Re-thinking health care

As I’m writing this column, I have a toothache.

But I won’t be seeing a dentist for this problem any time soon – my insurance company said it would not be covering the cost of dental treatment.

I accidentally bit my fork while eating the other day and chipped my tooth. But that was not considered an accident, the insurance customer service personnel said. An accident is like a car accident, she explained, where there is a police record.

So I’ll endure the ache for now and hope things don’t get too bad, because there are more important matters, like the shock of a $414 medical bill for routine health checks.

No, I didn’t know about the deductible. After going for the tests, I learned that I would not be subsidized at all by the insurance company. 

Coming from Singapore where the life expectancy is 80, I have been too used to the health system where I had easy access to government subsidized public health service. I never actually considered how expensive it would be to go for health screenings until now.

And while in America, all I knew was that I should get the best health insurance and all would be good. Wrong. 

So like a cruel slap on the face, I am bound to a $400 bill, on top of all the student loans I’m already taking out. This brush with health care in America is, of course, timely given the debate on health care reform.

Like many, I am now weary of going for preventative health care tests or checkups because I don’t want to face the possibility of an expensive bill.

This weariness to go for consistent health checkups is also the reason why many wound up with thousand-dollar bills, when those with suspected ailments avoid going for checkups and treatments to avoid paying a huge deductible.

A March Time magazine article,  “The Health Care Crisis Hits Home” by Karen Tumulty, highlights this problem and several other bad practices of health insurance companies.

Tumulty writes how her brother Pat had avoided checkups to avoid paying his $2,500 deductible because he worked a $9-per-hour job. This led to problems later in life, and he ended up “with more than $14,000 in bills from hospitals, doctors and labs.”

Pat had assumed that consistently purchasing a six-month health insurance policy would keep him covered.

He was wrong. Each time he renewed his policy, the health insurance company considered him a new customer, and they would not cover his bill because his cost accrued from his bills were found to be of a pre-existing condition.

Pat’s problems parallel mine in some ways, magnified many times over. That’s why I’m encouraged when President Obama announced he would mandate health insurance companies to cut out bad practices exemplified by Pat’s story. 

At the end of the day, 55 percent of Americans believe the current system needs major reform.

Whether it be in the form of universal health insurance such as Taiwan’s health care system, or a subsidized health service such as that of Singapore, there needs to be something in place to make sure the most vulnerable find some sort of help.  While many might abuse such systems, the opportunity cost is that lives will be saved.

Although the right might vociferously argue against spending, I think the question to ask is this: If America could spend billions on the military and invading other countries, why can’t the current president spend billions caring for American lives?