Move-On Publicizes a Moving Story of a Dispute Over Life-Saving Medical Care

Move-On sent me a link to a blog they sponsor that features a woman who is lobbying her health insurance company to pay for critical medical treatments. The clinics that she believes have a treatment for her condition are out-of-network, so the insurance company refused to pay for it. There is no discussion of how much the treatment costs, how much money the woman has or could scrape together, and whether the providers might accept less if she shows them evidence of financial hardship. In the Move-On mindset, the insurer "didn't approve the treatment" so you keep asking without ever thinking of putting together some money and working out a deal on your own.

Move-On believes a government-run health plan would prevent disputes like this one. Most everyone would want the government running insurance if that were true. Unfortunately, there is no reason to think a government-run insurance plan would be better than a private one.

If the government can’t do the job and sometimes private contracts don’t do it, how can people of modest means get state-of-the-art treatments?
1. Prior to a peril that you can’t afford financially (an illness in this case), you need to insure against it. Buy health insurance before getting sick. This same thing holds true for homeowners/renters insurance, auto insurance, life/disability insurance, and liability umbrella insurance.
2. Make sure the contract covers payments to out-of-network providers, even if the percentage it pays is less. Pay a little extra for a high life-time maximum.
3. Save money. It always comes in handy. If the insurance company won’t pay on a claim, you can use the cash and fight the insurance company at a later date. The more money you accumulate, the higher deductible you can select, saving money on premiums.
4. Negotiate. Look for less expensive alternatives (not inferior ones) to a suggested medical treatment. Think creatively.

The counterargument is that some people neglect to buy insurance, can’t save money, and don’t have the skills to figure out contracts and evaluate potential medical treatments. It is very important we do everything we can to help people in these situations though government programs and just helping people we know personally. Most people, though, can and should manage their own lives. (If most people cannot, and we just have to turn it over to the government, we are in big trouble.)

Move-On’s story about someone who is sick and fighting a battle with an insurance company being publicized by a political organization brings up so many feelings. I shutter to think of an insurer’s bureaucracy causing someone to delay treatment for a life-threatening illness. My heart goes out to anyone caught up in such a mess. I hope Move-On is not intentionally discouraging this person from pursuing normal avenues in such as case, such as working a little carrot-and-stick using an attorney to get at least a partial payment from the insurer, scraping together a little cash, and offering this partial payment to the medical provider; so that Move-On can make a political case in favor of government-run insurance.