I won't get into a debate over insurance covering this or that but just because you don't need does not mean someone else does not.
And that really goes to the heart of it, doesn't it?
I am peeved that homeopathic remedies can't be purchased with my flex plan anymore. To me, they are extremely needed and VERY helpful (well, probably to all, but most won't give them a chance). But to others, the ones in charge, they aren't deemed necessary. So I'll continue to take them and will almost never go see an MD, so all the money paid towards my premiums will go to other people and I'll just continue on.
In his 20s, hubby had a benign-but-fast-growing brain tumor, the diagnosing MDs "gave him" 6 months to live without radiation. He looked up what the radiation might do to his life, and opted out. Wowie did the stuff hit the fan! He was threatened with commitment because he was obviously trying to kill himself. He had to get an attorney on retainer to protect himself. He then had to pay for EVERYTHING that he did do out of pocket. Insurance won't cover a macrobiotic diet, they won't cover all the supplements he took, nor would they cover the hyperbaric chamber treatments he had. Oh wait, I think they paid for the MRIs he had throughout that year, as the tumor SHRANK and went away entirely, without a bit of radiation. But that's it. Insurance didn't have to pay a million dollars for the MD treatment. So to HIM, organic oranges and carrots and wheatgrass SHOULD BE covered by insurance. But to those in charge, it's MD-treatment only, and everything else is out of pocket. Including the lawyer's fees.
It's all based on what you use. What your feelings are. What happens to you. etc. There's no one basic way of looking at what insurance should cover or not.
It doesn't go away when the hearing does????
How fair is that???? Grrr...wish there was a way to fix THAT. I feel like I'm listening to the tv emergency broadcast signal (old one) 24/7.
From what I've read, the main thing to do is working on ways to ignore it. Guess what...that's not paid for by insurance. And the only person doing that work in my area is a state away.
The American health-care system is horribly broken. I just don't see hearing aids as "health-care" any more than Viagra. They should both be taken off the "list", IMO.
That's just like what I was talking about above. And what someone said to you later. You are glad that your wife's pump is covered. When it's not *necessary*. Helpful, but not vital.
For me, I'm SO glad I finally found an "out there" chiropractor who will also be a preferred provider and bill Aetna. I can finally USE my benefits!
While I *personally* believe that birth control is fairly evil and causes FAR more negatives than positives (doesn't even keep diseases away, but show me a plan that covers condoms!) and the problems won't crop up for years and years...others feel that BC is helpful.
And I'm even on the fence with viagra. I've talked a lot about how hubby *now* has a prolactinoma, a pituitary tumor that causes prolactin to be created (NOT related to the tumor in his 20s according to his endocrinologist, but honestly I think all the kicks to the head from tae kwon do and football caused had something to do with BOTH of them, and so does he). That's the milk hormone, and it will mess up the guy hormones. His endo was astonished by the fact that hubby and I were still able to "try" to have another baby, that's how low his male hormones were.
Thinking back, as hubby takes a pill each week to slooooowly shrink that tumor, to the years before that was diagnosed, thinking back on the problems that were happening, we can SEE, we can know and feel, first hand, how horrible it is when a man has a problem in the realm of viagra.
Those problems are body-problems...and body-problems are generally helped out with insurance paying. That particular drug woudln't have been indicated for hubby, because the hormones were the problem, but it does give a glimpse into the life of someone who needs it.
In our case, the effects of the pituitary tumor caused the need for male hormones. He could have been given just testosterone, but the endocrinologist didn't want to use that, as it would have caused TOTAL infertility during the course of treatment. So he would have FELT better, but he would have had a second diagnosable problem. Instead, he's on HCG. With our insurance, HCG isn't covered normally, but this is the only alternative that wouldn't cover MORE problems, so our insurance agreed.
To someone else...HCG, isn't that the stuff that baseball players take? Why is insurance covering it? Because it's a diagnosable problem, and it's what will help, without causing a bigger problem.
Our perception is all based on what is important to the person at the time.
So all we really can do is go with what our insurance says, or switch insurances.
