RANT about politicians and lobbiests

My son has Asperger's Syndrome. (High functioning Autism). In Tennessee we have no insurance coverage mandatory through private insurance. 29 of 50 states has passed Autism Insurance Reform. If I was on state insurance I would get all the services I need. Because I am with a company and we have Cigna, I get no coverage at all. Zero.

I have started a petition (Tennessee Autism Reform Petition) to get support. I am almost to the 1000 goal I set to take to the state legislators on Monday.

Here is the rub. The lobbying group that is supposed to be so big on this has done nothing since 2009. They say there isn't enough support. Strange thing is I never heard about them trying to do anything. We have 3 major insurance companies in TN and I know why nothing got done on that level. One of my petitions supporters told me today that everyone was going to wait till Obamacare in 2014. The thing is if Obama looses that is the first thing that will be killed.

So a heavy Republican state is waiting on Obamacare to cover what other heavy Republican states have passed? WTF. If I am on the state dime I get coverage and if I am working and busting my ass I get zilch? In a Republican run state?

I hate all these bastards and hope they get gang raped by the 94 Raiders.

Yup.. makes them look as they pander to the right. They can officially say they are against Obama Care and do nothing at all.

So the insurance they set up, and tax payers pay for, will cover it. Very Democrat, but if it is private insurance your screwed?

I know plenty of people in such organizations who have a mantra of "wait 'till Obamacare!". It's frightening.

Sorry about your son's condition, but this is FAR greater then just Autism. Mental illness as a whole gets screwed from private insurance. I would say 90% of the patients I have seen during this psych nursing rotation are on Medicare/Medicaid.

Sorry, man. That sucks.

I'll leave it at that for fear of making someone angry.

I've been in insurance and healthcare for about 25 years. The majority of people go through most of their life with minimal need/use of healthcare - for those who actually have a need, the system of care and coverage is pretty berkeleyed up. If the majority of folks had to actually deal with healthcare on your level, some kind of meaningful reform would have happened a long time ago.

Sorry you're family is going through this.

Would it be worth moving to another state?

Friend of mine has a son with Asbergers. She dreads the day he turns 18 and all the state aid dries up. Basically, they will pay most everything he needs as a minor.. but as soon as he is an adult.. the state no longer cares

The spectre of Obamacare (carefully delayed until after the election so that the expense won't show up on Obama's watch) is enough to make a lot of businesses wait to see how things will shake out before they make definitive plans that might get changed. I understand their position but as you say, it really sucks for the people in the middle.

Insurance companies and even ObamaCare (if it's instituted) are driven by numbers that determine coverage. NIMH (National Institute of Mental Health) estimates 3.4 out of 10,000 kids are afflicted with Aspergers. The Mayo Clinic has a more conservative figure of 2 out of 10,000.

As painful as the consequences are, those aren't numbers that are going to sway the bean counters and it doesn't matter if they're employed by industry or government. Private companies won't do anything now because they're holding funds until the big expenses occur when the reforms take hold. With federal monies disappearing as quickly as it's printed, ObamaCare is going to run into the ditch very quickly, too.

FlightService, I am truly sorry for the pain your family is suffering.

Having lived in Tn. until January of last year, even if you were on "state-provided" medical services, you were often screwed. When the state of Tn.decided, many years ago, to provide health care for those who could not afford it they quickly found that they (the state) had problems funding it...so they started "chopping" folks off the rolls of state insured.

So youu go with private insurance and you find that the companies that will provide insurance for non-mainstream illnesses want to charge sky-high premiums, or won't insure you at all.

Insurance companies: we will gladly continue to take your money as long as you are and remain illness-free. We reserve the right to charge ridiculous premiums and/or to drop you if you so much as get a sniffle.

First of all, I really hope you can figure this out so that it doesn't drive you broke.

rant on

Sadly Flight Service has run into one of the many flaws in our current health care system.

It is interesting to see the use of "Health Insurance" in this case. Something like this really has almost nothing to do with "Insurance". Of course no insurance company will insure something like this, what would they be insuring? Insurance is a method of reducing risk by paying a low amount when there is a chance of a large payout. In these cases, it is just pure payout, a pure loss situation, no way a business would willingly get into something like this.

