Health Insurance Horror Stories

America has a healthcare problem. One of those problems is Health Insurance, which I have said before and will say again, loudly and with my whole entire chest, is a scam. I asked for your health insurance horror stories, and YOU DELIVERED.

Transcripts may not appear in their final version and are subject to change.

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Hi, I’m Nora McInerny, and this is Thanks For Asking, the call-in show about what matters to you. And you know what matters to everybody? Health care, health care matters to everybody.

And here in America, health insurance has to matter to everybody because it’s hard to get the former without the latter. And honestly, it’s hard to get the former even with the latter sometimes.

I am convinced, and it will be hard to convince me otherwise. I’m convinced that health insurance, medical health insurance, here in the United States, is a scam. In fact, I know to my bones that it is a scam.

I’m going to lay out an example that is relatively low stakes, just to illustrate this. For years, my family and I had a Blue Cross Blue Shield plan. This was through the Writers Guild of America, which is a union that I’m a part of.

It is amazing insurance, but when you are on COBRA, when you don’t hit the union minimum, income level, to be on that really good insurance, you get that really good insurance for a lot of money through COBRA.

It was several thousand dollars a month, but our premium was for a family of six, but it was really, really good insurance. And some of those years, we really, really used it. And still we had the same amount of headaches as the average person.

Hospitalizations, mental health care, we would be fighting to get things covered. But in one of those years where it was definitely worth it to have this insurance, or it felt worth it to have this insurance.

Oh my God, let’s not even put it that way. But even when it felt like this was good insurance, this is a good deal, the math never added up.

Because either we were spending that $3,000 a month, give or take, $36,000 a year and not getting $36,000 a year in care at all, or we were paying that money and still arguing or not quite getting what we needed. Because of what?

Because of bureaucracy. I’m gonna give you an example. Last year, we got a text message from Phoenix Children’s Hospital here in Phoenix, Arizona.

It’s kind of like not the only place to take a kid, but it’s like the premier place to take a kid. Two of our kids were under care there, one with a cardiologist, one with a GI specialist.

These are specialists that we had found through our insurance, doctors who had been caring for our children.

We got a text message from Phoenix Children’s Hospital saying, oh, gosh, sorry, there’s nothing we can do, but we’re not working with Blue Cross Blue Shield anymore. We’re just not, we’re not accepting them. Sorry.

So you, I guess your kids can’t see these doctors. Our kids had doctor’s appointments coming up again with specialists. They were under the care of these specialists.

There’s nothing we can do. We simply cannot take that insurance anymore.

We, as consumers, are unable to change our insurance to leave an insurance company that we have signed up for, except at assigned times, so the approved times throughout the year. But they can change the terms of their coverage at any point.

At any point, entire healthcare systems, doctors who were taking that insurance can decide not to take it. We have basically no power.

It always kind of stuck in my craw, the way people would say like, Oh, we don’t want universal health care for everybody in the US. You don’t want the government picking your doctor. You don’t pick your doctor now.

You don’t pick your doctor. Your insurance decides what doctor you can see and who picks your insurance. For most of us, that is our employer.

The employer picks the insurance at any point in time. They could change that and you would not have access to your doctor.

You’re not picking your doctor anyways, but having all these third-party gatekeepers who make an immense amount of money off of us, off of our premiums, off of billing health care systems, out of all of these things, they’re making money off of us.

They’re making money off of our health. They’re making money off of our sickness. And it is their job to create profits.

Even the non-profit ones, how are you making hundreds of millions of dollars, if not billions of dollars? What are you putting back into the community if I’m still fighting to get my kids seen by the doctor that they were under the care of?

How is that? Explain it to me. Explain it to me.

I don’t pretend to be the smartest person in the room except for certain circumstances where I believe I am.

Most of the time, I think, I’m a person of average smarts, and still navigating the health care system feels like I am completely, completely lost. We switched insurance, right?

We stayed with Blue Cross Blue Shield this year, stayed, stayed, trying to go through the website, figure out, oh, can we see this doctor? Can we still see our doctors? No way to tell, no way to tell.

Some of them looked like it could, looked like we could on their website, not a single doctor that we see, not a single doctor right now takes this version of Blue Cross Blue Shield that we have, and we can’t change it. We can’t change it.

We can’t change it until the pre-approved time when we’re allowed to switch plans. We cannot, we are locked in.

So now I am paying, again, thousands of dollars, tens of thousands of dollars a year for a family of six, for coverage that does not allow me to see.

Any doctor that I would like to see, and very few doctors, will take this version of Blue Cross Blue Shield, which again is a high-end version. I said like, let’s go all out, right? If it’s gold, so that’s gotta be better than silver.

Silver’s gotta be better than bronze, you would assume. Maybe not, maybe not. So we’re paying for what exactly?

I’ll never get that premium money back, even though I’m cash paying everything this year. Anyways, I’m filled with the rage of a thousand sons, and this is a low-stakes situation. Nothing is like wrong right now with my family.

Like nothing is, the wheels are not falling off right now, but for some people, the stakes are much higher. That’s what today’s calls are about. Let’s get into it.

Hi.

Hi, how’s it going?

Good, how are you?

Oh, you know, running 30, 40 minutes late for my day.

Kids having a birthday party today at our house.

Oh, fun.

Okay. You know, I mean, not a child, like 19th birthday at our house, which is great. That’s wonderful.

But like, you know, no one feels prepared for that. And that’s okay. So Sarah, we are talking about health care horror stories, and I’m here to hear yours.

Yes.

So a little background. I was diagnosed with stage three breast cancer when I was 28, back in 2020.

And so just like at that age, I feel like I didn’t know a whole lot, you know, about insurance or like, I feel like I still don’t, but especially back then.

28 though is like, it’s such a like, yeah, you’re technically an adult, but like the way that I acted at 28 as a person who had not yet been through something, I was like, yeah, surely people will take care of us.

Right. You don’t feel like an adult, like you’re not the adult yet.

No, no, no. Surely someone will be able to like, explain what’s happening to us and like make it okay.

And then so after I went through all of my like chemo, sorry, I have my nephew here, my chemo, radiation, surgery and all that, I had 11 or 13, I forget, lymph nodes removed because it had spread to the lymph nodes.

And then when you have that happen, you have to go through physical therapy with like a specialist who specializes in in lymphedema.

How old is your nephew?

He’s four.

He’s four. Yeah, he needs a snack. He needs a snack.

That’s okay.

That’s okay.

Yeah. What does he want? What does he snack on?

There’s like these little cliff bars that are for kids.

And he’s been searching for an oatmeal one. Okay. There you go, buddy.

And so you have to go through physical therapy. And I ended up having to get a sleeve.

And I was going to physical therapy like, weekly or bi-weekly, for six months, when she told me that I should probably get a pump, too, to pump like that lymphatic.

Oh, so it’s like a compression sleeve?

Yes, but then the pump extra is like massages and pumps it, too.

Okay.

So in addition to the sleeve. And then, so she had to write a letter to insurance for that to be approved. And then they said that I have to go through, they only said six weeks of physical therapy to qualify.

