You should have gotten your MRI pre-approved before you had it. Do you understand?" She wasn't screaming, but was close.
My four-year-old daughter, Sydney, sat quietly coloring next to me. I did my best to stay calm.
In August of that year, two close friends were diagnosed with breast cancer. This news drove me into a panic because I have a family history. My mother, aunt, grandmother and great-grandmother all had breast cancer. My aunt died from breast cancer. I immediately called the specialist I'd been seeing annually for checkups and told him I wanted the whole shebang.
The BRCA test—which detects the breast cancer gene—the doctor ordered, was partially covered by my insurance, as was my annual mammogram. However, the MRI, which my doctor had consistently pestered me to get, threw my insurance company—and therefore this woman—into a tizzy.
On March 23, 2010, President Obama put his signature on a landmark Health Care Bill that brought affordable insurance to 32 million people.
Fear ran through my body as this faceless woman invalidated my explanations one after another. The call ended abruptly with her announcing that payment for the MRI—around $8,000—would, most likely, be left entirely up to me. My husband and I had been hit hard by the economic downturn and this would definitely put us over the edge of our hyper-extended finances. I hung up and looked at Sydney.
The new health care bill will immediately affect my ability to appeal any decision made by an insurance company. And through this new bill, I will also have access to a federally subsidized and state run health insurance consumer assistance program.
I have witnessed all of the above mentioned family members battle insurance companies over the years—some more successfully than others. My mother, diagnosed with breast cancer five years ago, was dropped from her insurance and went for several months without.
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It sad to see some people dropped from their insurance.
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