Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Acclaimed author James S. Hirsch on his encounter with a broken healthcare system while trying to obtain FreeStyle Libre for his teenage son
In diabetes, insurance horror stories are common, and as someone who’s had type 1 for 41 years and who also has a son with type 1, I thought I had seen it all. But never underestimate our health care system’s ability to find new ways to disappoint.
I recently tried getting coverage for Abbott’s new Freestyle Libre continuous glucose monitor, and the request turned into an experience so bizarre that I thought it came right out of Joseph Heller’s upside-down world in Catch-22.
First, a word about health insurance. It’s an odd business. In most businesses, you receive the product when you pay for it. But with insurance, you pay for the product before you use it, which gives insurers two ways of making money: They can deny claims (withhold the product), or they can try to keep you healthy so they don’t incur heavy losses through hospitalizations, major illnesses, or other catastrophic events.
https://diatribe.org/one-mans-odyssey-maddening-quest-libre
Good grief! 😱 You couldn't make it up! 😱 🙄
In diabetes, insurance horror stories are common, and as someone who’s had type 1 for 41 years and who also has a son with type 1, I thought I had seen it all. But never underestimate our health care system’s ability to find new ways to disappoint.
I recently tried getting coverage for Abbott’s new Freestyle Libre continuous glucose monitor, and the request turned into an experience so bizarre that I thought it came right out of Joseph Heller’s upside-down world in Catch-22.
First, a word about health insurance. It’s an odd business. In most businesses, you receive the product when you pay for it. But with insurance, you pay for the product before you use it, which gives insurers two ways of making money: They can deny claims (withhold the product), or they can try to keep you healthy so they don’t incur heavy losses through hospitalizations, major illnesses, or other catastrophic events.
https://diatribe.org/one-mans-odyssey-maddening-quest-libre
Good grief! 😱 You couldn't make it up! 😱 🙄