So then she was like, well, she’s been doing it for six months. She wrote this whole letter. And then they ended up sending me the pump because I had met the qualifications.

And then I’m pretty sure it was a whole year later that I got a letter in the mail saying that they were reviewing all of the treatment options and I no longer qualified for it. They didn’t think that it was a necessity. So I owed $8,000.

Okay.

So they had the time to pay someone or use an inaccurate AI program to review what your physical therapist was doing with you and a year later change their minds and say, you no longer need this compression sleeve with a pump to help your lymphatic

drainage. And because you don’t need it now, because we’ve changed our mind about something we approved a year ago, now you owe us the money for what this costs retail a year ago. No depreciation on the price.

Nope.

What did you do? I would have thrown up $8,000.

Yeah. Definitely not something I have sitting in my account. No.

And I pretty much wanted to do that or cry or like, you know, whatever. Yeah.

Vomit cry. Combo.

Exactly. All the things. All of it.

I kind of like pushed it aside and just like was like, I can’t even right now. And I was like, I just need to think about this before I even call anybody or anything.

So then I ended up calling them a couple of days later and I was like, I’m not paying this. Like you’ve gotten a letter from my physical therapist. It’s been a whole year.

Yeah, come on. Yeah. Just know.

Yeah, exactly. They kind of fought me on that. And then I was like, okay, well, it’s not happening.

So I was like, you can send me the collections or whatever. Like this is done. So then I hung up with them and I’ve never heard of things since.

So pro tip, I guess just don’t pay it.

Yeah. Pro tip, say no, argue and were you arguing with like the same person every time or were you shifted to different people?

I was shifted.

Okay. So now, how long has it been since they first asked for the $8,000?

Probably two or three years by now. And I haven’t heard of people.

And it’s not in collection?

I haven’t gotten a call or anything, no.

You don’t have to tell us, what insurance company was this?

This was United Health Care.

It’s almost like they’re not a good company. It’s almost like they don’t want to provide health care. It’s almost like they’re standing between you and health care.

And also, how much do you think you paid in premiums? How much do you think you paid per month for insurance?

Oh, before I got sick, well, for insurance, probably $350 a month, if not more. That’s probably low balling it.

And was that through your employer?

Yeah.

Okay. So it means your employer is paying another chunk of money.

Yeah.

And how many years do you think you used that insurance before you really needed it?

Six years.

Six years. And what was your out-of-pocket maximum on that once you had cancer?

Out-of-pocket, I’m pretty sure my thing was $10,000 still. I’m pretty sure it’s $10,000 I was paying, and then they would cover the rest after.

Yeah.

Or would they? But they might still try to come back for $8,000.

Okay.

Well, thank you for sharing this with me. I was having a peaceful morning and I really wanted to feel burning rage. And you gave that to me, you gave that to me.

How are you doing now? How’s your arm?

It’s still a little swollen, but it’s doable.

How are your moves?

No longer here. I’m flat.

No longer here. Okay. Okay.

Good. Because honestly, it’s like so wild. It’s like they could kill you.

Yeah.

Get them out of here.

Get them out. Get them out. It’s like, and it feels like it’s also a matter of time.

It’s like check them every year because you never know when they’ll go from something. That you don’t care about, that you sometimes enjoy to being a murderer.

So just keep an eye on it, but also we may or may not pay for that depending on the size of your boobs.

One more thing about insurance rage. So after all that, I got, well, actually during the whole thing, you get genetic testing done and found out that I have a gene mutation. It’s called check-to mutation.

And it makes you more susceptible to breast cancer and colon cancer. But since I got breast cancer, insurance won’t pay for early colonoscopies either.

Yeah. Okay.

So something that you have to do then is then like pay out of pocket for a colonoscopy, which also, I mean, I will say that like, sometimes when I’m just like cash paying stuff, I’m like, this is a better deal.

This is a better deal.

I would be better off doing this and tell something like horrible happens. But even then it’s like, is it worth the cost of like all the stress? I don’t know.

Exactly. Wow. Okay.

Okay. So, hmm. Awesome.

Awesome. Well, thank you, Sarah. I’m glad that you are doing okay.

And I’m honestly, I’m glad you didn’t pay that $8,000. Me too. And if they hear this, I hope that they feel shame and that they realize they probably spent more than $8,000 trying to get $8,000.

No kidding.

Back from you.

Like, loser behavior. Loser behavior.

Yeah. Absolutely.

You know what it is? It’s giving the same, like, energy as, like, when men ask for an engagement ring back. Like, like, sorry.

Sorry.

Yeah.

Like, don’t you?

That’s not yours anymore.

That’s not yours. It’s not yours. It’s my sleeve, my pump, my physical therapy, and, like, someone who’s never met you is going to say, like, you didn’t need it.

Yeah, because they’re more qualified than the doctor.

Yeah.

Than the doctor who’s, like, seeing your body, helping heal your body. Truly wild. Truly wild.

Okay. Thank you, Sarah. You’re wonderful.

And I’m sorry that happened. And go feed that nephew.

Bye. Bye.

Hi, CJ.

Hey, how are you?

Hey, good.

I mean, are you calling me from work?

Yeah, of course I am.

Oh my God, you’re in a little… I remember working at a job. I remember working at a job with a phone booth.

Okay.

I got to get in the booth.

I got to take this call.

Right. Yeah. No, we had to build a bunch of them because people were taking conference rooms, and then everybody’s like, I need a conference room, and then…

You need a conference room.

Yeah.

You can’t take a conference room as a solo caller.

You just can’t. You can’t.

No.

Honestly, sometimes I miss the corporate drama. I miss opening the door to the pumping room for new moms and just finding a guy on speakerphone. I miss that.

I miss just being like… He’s like, oh, sorry, no one was using it. I was like, okay, well, my boobs are about to explode, so you’re going to have to go?

Like, you have to go?

I love the quarterly reminders that the wellness rooms are specifically for mothers.

Yeah.

The wellness rooms are for mothers, okay?

Like, don’t go in there.

I don’t know.

I don’t want you sitting in that chair, okay? I will someday feed my baby from that chair. Like, I don’t want you touching stuff.

Anyways, CJ, you look great. But I know that you have a health care horror story to share with me, and I would hate to hear it, but I’m going to anyways.

Yeah, I am in preparation for this call. I had to just kind of relive, or not relive, but kind of like take in all the stuff that went on, because it was kind of crazy. So I had a stroke in December of 2022.

And you were how old?

I was 30, I was 33, just turned 33.

So I woke up in the middle of the night, and I looked up at the ceiling fan, and it was kind of like going like this. Like I couldn’t concentrate on it. And I was like, huh, that’s a little weird.

It was like three in the morning. And I was like, I’m just gonna go back to bed. So I went back, naturally.

So I went back to bed, and I woke up at about six, and same thing. And so I was like, Katie, I think I gotta do something. I think I gotta go to the hospital.

And she’s like, are you sure? She turns on the lights, and she looks at me, and she FaceTimes her sister who’s a nurse.

Everyone has a sister or best friend who is a nurse who is actually their primary care physician.

Exactly.

