Dear Insurance Companies...

 Happy Tuesday everyone!

This is a late post today. I usually write my posts at night and schedule them for release the next day, but this matter seemed pressing to me. 

I had a little scare today. As I mentioned a few posts ago, I just turned 26 on Saturday. Under Obamacare this meant that I was no longer eligible for my parents insurance. Luckily I just was able to get insurance through my new job. I called my surgeon which is also my nutritionist office to update my new insurance policy. They told me that they would look into my benefits under my new coverage and call me back to let me know what they found out.

Today while I was at lunch, I got a call from my surgeons office. They told me that unfortunately they have some bad news for me. My surgery was not covered by my new insurance. But not only was my surgery not covered, my nutrition appointments were not covered either.

I broke down. I had been working so hard towards a goal of surgery and it had all been for nothing. At the suggestion of my benefits coordinator through my surgeons office I contacted my old insurance provider to see if I was eligible for COBRA benefits. It turns out that I am eligible for COBRA and that for me to continue with the coverage that I had it will only cost $40 per month. Currently I am paying $20 a month for my new insurance through my workplace. So, I am still able to have the surgery.

After this little scare, a coworker and I were talking about insurance companies and their decisions to cover or not cover medical benefits. To me it seems a little bit ridiculous that any insurance company would not cover a weight-loss surgery. I understand that the surgery is technically elective, but in some cases like my own it isn't really all that elective. 

Let's take a look at a few of the side effects of the gastric sleeve weight-loss surgery:

After the sleeve surgery many comorbidities of morbidly obese patients resolve themselves. To name a few type two diabetes resolves itself and 83% of patients. Obstructive sleep apnea resolves itself and 74 to 98% of patients. Cardiovascular disease reduces in 80% of patients. The quality of life improves and 95% of patients and mortality is reduced by 89% in five your mortality of sleeve patients. 

To put it bluntly,  being morbidly obese's is unhealthy. There are a lot of medical complications that come with being severely overweight. To me it would make good business sense to want to reduce the amount of medical bills a company would have to pay. If an insurance company spend the $15,000 it costs to have the gastric sleeve weight-loss surgery, how much money are they saving in the long run on that patient?

It wasn't simply the fact that my new insurance would not cover the surgery that bothered me. It was the fact that they wouldn't even cover a nutrition appointments. The appointments with my nutritionist are not expensive, costing a mirror $25 per visit. That seems like money well spent to me.

In a country where insurance companies have no problems paying full price for Viagra, in the same hand they will not pay for potentially life-saving surgery or nutrition appointments that eventually will save the money in the long run. What part of this sounds OK? 

People have fought with insurance  companies for years and I'm sure will continue to do so. But for something like this that will cost said company less in the long run, doesn't it just seem like good business sense to cover a life-saving surgery?

I would love to hear from any of my readers. Feel free to post comments below any of the posts that I've written, or email me at jenellesjourney@Gmail.com. 

Food for thought, 

Jenelle