Really, as he has observed, the only way things like these are taken care of is by government run programs (or perhaps a very generous charity). Yes, that is (dirty word) socialized care. Obviously, when it is state run care, it is very dependent on the wealth of the state.

I wonder how many would have issue with a nationally funded program for situations like these. Raise taxes to pay for it. It would be interesting to hear the arguments against. It just seems like how a country treats it's citizens in situations like this is very reflective on the country in general.

BTW - Rick Santorum is in a very similar situation, one of his daughters has serious (genetic) medical issues. I wonder what his angle is on this.. but of course, he is rather rich...

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/31/us/politics/rick-santorums-daughter-3-overcomes-a-bout-of-pneumonia.html

rant off/

aircooled wrote: BTW - Rick Santorum is in a very similar situation, one of his daughters has serious (genetic) medical issues. I wonder what his angle is on this.. but of course, he is rather rich...

There is the rub. The guys who vote on these policies are rich and/or get free gubm't health care anyway.

In reply to FlightService:

I honestly feel for you and I had everything filled out on the petition, until I looked at the bottom of the page and saw what .org this was through. There is no way I can put my name on anything they stand for.

I am sorry.

I wish I had an easy answer for you but I have a feeling you are much smarter than I am.

I hope to see you at an autocross this year. We will be out there once or twice.

nicksta43 wrote: In reply to FlightService: I honestly feel for you and I had everything filled out on the petition, until I looked at the bottom of the page and saw what .org this was through. There is no way I can put my name on anything they stand for. I am sorry. I wish I had an easy answer for you but I have a feeling you are much smarter than I am. I hope to see you at an autocross this year. We will be out there once or twice.

Sorry you feel that way. SignOn.org has actually done quite a few things in the training arena on how to promote the package. I have been very pleased with the non-partisan position they have taken in the training arena. I have yet to recieve a "you need to do this for the democratic party" yet. Although they are a part of MoveOn.org (who has went against Obama on 5 issues in the last 3 years) they have, from my experience, has operated as a separate entity.

I think the Save The Ring guys could stand to put a petition up with them for the training.

Your kind of shooting the horse because he threw a shoe, but you aren't the only one that has done it. Right now I am 12 votes away from my goal. So maybe it won't matter.

Maybe we should vote Tom in as Eminent Ruler of the USA...or maybe Marjorie would be a better choice.

I went and talked to my senator today. He admitted that the insurance companies have a strong lobby in Nashville. Nice when they admit they bought and paid for the burrying of the bill.

Yes I am working on leaving this state, I am ready to try something new.

To quote John Stewart: "Poor people have E36 M3ty lobbyists."

8:41 pm we got our 1000!!!!!

to quote the Joker

"Wait till they get a load of me."

Are all of you guys complaining about the lack of coverage for outlying, expensive issues, willing to pay the dramatically increased prices to do so?

That's the crux of the argument.

Are you all ready to start paying $9/gal to do so?

(I'm not arguing either way, just saying, it has to get paid for)

z31maniac wrote: Are all of you guys complaining about the lack of coverage for outlying, expensive issues, willing to pay the dramatically increased prices to do so? That's the crux of the argument. Are you all ready to start paying $9/gal to do so? (I'm not arguing either way, just saying, it has to get paid for)

How naive you are on this one my friend.

If you don't give autistic children therapy, they won't be as productive in the real world. They will require constant assistance, so you will have to pay someone (read welfare) or it will drag a parent down till death then welfare.

Or you can help them learn what they need to learn. They can then adapt and pay taxes, get their own insurance. Lead happy "normal" lives.

Or you can take the, OMG we all will now pay $999999 x 10^999999999999999999999 for insurance because 1% of the population got OT and ABA so they can pay into the system later.

I hear stuff like this and I think of people who would shoot their own mother for a nickel. You are the second person who has stated this uninformed scare tactic to me in the same number of days.

29 states have passed this law and you know what? I haven't seen a loosing quarter yet by the insurance companies.

I am sure when the other 21 states pass it they all will file bankruptcy.

Anyway, it is a moot point, they will just tell another cancer patient no for a year till so when they die they don't have to pay.