If you’re a nurse, your family owes you quite a lot. Because you’re taking a lot of calls like that. Yeah.

And she’s like, she’s like, okay, so let me see.

I hear on the phone, she’s like, let me see them. And I talked to her and she’s like, hey, you know, can you, are you able to like look at me? And it was literally like kind of like this, like I was like looking like elsewhere, you know?

So I was like looking at you, but like, and if I went like this, it could concentrate. So they weren’t working together. And she’s like, okay, okay.

And then like, and then she, I give the phone back to Katie, and she’s like, yeah, he needs to go in. And so this is about the time that Katie had just started a new job or a new role within Target.

Our seven month old at the time had just been diagnosed with RSV. And then I have a stroke, and this is three days before Christmas, and three, four days before Christmas.

And so now, it’s like I got to get a ride to the hospital because I can’t drive myself. I don’t want to call an ambulance because it’s like, you know.

It’s $1,000, easy, $1,000, easy.

And so now I just start hammering the phone, mom, dad, sister, mom, dad, sister. And, you know, they sleep with their phone on, you know, do not disturb or whatever.

And so like finally I get a hold of somebody and we can, you know, head to the hospital.

My sister not really realizing the severity of the issue said that I looked like it was something out of like a horror movie, like because my eye was like, you know, just like going like all over.

And she’s your sister. She’s like, okay, let’s go. Come on.

Yeah.

Yeah. So, so my dad, so like my sister and my dad arrived basically at the same time, my dad takes me to the hospital and he’s like holding my arm, you know, like, so I don’t, because I’m like wobbly and immediately bring me back.

And they’re like, yep, stroke protocol. I immediately get put into a room. And then over the next 24 hours, 24 to 36 hours, I wrote all this down.

I had, I spent three days in the hospital, two MRIs, two MRAs, an echocardiogram, an endoscopic echocardiogram, over 15 vials of blood, a spinal tap, ultrasound, and x-rays, all within kind of this like 36 hour period.

And so then they’re like, okay, so yet we identified small stroke. We know what it adds. And essentially, 25% of the population is born, or everybody is born with a hole in their heart.

But for 25% of the population, it doesn’t close. And they may go their entire life without knowing it. Some people get a stroke at 33, and that’s how they discover it.

So then, I talked to Neuro, I talked to Cardio, I talked to Hematology, I talked to a Hospitalist, and the Hematologist was basically like, I don’t want to put you on blood thinners for 50 years. Then have that be your option.

And he was basically saying that could actually end up causing more issues later in life, if you’re on blood thinners for that long. I said, okay, and he’s like, I would recommend getting surgery to plug that hole.

Now, luckily, it’s not like this open heart surgery anymore. It was, you know, 20 years ago, it was, you know, 30 years ago, open heart surgery to fix this little hole.

Now, it’s up through an artery in the leg and they deploy a patch and all that other crazy stuff. So, we book it for end of March. And our benefits start over April 1st.

And we had just had a baby in May, right? So, we’re like, all right, we got zero out of pocket. Like, this is like, we got to get this done.

Way to have a stroke at the right time, CJ.

I know.

I was like, you know, all things considered, right? If this was going to happen. Well, seven days before we get a letter from the health insurance company basically say, we’re not going to cover this.

They didn’t deem it medically necessary. Basically, you know, why can’t you just go on blood thinners? Which, you know, it’s in like solving the problem.

Yeah. It’s putting a band-aid over it. And even if you’re on blood thinners, right, there’s still an opportunity for that to, that like a stroke to still occur, right?

Because it’s still there. Still a hole.

And it could be creating other problems, which is what your doctor is trying to prevent. Like trying to care for you. Try to do no harm to future CJ.

Yeah, exactly.

Exactly. And so I had a really good cardiologist. Her and the neurologist were just fantastic.

He even told everybody I worked with was fantastic. And so she had to get on the phone, make sure she was talking to a medical professional at the insurer and saying, this is the issue. This is why we’re doing this.

These are the people that have said, this is the best course of action. This is what we’re looking to avoid. And she got it covered.

We ended up getting the bill of services, right? Like this isn’t the bill, but this is like what it’s going to cost or whatever.

We just want to freak you out beforehand, right?

Yeah. It was well north of $150,000. So for us to kind of like in under a week being like, okay, we’re going to have to pay, we knew it was going to be six figures.

We didn’t know how much it was going to be. But it was, you know, $150,000 if they weren’t going to cover it. And so big like, like I said, my cardiologist got on the phone immediately and was like, I need to talk to somebody.

She took in the action. But it’s one of those things where like she has patience. Like she doesn’t need to be justifying her years of medical profession and to say this is why we’re doing this.

Yeah, God, and also a letter just feels so, I mean, there’s, I can’t promise I would have opened a letter that I got seven days before a surgery.

So it’s like, if you didn’t open that letter, then you get the surgery and then you find out, like, oh, it’s actually not covered. That’s so wild to me. So was it hard for her to get them to change their mind and cover it?

I think, I think once they once they understood the like, the situation and like the long term care aspect of things, I think it was a little bit easier.

And I think that’s why she was also seeking like, someone who could understand it a little bit more. Yeah. And so, like, yeah, she was able to get them to reverse it pretty quickly.

And it was, and with the technology today, it’s, you know, I opened the app, you know, I got denied. Can somebody call the health insurer to like talk to them? Right.

And so, like, from an app perspective, it goes to her team, her team takes it, and they run with it, right? Which is great. But it’s also one of those things like, I’m trying to like align like my out of office.

I’m trying to get like my work. I’m trying to get my son, you know, like, make sure you got daycare, because Katie wants to be at the hospital, right?

And like, being sure that we got all of that figured out, the last thing I want to worry about is, I’m not going to get covered for this surgery.

Yeah, yeah. It’s like, it’s also, it’s such a big thing to have like the father of your child, you and Katie have been together since like college, like to have them go into surgery. And like you’re, you emotionally prepare for that too.

So to have it kind of like dangling, like maybe you’ll get it, maybe you won’t, and like maybe we’ll cover it, but maybe it’ll just like bankrupt you. We don’t know yet.

Like that’s like all these other sort of like balls to juggle and it just feels like completely unnecessary because your doctor said that you need it. You don’t have to tell us, but who was your health insurance company?

At the time, it was United Healthcare.

Yeah. So we’re two for two on calls today, okay? We’re two for two.

Yeah.

I mean, we’re not with them anymore, which is great. But you know, kind of like a follow-up to this is that I have, so now I have to see the cardiologist every couple of years. And they do this thing called a bubble test and it’s kind of interesting.

And they also want to do an MRA. And I got a bill for like 2000 bucks because they weren’t going to cover the MRA, just like here in the last few months. And it’s like, OK, like I had to call the health insurer.

I had to call the pay review. I had to call the health insurer again. I had to send messages.

And it turns out that it was keyed in incorrectly, right? And it’s something we’re going to cover. But at the same, it’s like, you know, it’s just a mistake.

But it’s like I had to jump through hoops again to get this like, figure out because you have to open up an investigation, what happened, yada, yada, yada. And I’m just like, you know, it’s got to be easier than this.

