Kevin Tracy

This is the first of a series of posts I’m going to write about the topic of privatization. Nobody is going to like what I have to write. I’ll be accused of betraying the Republican Party, conservative principles, and everything else under the sun. Perhaps somebody along the way will skip the name calling and convince me I’m wrong about the conclusions I’m reaching. It’s happened quite a few times before, as it should happen to any open minded individual interested more in truth than politics or ideologies. In my defense, I will say this. I am still a Republican, but more closely in line with the ideas of Theodore Roosevelt than the modern Republican Party. Libertarians and today’s Republicans argue that the government is the biggest threat to our liberty to the exclusion of all others. I would disagree with that because, at least in our society, it seems like our liberties, freedoms, and economic security are also endangered by large corporations. The only difference is that these corporations play a bigger part in our everyday lives and there’s no democratic system in place for the people to change their abusive, unfair policies.

A couple years ago, I reflected a bit on my life-to-date and asked a very interesting question.

“Who has screwed me over more? Private corporations or the government?” As a pretty staunch Republican at the time, much more so than today, I was a little surprised by the answer. I’ve gotten screwed a lot worse and a lot more often by the private sector. I have a feeling that most of us who have stayed on the right side of the law probably feel the same way, even if some of you will never admit it. I haven’t talked about this a whole heck of a lot, but when I do, the most frequent response I get is that I get screwed every paycheck when I pay taxes. I usually reply that it’s not getting screwed. I pay taxes; which in turn pay for government services our democratically elected representatives democratically decided that we needed. In fact, I’m getting a pretty good bargain because Americans aren’t even paying close to enough for all that we’re getting (some people call it debt, I prefer to think of it as stealing from China).

What’s really inspired this series is the horrible service I’ve received from my former health insurance company, Humana. On Christmas Eve of 2010, I became really ill. You know that scene in the Exorcist when the puke was flying everywhere? Well, that was me, my bathroom (where it started), the laundry room, and my bedroom for twelve consecutive hours. I couldn’t even chew on ice chips without vomiting. After being up all night vomiting continuously (and otherwise becoming dehydrated in ways you don’t want to hear about), I realized that I needed to go to the emergency room to get an IV (or four) and some sort of pill to ease the nausea.

I waited in the emergency room for three more hours, puking just as frequently and scaring everybody else in the room out.

Once I got into one of the emergency rooms and had a nurse take my temperature and blood pressure (both were understandably high), I waited another hour for a doctor to approve an IV and some other sort of medicine for the nausea.

After another half hour, I was wheeled out of the emergency room and into the emergency hallway (I still got billed for an entire room for the entire time I was there).

Thankfully, about 17 or 18 hours after this started, my body was getting hydrated again courtesy of the IVs; and the nearly constant projectile vomit was finally over.

According to my Humana plan, I had to pay something like $75 at the hospital for an ER visit and then a $1,000 deductible followed by 25% of what was left. At first, Humana did what they were supposed to do. They covered everything my deductible didn’t. Then, about three months later, I got a letter from Humana saying they changed their mind and they weren’t going to pay everything they said they were going to. Somehow, that resulted in me paying roughly $3,000 of about roughly $4,000 in medical bills. Mind you, I’m an unemployed college student at this time, but thankfully my GI Bill provided a necessary source of income so that I didn’t have to max out my credit card (I hate using credit cards). I finally, and proudly, paid off the medical bills in December 2011 (a few months early). I can also proudly say that I paid off my car during this same time (that’s a whole other story). Granted, I had to cancel my health insurance after this because it was the only way I could afford to pay off the medical bills they left me with (IRONY!), but it wasn’t worth paying $250 a month for unreliable insurance like Humana. It actually would have been more affordable to save just $150 a month for all that time and then just pay my bills with cash.

Well, last week (27 January 2012), I received another letter from Humana. They changed their mind… again. They decided they don’t want to pay a dime of my medical bills, leaving me with over $1000 more to pay the hospital. Of course, the lovely people who work for Porter Memorial Hospital just gave Humana back the money no-questions-asked and now I’m waiting for a bill. Humana provided absolutely no feedback explaining their decision to do this 13 MONTHS after the service was provided.

Which begs the question: How can any American household have any sense of financial security when an insurance company can randomly take back any medical payment for any service they partially covered for any number of years in the past? I was a pretty big opponent of socialized medicine three years ago. My position has changed. Even if everything said about rationed care and death panels was true (it’s not), I would rather take my chances with a slightly lower level of quality than live the rest of my life in fear that I might be charged for a service a former health insurance provider decides not to cover (after telling me otherwise).

Several people now have told me to seek legal action against Humana and I’m damn near ready to. But let’s be honest. I’m a lower-middle class American who is in the process of buying his first house. I can’t afford a legal team big enough to take on a multi-Billion dollar corporation like Humana. All I would be doing is wasting time I don’t have (because I have to work) and money I don’t have (which is why I’m working). There are arrogant SOBs that are so out of touch with the real world, like Mitt Romney, who say that corporations are people. REALLY? By that logic, I should have the same ability to walk into Porter Memorial Hospital, ask for my $3000 back, and tell them to send the entire $4000 bill back to Humana because I don’t want to pay it more than they don’t want to pay it.

Free-Marketeers will argue that Humana will go out of business if they treat their customers like this, so it will all work out in the end.

Really?! I’ve been seriously ripped off by Humana. I’m sharing my story with the world. Yet tomorrow, people will continue to sign new policies with Humana. No corporation that currently uses Humana will drop Humana because they’re ripping off a former customer. Even if somehow this blog post is miraculously read by every American; and Humana goes bankrupt for ripping off thousands of customers; it does nothing for me, who Humana stole thousands of dollars from and has no realistic course of legal action.