Disability

[Kitsa]

Most insurances will quickly deny you for a pre-existing condition, anything major (read: potentially expensive) that was present before you applied. I've heard that Massachusetts is the only state that has laws forbidding insurance companies to deny for childhood cancers as pre-existing conditions, but I've been unable to verify that.

The very few insurance companies that don't deny for a pre-existing condition will approve you for insurance in general, but refuse to pay for anything related to the condition. My problems all stem from the fact that I was born with spinal cord cancer, so pretty much anything that came up with me would not be covered.

And then there are some insurance companies that lead you on a little wild-goose chase...you can be approved with a pre-existing condition if you had no treatment for that condition for a year. I fell into this category once, when I was about 9 and my dad changed companies. It was terrifying. Any medical treatment or checkups I had, it had to be self-pay and off the record. If my cancer had returned or if I had some sort of major accident that had worsened my radiation-broken spinal fusions, we would have been probably hundreds of thousands of dollars in debt.

The insurance system in the US is really, really, really screwed up, in my opinion. In the mad grab for money, they've completely lost sight of what they're there for in the first place.

I can understand how people from places that have universal healthcare would be very puzzled by what looks like our unwillingness or inability to get what seems like a very simple thing, if we only put forth the effort. But believe me, around here it's not that simple at all.