Yeah. And in the meantime, I don’t know if I owe $2,000. And also, that’s time that you have to take, you know, that you’re also like not compensated for all the time it takes you to like coordinate that, you know, confirm it, all of that.

Like, it becomes like the second job for you when you’re like, that’s not my job. My job was to just pay you every month. That was my part of it.

Like, that’s my part. Well, CJ, I’m glad you’re okay now. Like, that’s so terrifying.

That’s so scary. And thank you for calling in as a guy. We’ve gotten, like, maybe three men calling our show total ever.

So it’s pretty big. Pretty big day.

Well, yeah, Katie sent it to me. She’s like, I think you have a really interesting story. I think you should tell it.

I was like, I do think I should.

Yeah, it’s like, that’s a lot to survive. And you shouldn’t be trying to only survive a stroke, but also survive your health insurance. Your health insurance is, like, whatever, incompetence, you know?

You just shouldn’t. All right, well, time for you to get back to work. Go take up a conference room.

Well, we had some Mexican food catered in today, so I’m going to go see if there’s any more churros.

Oh, nice.

Yeah.

Wait, what time is it there?

Oh, yeah, it’s lunch. You better go. It’s lunchtime.

Oh, I already had a lunch.

You can’t miss.

Another thing I miss about office life, I miss, like, knowing when there’s going to be food in the office and just being like…

No lunch pack today. Let’s go.

No lunch pack today. We’re getting a free lunch. Hell yeah.

God, I don’t do that. I don’t get that. I don’t get that.

So I don’t.

All right.

Well, thanks, dude.

Appreciate it.

Good talking to you.

Yeah.

Those were two callers who had happy-ish endings, right?

They got the care they needed, but they really had to struggle, suffer, work for it, endure the fear of wondering if they would get the care that they needed because the company that was supposed, I’ve never said supposed in my life.

And I’m not even reading it off the screen. I just said the word incorrectly for no reason whatsoever.

But the company that is supposed to facilitate care, that they have bought insurance through insurance, that you buy, you pay for in case you need it. The in case came up and they had to sweat through it. They got what they needed.

We do have some calls and voicemails from other listeners. Let’s listen to one.

Hi, my name is Holly. I live in Minnesota. I sound kind of weird because I just had jaw surgery.

And I also agree, insurance is a scam because we pay a monthly premium and for what? To be told that the first $3,000 to $6,000 is our responsibility. The only plans that they offer us are embedded.

Meaning if I hit my deductible, the rest of my family also have to match that same deductible before they’ll pay for my family. So I had jaw surgery when I was 15 and found out that I continued to grow.

Sorry, rewind, embedded, you each have to hit the deductible? Absolutely not. How is that legal?

That should not be legal. What are any of our legislators doing? Oh, I don’t know, taking money from these companies.

Cool.

The jaw surgery, again. I, in order to have jaw surgery, insurance said, yes, we agree you need it. Okay, great.

Because we need their approval. But in order to do it, I needed braces. They do not cover orthodontic care at all, even though it’s medical.

We have fought it tooth and nail. And they even write in the plan, they write, do not cover orthodontic even for orthognathic surgery, which is what I needed.

I tried fighting it and I literally had the nonprofit team in tears trying to help advocate for me, and insurance still said no. So we are still out $8,000 for my braces, all because my insurance said no.

Meanwhile, we are still paying the premium, we are still paying the deductible, and we just have all this debt now from all of this, and my kids still, when they need care, we still have to pay. So that’s my story. It is terrible.

Thanks For Asking. And feel free to use this or to call me back and talk more. My phone number is…

That is such a scam.

That is such a scam. That is such a scam. What she just described is a scam, all of it.

Also, the fact that to get the jaw surgery, let’s just recap this, to get the jaw surgery, she needs, they’re going to say, we will give you this jaw surgery if you do orthodontics, but we don’t cover orthodontics.

But we need you to get them so we can, we know you need this jaw surgery, but we can’t say yes until you get orthodontics, but we don’t cover orthodontics. How is health insurance not going to cover things that are in your head?

Your teeth are in your head, your eyeballs are in your head. How are those special add-ons? Your mind, your brain is in your head, and they’ll cover the physical part of the brain, but they won’t cover the mind.

A lot of times, they’re like, sorry, any mental illness, you need therapy. No, sorry. Oh, sorry.

No, we’re not going to do that. We’re not going to do that. Not teeth, not eyeballs, not minds, but in order to fix the jaw, which we do, we want to cover the jaw.

We want to give you this jaw surgery, but first, you got to pay for the teeth stuff. That is, what? Oh, and by deductible, we just meant your individual deductible.

But also, like, we’re going to keep taking the premiums and that will never count towards a deductible. Like, what is it deductible? What are you deducting?

Who likes this system? If you were listening to this and you’re like, honestly, this is the best system. I love it.

I love this. I’m hearing these stories and I say, yes. I say, yes, my lord, let’s keep health insurance going the way that it is.

No problemo. I love it. I love adding extra layers of bureaucracy.

I love having a company and individuals who have never met me, never met my doctor, who might not even have a background in this, might not even exist. They might just be like, you know, an AI algorithm.

I love them being involved in deciding like what kind of health care I do or do not get. I love paying 10s of 1000s of dollars to not receive 10s of 1000s of dollars in care. I think it’s great.

I think that CEOs of these companies, they should be making 10s of millions of dollars. Like they’re working so hard to keep us from accessing the thing we’re paying for. Get them some more money.

You want that guy to survive on just like 10 million dollars a year? How would he do that? How would he?

Come on, man. They’re working. They’re doing so much.

They’re doing so much. Like, they’re so stressed out, okay? They gotta get returns for shareholders.

They gotta create shareholder value. Have you ever created shareholder value? No, no.

We did that by making sure you couldn’t get your jaw surgery.

Thank you.

Thank you for calling. All right, what’s our next one?

Hi, good morning. I’m calling about health insurance. So about 12 years ago, I was in graduate school, and I decided to switch from the birth control pill to get an IUD.

Went through lots of rounds of talking on the phone with my insurance company, which was, this was before the Affordable Care Act, so there was a lot of things that weren’t necessarily covered.

I just had a catastrophe plan, and then was assured multiple times on what the price would be. They wouldn’t put anything in writing. So long story short, I ended up getting the IUD, expecting it to be about $100.

It was about $800. I was pretty broke at the time, and that was a very expensive medical bill to me. So that was just a really good life lesson that insurance companies can’t tell you the price, and they’ll lie about the price.

And I don’t even know that they know what the price is. So yeah, that was pretty terrible. Thanks.

That’s, yeah.

How do they not know the price? They’re making up the price. Like, how can you not tell me the price of something?

How is that possible? And also, $800 is a big bill. $800 is a big bill at any time for pretty much almost anyone.

Most Americans do not have $400 for an unexpected emergency. In my experience, emergencies are always unexpected. They are almost always more than $400.

They are thousands of dollars often. But even if they are hundreds, even if they are $800, most people cannot just pay a random $800 bill that they weren’t expecting.

