F…ing insurance

Warning! My potty mouth comes out of storage for this one.

We got the official fuck-off letter from the other guy’s insurance company the other day. I can’t say I wasn’t expecting it, but it was still a bit maddening. The dude had the minimum amount of insurance required by law, which apparently dates back to when a dollar was still a lot of money… back when change wasn’t spare.

If you know me at all, you know one of the issues I care about is healthcare. If you know my liberal leanings (my heart swoons for “social” medicine), then guess how much sense it makes to me to rely on someone else’s car insurance for healthcare. Accident attorneys are free to keep their comments to themselves. Yeah, our policy provides some coverage, and everyone is required to have a minimal amount of coverage to cover their own injuries (in Florida), but why should any part of the healthcare industry involve auto insurance? Maybe it makes a lot of sense to you, but it’s a fucking mystery to me. (No, not really – but it feels good to swear every now and again.)

I have this sneaking suspicion the health coverage from auto insurance is among the worst. If that’s true (it is in my case, but my situation may not be representative), I’d really like to know what percentage of healthcare spending is attributable to car accidents. Maybe that’s why auto insurance gets thrown in the mix. How much love do you think health plan administrators or employers (those folks that pay most of your premiums) have for the money losing, unpredictable nature of car accidents?

That would work out well, eh? Take a chunk of the system – possibly some of the more expensive parts – and outsource it to the hinterlands of auto insurance, where people are more likely to be un/under-covered, thereby footing more of the bill themselves. It’s a win-win for the insurance industry! Woo-hoo! Three cheers for private fucking insurance!

Yeah, some of this is sour grapes. We could have paid more for auto coverage so our health in and out of the car was equally protected. We could have paid closer attention when our manic agent on speed was going over the policy. When we read it, we should have asked more questions. Then we would have known “stacked” referred to more than the work at my office (or the hired help at a certain kind of restaurant). But here’s the question of the hour: why the fuck should we have to? Toss out the old “you’re not entitled to healthcare” line, and so help me….

Surely this is a system that isn’t ideal for doctors either. It’s like we’ve got two different healthcare systems – one for sick people, and another for accident victims. I’ll wager that doesn’t make the paperwork any easier. And it gets better. Most of the folks caring for Cheryl are holding the bills until the insurance company knows what the whole claim will be. Who knows when that day will come? In the mean time they’re eating their costs (and I’ll bet them are some tasty costs). And when judgement day finally comes (and we find out our share) at least one of us may need more healthcare.

It’s just one more fuck-you very much from the private (for profit) healthcare system.