Here is a good data point to OUTLAW MEDICAL INSURANCE COMPLETELY SO YOU HAVE A TRUE FREE MARKET ECONOMY. Plastic surgery is not covered except by the top 1% of insurance companies, so it is a cash and carry business. The average cost of a Breast Enhancement is $6600. This is everything, anestesia, surgery, implants the works.

A Broken Leg? >$10,000

So I can be put to sleep, have my body opened, have a medical product inserted into me, sewn up and recovered for less than the price of a broken leg?

Here is why, what insurance actually pays is very very little. Most of the time less than a third of the cost.

Who has two thumbs and reads his insurance and medical statements. This guy!

I am sorry, Z31maniac, you are just flat wrong on this one.

FlightService wrote: 8:41 pm we got our 1000!!!!!

congratulations

Nowhere did I suggest states/companies would go bankrupt offering the coverage, just that everyone would have to pay for it. That's fact, what the exact cost is, well, I'll bet a paycheck you don't have those numbers either.

I'm not arguing for or against.......Merely asking the question of those who are suggesting the coverage is inadequate, if they are willing to pay the difference, to be able to provide adequate care.

I understand that insurance begets higher prices, begets insurance.........it's a vicious cycle.

So as I pointed out, provide facts on the states that offer this coverage vs those that don't and what the avg cost of health insurance policies are, and how those costs are covered by the taxpayer.

Otherwise, you aren't providing an objective portrait of the issue that you have a beef with.........skewing your ability to be objective.

Again, I'm not saying what you are dealing with shouldn't be covered, but that everyone has to pay to make it affordable for you, and is everyone willing to pay for it, so it can be affordable.

EDIT: That came out way snarkier, than I had Intended. But the fact is, for insurance to cover more, they have to charge everyone more.

z31maniac wrote: Are all of you guys complaining about the lack of coverage for outlying, expensive issues, willing to pay the dramatically increased prices to do so? That's the crux of the argument. Are you all ready to start paying $9/gal to do so? (I'm not arguing either way, just saying, it has to get paid for)

I'll try to say this without any inflammatory rhetoric.

I believe you're making a leap in logic. First you characterize this as an outlier. Okay, let's go with that. It's a rare condition. A very small percentage of the population has to deal with it.

But then you go on to use an analogy of $9 a gallon gas, more than twice the current price. The point is - it's rare. So how do you come up with the idea that the price for everyone would more than double if it were covered? I don't have numbers (and I suspect you don't either) but I bet it would be a fractional increase.

Your math is a lot like the tip thread. Somehow, some kind of coverage for a very small number of people is going to triple my health coverage cost.

aircooled wrote: It is interesting to see the use of "Health Insurance" in this case. Something like this really has almost nothing to do with "Insurance". Of course no insurance company will insure something like this, what would they be insuring? Insurance is a method of reducing risk by paying a low amount when there is a chance of a large payout. In these cases, it is just pure payout, a pure loss situation, no way a business would willingly get into something like this.

I'm not sure I agree. In fact I'm sure I don't.

I have long term disability insurance for myself and my wife. I have it so that if something happens, we, or down the road, my kids don't go bankrupt caring for me. Similarly, I had health care insurance (that I pay for- none of this is free) before I had kids. One of the reasons for having health insurance is so you don't go bankrupt in the eventuality that you are hit with an unusually expensive medical need for yourself or your kids who are also insured. It's implicit in the coverage. They are covered to protect me, not them.

So, to answer your question- what would they be insuring? They would be insuring me against the possibility of financial ruin if I were to have a child with a devastating medical need. The odds are well in there favor on that bet. My arrangement with my insurance company is a financial one. They do not provide care. They provide financial coverage for care for exactly this kind of possibility. They are insuring me from financial hardship, not health issues.

And you're wrong when you say "of course no insurance company would cover anything like this". In fact, I have an employee who has a child with Asperger's and many of the options in our medical plan at work do indeed cover a lot of treatment for her. And, as I mentioned, this costs us money. A lot of money. A lot more than it did in the past. No one is asking for "free" anything. But it would be nice if people who were paying for insurance were getting coverage.