That is absolutely bonkers to expect somebody to be able to do that and also to get the bill after you’ve already done the thing. It’s not like you can say, I’d like to return this IUD. I just realized I can’t afford it.

I did keep the receipt. So, yeah, just take it out, take it back. I’ll take the money back.

It doesn’t work like that. And yet, and yet, they fully expected their money back for Sarah’s sleeve, her compression sleeve and the pump after she had breast cancer. Like, they wanted that money back.

Like, they knew the price then, right? They know the price of they want the money, but not if it’s going to be you paying the bill. I’m angry for you.

Put us in a box.

But wait, there’s more.

Don’t worry, there’s more stories. There’s more health insurance horror stories here. We’ve got a variety of texts from all of you.

So let’s read those. Hi, I’m a pediatric nurse. I work in epilepsy and we have to fight to get our patients anti-seizure medications and their emergency medications approved.

When appealing the denials, I literally have to write letters saying without the medication, they will die. I am completely disgusted by insurance. People that don’t have a clue are making decisions that are affecting people’s lives.

Sometimes the medication is approved, but is $5,000 for a month’s supply. Who can afford that? It takes hours away from taking seizure calls and other responsibilities to fight the insurance companies.

We are put on hold. They keep transferring us. Every time we talk to a new person, we have to go over a bunch of information before proceeding with what we need to find out, and then they transfer us again to start over.

They want us to give up. My heart breaks for my patients and their families.

My heart rages and breaks for you, a nurse who is working to take care of children with epilepsy and is instead spending her time fighting an insurance company to get the children the medication they need to survive and hopefully eventually someday

thrive. Absolutely disgusting, gross. And again, I hope this reaches the intended audience. Okay, I hope it reaches the intended audience.

All right, another text. Insurance Horror Story. My child and I had a possible rabies exposure while out and about.

We were advised by my child’s pediatrician to go to the ER as soon as possible for prophylactic treatment only available at the ER because the shots are too expensive to stock elsewhere.

Rabies prevention is a series of multiple shots, but the key is that you get two shots the first time.

So you get this one shot with a very long name, HRIG for short, to serve as a bridge until the rabies vaccine itself kicks in, which you also get on day one and then three more times after that.

My child’s two shots were immediately provided, no problem. Over on the adult side of the ER, the doctor decided that since my exposure risk was low, due to no visible wound, he would give me just one rabies vaccine, not the bridge.

What do I know about medicine?

I’m a political scientist, not a real scientist, so I push back a bit, but then I say, okay, the next day, the county bat dude, that’s someone’s job, and I love that, calls to follow up on the exposure and says, OMG, you need to get the bridge

vaccine. Anything less is not the standard treatment. You can still be helped by it if you get it at the second appointment, but you’re out of luck after that.

When I go back for the second appointment, also in the ER, because again, the exposure series is only available to get in the ER, the new doc says, hey, I talked to the bat guy. You definitely need that bridge shot.

I don’t know why they skipped it the first time. My insurance covers the rabies series as a whole. My insurance covers the rabies series as a whole.

But the billing got screwed up by the bridge shot being delivered out of sequence on day two, so it was billed separately. I received my child’s bill for only the expected co-pay.

I received my bill for the expected co-pay for the primary rabies vaccine shot plus thousands for the one shot they forgot. Thousands. The hospital said it was billing’s fault.

Billing said it was insurance. Insurance said it was the hospital. I spent six months learning billing codes, keeping it from going to collections as I filed appeals and faxed in all of my documents because of course, why digitize this process?

And explaining ad nauseum what happened. No one would fix it.

After my second appeal, the insurance company said fine, they could reopen the case and bill it from scratch, but then they would also reopen my child’s associated case and they couldn’t promise that wouldn’t result in new charges if they determined

the billing for my child’s potentially lifesaving and absolutely non-negotiable treatment was flawed instead of mine. Threatened into a corner and exhausted after six months of appealing to a brick wall, I paid the charge. They won.

All of this was on a particular government insurance that is considered the gold standard. The gold standard. The gold standard.

Had to give up. They won. And that is the gold standard.

Goodness gracious.

Hello.

Hi, Kelsey.

How are you?

Hi.

All right.

What are we talking about?

I think Health Insurance Horror Stories was the…

I’m ready. I’m ready to hear it.

Yeah. I have many rants. So I don’t know what the best place to start is.

Should I just…

Go.

Just let it rip.

Yeah.

Cool.

So like, I feel like in many ways, my life was kind of shaped by health insurance. I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, which is like a chronic autoimmune neurological condition when I was in my senior year of college.

Oh my God.

And it was in like 2010. So right around the passing of the Affordable Care Act.

And there actually, I, thinking back, realized that like in between the time when I had my first symptom and when I actually got diagnosed, I went on the like private market to buy health insurance after graduating from college.

And it was like hideously expensive. And I was so confused about why it was so expensive.

But looking back, like 21 year old women don’t get optic neuritis, which was my first symptom, unless they have MS And so even though I didn’t care the diagnosis, it was like clear to anyone who looked at my history that I was going to be a really

expensive patient because multiple sclerosis is extremely expensive to medicate. I think even the most affordable medications, if you’re paying for it, just like the label price is like $30,000 a year, and it’s incurable, so we’re taking this

forever. So even when I like first started trying to get myself health insurance, it was really difficult because of my condition. And then I actually, I went to grad school kind of because of health insurance.

I was like aging out of Obamacare, and my family was like, hey, you’re pretty smart. You’re thinking about going to grad school, like maybe speed up the timeline because you’re about to fall off our health insurance. I’m glad I went.

It was a good kick in the butt to get it done. But it actually turns out that the student health insurance that I got at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, number one school of public health in America, didn’t pay for my MS medication.

So I had to get sponsored by the drug company for the whole two years. I was in grad school because the student health insurance just didn’t pay for it.

And it’s like, are you expected as a person in this world to choose your graduate school by asking what their insurance is, asking for all the details of their insurance, then calling that insurance and saying, before I choose a graduate school,

here’s a list of medications I may need in the future. Are they covered?

Yeah. It’s absurd.

It’s absurd. It’s absurd.

Yeah.

And you’re navigating all of that while you’re also getting a graduate degree. You have this extra job, which is to get access to the stuff that will keep you alive and functioning.

Yeah. Totally. Really fun.

Cool.

Cool.

Yeah.

Cool. And that’s been since you were in your 20s. Other kids are going out, blacking out, partying.

Oh, totally.

I had friends who were like, you know, I’m just not going to have health insurance until I get whatever post-grad job I’m going to get. And that was absolutely not an option for me because missing even a month of medication could mean a relapse.

God. So what is your insurance life like now? I want to hear another rant.

Oh, yeah.

Have you heard about the companies called pharmacy benefit managers?

Okay. I’ve heard tell of these. I want to hear more.

Yeah.

So my understanding of what they do is that they offer insurance, like specific deals on pharmaceuticals that they’ve negotiated with pharmaceutical companies and offer to outsource prior authorization and other medication management things.

And I think it’s mostly done by algorithm. It’s not a lot of physician input, but there was one year where my insurance changed pharmacy benefit managers. The contract, I know this because I had to know this, was started in January.

And the pharmacy benefit manager, the new one, just canceled all of my prior authorizations for the 15 prescription medications I need to take to manage my health without telling me.

And so I was going for my next fill, and they were like, oh, you don’t have insurance authorization for things I’d been on for years.

And then because I think probably they did this to everyone’s medications, my insurance company was like impossible to get a hold of their wait lines. Their wait time on the phone was like insane.

And I like was going to get my MS medication, which I know is incredibly expensive. And the like prior off team for my infusion center was like, look, your insurance hasn’t gotten back to us. We don’t know if they’re going to pay for it.

Like what I ended up doing, which maybe was financially a bad idea, was being like, I’m going to assume this is going to work out. You guys seem pretty competent.

And so I ended up signing like something with the infusion center taking personal liability for the cost of my infusion, which is $14,000 for like the drugs and nursing stuff.

You let go and you let capitalism. You were like, look, I, you guys sort this out. But like, because what else are you going to do?

What else are you going to do?

I was on a three-way call with the like prior off person at my medical center and the insurance. And she like literally berated them. She was like, this is life-saving medication for an extremely serious condition.

And they still like, wouldn’t help. They were like, it’s going to take the amount of time it takes.

Which, okay, again, I ask, I ask people this. I ask for the one person who will listen to this and be like, guys, this is the best system, okay? I love this system.

You can’t change your insurance, except at pre-approved times throughout the year. You have one window during which you can jump to another provider.

They can change anything at any time, including who they work with to manage your prescription benefits. What are you even talking about? There’s some random medication one of our kids needed.

It was going to be $600 for every fill.

That’s a lot of dollars.

It’s a lot of dollars with insurance, right? And then the pharmacist goes, do you have the coupon? And my husband goes, no.

And he goes, okay, here it is.

Ding.

And then it was $15. So what do you mean? Like what?

I’m supposed to be coupon clipping. I’m supposed to be seeking coupons for a medicine I did not know existed.

Yeah, it’s wild.

Like they just keep coming up with new middlemen.

Oh yeah, it’s totally like 100% convinced.

Because I know who’s in the middle.

Yeah, it’s designed to make us get exhausted and give up. And that works pretty well for like chronically ill people. Like there have been many times in my life where I’ve been like, I don’t have the energy to fight this.

Like I’m dealing with being a sick person and.

Holy crap.

Yeah. Yeah.

Man. Man. Okay.

Do you have another rant for me? Because I think you’re very– I think you got a lot. I think you got a lot.

I’m trying to think.

I mean it’s just like the sheer inconvenience and every once in a while, I just think about like the amount of times in my life I’ve benefited from the privilege of like– I have an advanced degree in health sciences.

Like I understand the system probably better than most of the country and I still get overwhelmed and confused and I speak English and work at a job where I can be on hold for an hour and like that’s okay.

And that is just not true for so many millions of people in this country. And they’re just like, I don’t know. Yeah I recognize that I’ve had some shitty interactions, but on the whole I’ve been extremely lucky.

And I just– it really hurts my heart to think about other people who maybe don’t have the same amount of debt.

Yeah and no one should have to be like, wow, I was so lucky. I almost was $14,000 in debt for a medication that I absolutely need. Like whew, but they figured it out.

Like that’s just absolutely bananas. And yeah, you’re right. Like luck should have nothing to do with it.

And you shouldn’t need like special knowledge to get access to something that is necessary for you.

Oh, I thought of another rant. There’s still time for another one.

Yes, yes.

I like work at a large academic institution that has a medical center attached. And so I’m a brat and I’m like, I get all my health care here. It’s across the street from where I work.

Like best doctors in the world. This is great. I love it.

And I was on my husband’s health care. So it wasn’t like, you know, the employer wasn’t the provider. So they didn’t know I was like, you know, in on the team or whatever.

But his health insurances contract with my institution, the Medical Center, was under negotiations and they were at a standstill. And so it was in December. And so, you know, enrollments happening.

You got to sign up for what you’re going to sign up for.

The insurance company and the Medical Center were like sending competing, scary letters that were like, we’re working so hard to come to an agreement about this, but we might have to take them off the network list.

And so, you know, I was just sort of white-knuckling, like, do I need to enroll in my health? Like, do I need to change my insurance? Like, I absolutely refused.

And you only have a window to do it.

You’ve got a small window.

Yeah.

They could change this at any time.

Yeah. And I was like actually really terrified. And my husband like talked to his HR and benefits people.

And they were like, we think it’s incredibly unlikely that this contract will actually fail. And like we think that they’ll agree on an arrangement. So we think it’s you should stay enrolled in this plan.

But like obviously, that’s no guarantee.

Yeah. And the idea is just so nuts.

It’s so nuts. And the idea that I would have to get like all new doctors for these like chronic debilitating, really hard to manage illnesses, where like wait times are like six months to a year.

Like was I just going to be without care because of this like stupid contract negotiation? Like, and I had no control. There was nothing I couldn’t.

Yeah. We just had to make a gamble and it paid off. But absurd.

It’s so absurd.

It’s so absurd to be like, yeah, we just like we can’t figure out who should get more money, them or us. So we’re mad. And so we’re just letting you know.

It’s like being triangulated by friends. I’m just letting you know.

Yeah. Just so you know, I’m mad at them. I’m not mad at you.

Just so you know.

And I didn’t even want to involve you, but it’s like, this is how she’s acting. And from our perspective, they’re being really unreasonable. Like, we don’t want this.

Like neither of, I don’t want to fight with them, but like they’re making me, I didn’t want to send you this text, but like we might, you might have to die.

Yeah, exactly. Like you might likely have to get way less convenient.

Yeah.

With no notice.

We don’t know. We don’t know. We don’t know.

I’m sorry. I’m sorry. Yeah, no, that like, that really gets me.

That like really gets me. And just like, just the way that it’s tied to work, like tied to your employer, and therefore, you know, people’s choices about like even work are limited based on health insurance.

If you are lucky enough to be offered health insurance at your job, but there are so many companies out there who know the exact line that they have to tow to give people the exact right amount of hours to not pay health insurance.

And that is bananas to me. And if my niece’s employer is listening, like you gave her an assistant manager job, but you are giving her hours, responsibilities of an assistant manager, this is a household Midwestern brand, okay?

But you’re not giving her enough hours so that you don’t have to give her benefits. And I will not be going back for that reason. And I bought her a book on how to unionize.

So stay tuned.

Hell yeah. Yeah, actually, my health insurance situation got demonstrably worse when I got promoted out of my union, because the union wasn’t holding the employer to the line.

And no one told me that was going to happen, it just happened and I learned it by doing. You know, I’m glad we take care of the unionized employees at my workplace, but it’s like, yeah, it would be nice if I had that too.

Yeah, and you just got promoted out of it, like it only covers so many levels. Wow.

Yeah, because I’m like managing representative employees, so it makes sense that we can’t be in the same union.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And now you got to get a different union. And now there’s less than like 1% of Americans are in a union.

Yeah, I’m really lucky that I live in California, where union laws are pretty strong.

Yeah, damn.

Fourth largest economy in the world. So good job, California. Good job.

Good job. All right, Kelsey, thank you so much for calling in and hate all this for you. So any other rants?

For your niece and your kids too.

Send them in.

We might have more. We might have more. I’m always taking these.

These are the things that I want to rage about. So thank you for this.

Yeah.

All right, they’ve started lawn work. They’ve started lawn work across the street. And so as much, I think Marcel will do his best to get the sound out of the background.

But what you need to know is no matter what they decide to record, they decide to do lawn work. They are using tools that do not fit the job. There’s not enough lawn to have a lawn mower that you ride.

There are not enough leaves to be blowing. You don’t need to blow those leaves. There are no leaves, just like shush.

So apologies, but we’re gonna get back to these text messages. Where is another text? Here we go.

Okay.

I’m an independent contractor for three different employers.

So of course, I’m on my own for health insurance. I live in a very expensive city, and even though I make a decent living on paper, I rarely have much to put into savings or retirement each year.

Despite living very frugally, I drive a 26 year old car. So it’s pretty bummed to see I didn’t qualify for any subsidies on the ACA marketplace. I can’t actually afford a $500 a month plan that still has a $7,000 deductible.

So anyway, now I have terrible major medical insurance for $60 a month, technically short terms, I have to get a new plan every four months, plus $100 a month direct primary care and out of pocket therapist and specialist like a dermatologist.

I still think it’s a better option than a plan for the marketplace because I’m pretty sure I’d end up with huge out of pocket costs anyway, plus an enormous monthly payment, and it probably won’t get accepted anywhere anyway. That is my situation.

That’s my situation. I’m not doing marketplace health care again. I’m just not.

I will do like catastrophic and I will cash pay everything else because it’s just not worth it. It’s not worth it.

Okay.

I got added to my husband’s insurance plan when we got married. There was not a single provider in my county who, one, accepted this insurance and two, was accepting new patients.

I tried to schedule an appointment with a provider, and when they searched for this plan, I show as being enrolled with a completely different insurance company.

Called the insurance company, they told me, yes, I do have this other insurance that is not them. Called again the next day and was told, I absolutely don’t have this other random company.

I should just tell the providers you have X, which is also not them. There are three different companies being named in this. So, I called the insurance company for help finding a different provider.

Their suggestion was to use the search tool to find a provider. I explained that I did that and no one in my county is accepting new patients. They pulled up a list on their end and said they found plenty of providers.

Everyone they suggested was a behavioral health or suboxone clinic. I was looking for a primary care physician. Changed my last name in September 24.

The insurance company still doesn’t recognize the name change and is refusing to pay providers because they won’t update my name on their end. My copay for acupuncture and massage is supposed to be $30 a visit.

Insurance company is paying random amounts. So my copay is anywhere from $21.93 to $74.90 depending on what they decide that day. Are you confused?

So am I. What is this? What is this?

Another text. I’m going to preface this story with the fact that I’m well-versed in health insurance. I know all the terms and what they mean.

In-network, out-of-network, deductible, premium, out-of-pocket, max, co-pay, co-insurance, pharmacy benefits manager, Medicare Part D, donut hole, you get the gist. I know about HSAs. I know about FSAs.

I know about special enrollment period qualifications. I know about open enrollment periods. I know the works.

I’ve helped residents, constituents navigate the ridiculousness that is health insurance, both private and public. I have a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree, both in social work. Last year, I went to my annual exam, got my PAP done, et cetera.

I went to the same practice I’ve been going to for over five years with the same insurance that… Insurance? What is happening with me today?

With the same insurance I’ve had for over five years, I got my bill and expected it to be $0. Yay! Covered preventative care.

But it was over $1,000. I thought surely this was a mistake.

I called my health insurance customer service line to suss out why I had a balance for a preventative care visit and tried not to make anyone cry because of my extensive knowledge of the system.

Much to my surprise, my office and their providers were no longer in network. Nobody sent me a letter to let me know. Not the insurance company, not the provider.

Now, if you’re familiar with the health insurance BS, you’re probably thinking, girl, you should have checked to make sure your provider was still in network before you went, which A, sure, absolutely true, and B, is absolutely bonkers because

nothing has changed over five years. Why would I check? Again, I would like to say as an aside as Nora, why is that my job? Why is that my job?

Why is that my job?

I later learned that my kid’s pediatrician, specialist, and the urgent care we know and love are also out of network now, which means an entire year of medical care, two well child visits, several urgent care visits, an ENT visit, and an audiologist

was paid for out of pocket. Despite paying a dumb monthly premium every month, our insurance covered nothing, save for marginal help with cheap antibiotic prescription costs. Thank the gods and goddesses that we had an HSA to pay our medical bills.

We switched insurance providers during open enrollment, and this year, all of our health care clinics and providers are in network, except when I went to fill a prescription.

I found out the pharmacy we’ve used for over five years is now out of network, because of course it is. Anyway, the system is cruel.

It’s an impenetrable fortress of deliberate obfuscation, and nobody, nobody should feel foolish for not understanding it. Thank you to this texter, and thank you, not at all, to every insurance company.

Again, they can switch things at any point in time. Oh, no, it’s not covered. Yes, this is in network, out of network.

You can’t, you can’t. How is that fair? How does it make any sense?

Insurance wouldn’t cover the antidepressants I’ve been on for five years, stating that I needed three trials of four weeks each of cheaper medications. So that’s three trials of four weeks each, four, eight, 12 weeks.

Okay, so quarter of a year to try cheaper medications first before you go to the one that you already know is working, and that has been working for five years.

I wasn’t willing to jeopardize my health like that, so I got a coupon from the manufacturer. Again, why are we clipping coupons? What are we talking about coupons?

And paid $90 a month, not great. Then insurance decided after two years to cover it. I paid $802 for 90 days because the coupon doesn’t work unless the insurance provider denies coverage.

Literally insane, but I had one pill left and couldn’t taper down and try to find a new med, which would also mean using the same med and paying an obscene amount for a smaller dose.

Fingers crossed the patent isn’t renewed in 2026 and I can get a generic. Insurance also wanted me to pay $600 to get my expired IUD removed. I’m going to repeat that.

Pay $600 to have my expired IUD removed. So I threatened to take it out myself and then miraculously, the removal and a new one was 90% covered. Absolutely bonkers.

I had really severe morning sickness when I was pregnant. Like I couldn’t keep anything down. After trying a couple of different medications, my doctor prescribed me Zofran, which is a wonder drug.

She sent me home with a prescription for 30 pills with four refills to be taken every eight hours. When I called in a refill, I was told insurance would only cover 30 pills a month, or I could pay out of pocket, which was $700.

We couldn’t afford it, so I went without, and my morning sickness got so bad, I had to be hospitalized because I was so dehydrated.

When I told my doctor what happened, he wrote me a second prescription in a different dosage, so we could go around insurance. They ended up having to cover a 30K hospital stay because they would cough up the money to cover…

They ended up having to cover a 30K hospital stay because they wouldn’t cough up the money to cover the medication I needed that was actually helping.

Not to mention the misery I had and the 90% co-insurance, so I had to pay 10% out of pocket and I was on the good insurance plan at work. These are things that happen when you’re on the good insurance plan.

You’re pregnant, you can’t keep anything down. Your prescribed Zofran, it works, but they’ll only give you 30 pills a month, even though you need to take it every eight hours. Get a grip.

This is also, by the way, for people who are listening, who are like super pro-life, and by that I mean like pro-birth, like it is a dangerous and difficult thing to bring a baby into this world.

Like you are asking quite a lot of a mother and a culture where a mother cannot get the care she needs to go through a pregnancy safely is not a culture that cares about life. This is not a culture that cares about children.

It’s not a culture that cares about mothers. It’s not a culture that cares about people, period. Okay, I love when texts start this way, which is this isn’t the worst horror story you’ll hear.

Okay, I’m not asking for the worst stories. I’m asking for your stories, all of your stories, and here they are. I’m enrolled in a good PPO through one of the big guys.

I pay a decent amount for it, but in return, I rarely pay much out of pocket for care.

In the past four years, I’ve had ACL repair surgery, a tonsillectomy, a septoplasty, all of which I paid nothing, zero dollars for the surgery out of pocket, nor the pre-post-op imaging or appointments.

About a year ago, I went in for a 12-week ultrasound appointment for my first pregnancy and learned there was no heartbeat and I had experienced a miscarriage.

Scheduled for a DNC a day later, not only did I have to pay 2K before they would even admit me to pre-op for the surgery, but I was also told that insurance wouldn’t cover the actual ultrasound appointment as it was an office visit.

Only the US would turn a profit from women’s health care. Amen. By the way, I had not read that text before I went on my previous rant 30 seconds ago, so there we go.

We’ve been going through a long process of trial and error to find the right ADHD medication for our 10-year-old. Our pediatrician is part of Boston Children’s Hospital system and can access their specialists for consults.

At some point in this process, she suggested we have a consult with a psychiatrist of Children’s to see if they agree with her diagnosis and medication plan. It was a 35 to 45-minute Zoom call for a 10-year-old with ADHD. Let’s not forget.

In the end, the report was two sentences. Diagnosis is correct. Continue to follow guidance of the pediatrician.

We got a bill for $800 out of pocket. I had just been laid off and got an awful severance, so I called insurance and the billing department at Boston Children’s and demanded answers why a zoom appointment costs $800. No good answers.

It’s just what the service costs. I told my pediatrician and she felt awful and called them multiple times too. In the end, we paid it on a payment plan.

What a joke. And not a good joke. Not a funny joke.

That’s a bad joke.

Okay.

I paid over $6,000 for five minutes of anesthesia, only gas, while an ENT picked a wax ball out of my child’s ear. I chose to pay them $100 a month. It’s almost paid off after eight years.

$6,000. Five minutes of anesthesia, so an ENT can clean earwax out of your kid’s ears. $100 payment plan.

Eight years. Get a grip. Get a grip.

This is nuts.

We got a lot of health insurance horror stories from all of you, because guess what?

Health insurance is a nightmare, a nightmare that most of us are living in. And if you are not in this nightmare yet, you have been before or just wait, it will get you. It will get you.

There has to be a better way to do this. I am sure that there is.

And yet here we all are, paying wild premiums, being denied care, having to navigate systems that make no sense, wading through pools of middlemen, so many middlemen, new middlemen, popping up all the time, okay? Trying to do what?

Streamlined things. What’s being streamlined? Literally nothing.

I literally just want to walk to a doctor, say this is what I need, how much would it cost? I want to go to a doctor and say, how much would it cost for an appointment? Okay, go to the appointment.

Okay, what do you think we should do? Okay, how much would that cost? Sounds good.

Or, no, you know what? Maybe not, maybe not. That’s what I want.

I don’t want this system of obfuscation and surprises and inhumanity. All these stories are so inhumane.

If the point of health care is care, the point of insurance seems to be to keep you from accessing care, to keep you as unhealthy as possible, and to wring as much money out of you as possible, to squeeze blood from us, the stones.

So, I’m Nora McInerny. This is Thanks For Asking. This is a call-in show.

I love hearing your calls. I love hearing your voicemails. I love popping on the phone with you.

I love getting your text messages. I love it all. I’m really grateful for all of you.

We’re an independent podcast, so every time you listen to this show or share it or rate it or review it, it helps us, helps us keep going. I didn’t wanna sign with a big company. I really didn’t, and we didn’t.

And therefore, we get to make the show that we wanna make, and we get to make it how and when we want to make it. And I’m very grateful for you.

I’m very grateful for Marcel Malekibu, our producer, for Grace Barry, who does literally everything else, for Joffrey Lamar Wilson, who did our opening theme music, and for my young son Q, who did the closing theme music that you are hearing right

now. I’m also very grateful to our supporting producers. We don’t have a Patreon anymore. We don’t have Apple+.

We have all the archives of the podcast and new episodes ad free, and all of my writing, all of that stuff over on Substack. It’s linked in the show description. It’s noraborialis.substack.com.

You can join monthly, you can join annually, or you can kick in a little extra money and become a supporting producer and get your name in the credit. So this is my favorite part.

This is where I read all of our supporting producers’ names, and soon I’ll have all of these memorized.

But right now, I am thanking Ben, I’m thanking Jess, Michelle Toms, Tom Stockburger, Jen, Beth Adary, Stacey Demaro, Emily Ferriso, Stephanie Johnson, Faye Barron, Amanda, Sarah Garifo, Jenna Vermigdegel, in all caps, Elia Feliz-Milan, Lindsay Lund,

Renee Kepke, Chelsea Cernick, Car Pan, LGS, all caps, Stacey Wilson, Courtney McCown, Kaylee Sakai, Mary Beth Berry, my high school gym teacher, Joe Theodosopoulos, Mad, Abby Arose, Elizabeth Berkley, Kim F., Melody Swinford, Val, Lauren Hanna,

Katie, Jessica Latexier, who keeps me updated on various things. So thank you for that hot tip on the haircare. I might honestly do that pretty soon.

Okay, Crystal Mann, Lisa Piven, Kate Lyon, Christina, Sarah David, Kate Byerjohn, Erin John, Joy Pollock, Crystal, Jennifer Pavelka, Jess Blackwell, Micah, Jessica Reed, Beth Lippem, Kiara, Jill McDonald, Jen Grimlin, Alexis Lane, David Binkley,

Kathy Hamm, Virginia Labassi, Lizzie DeVries, Jeremy Essen, Anne Dabrzinski, Robin Ruhlard, Nicole Petey, Monica, Caroline Moss, Rachel Walton, Inga, Bonnie Robinson, Shannon Dominguez-Stevens, Penny Pesta, I love saying that name, Kaylee, Dave

Gilmore, my best friend from college, and Jacqueline Ryder. We actually have three new supporting producers to add to this list. Are you ready? Thank you to Jordan Jones, thank you to Sheila, and thank you to Kathleen Langerman.

Welcome to your new role as supporting producer. You already did a great job. We’ll see you again here next week.

And again, you can always call in, you can always text at 612-568-4441.