Wait till it's free

I recently had the opportunity to go to a USAAA (US Autism and Asperger Association) conference here in Austin, TX. My 11 year old son, Austin, has Asperger’s Syndrome…..they hate the syndrome part….and I wanted to gain some fresh new idea for his treatment. While my son is very high functioning and extremely bright he has some difficulty in social settings and adjusting to new situations. So, I go to the conference to get some help, find other parents to talk to and maybe meet some new doctors with exciting treatments.

I found some of that and I also found some other, more disturbing items. I’m not going to talk about the bio-medical treatments that have helped lots of kids. As a mother, some of these just don’t sit right with me but I am SURE that treatments like Kilation, Hyper barrack chambers, enzymes and diet have helped other kids…I am not-for a second-putting down these treatments.

What I did have a problem with is some of the insurance related comments that were made during the conference, so I am going to focus on that, instead. (a special thank you to Lee for responding to my obscene text messages during the conference…the insurance person in me wanted to scream when some of these comments were made)

Picture this: me in a room with a few hundred other parents, teachers, clinicians and doctors. A well respected doctor is talking to us about the violent environmental toxins poisoning our kids and the treatments for these things. I am with her when all of the sudden she starts talking about what is not covered by insurance plans. She actually made the comment that the big, money hungry insurance companies would rather charge a ton of money in premium than cover treatments of your children and that the best thing for “us” parents to do is contact our legislators and ask them to make the companies cover EVERYTHING!

I almost fell out of my chair.

Let me, briefly explain why this is so (SO) wrong.

In the most simplified form- if insurance companies covered EVERYTHING, you couldn’t afford the insurance premium. (and you think insurance is expensive now)….let me give you an example.

You and your family pay $3,500 a year in premium for insurance. You have a $2,000 family deductible. Your son falls out of a tree and breaks his leg. He needs x-ray, surgery, casting and an overnight stay in the hospital. His total bill is $11,000. You paid $2,000 in deductible + your annual premium $3,500 = $5,500…….the insurance company paid $11,000….so- they lost $5,500 on your family and it is just the beginning of the year. What if your wife needs her appendix removed, or you need a ACL repair, God forbid you take a regular Rx for heartburn.

If insurance companies paid for everything (every cancer treatment, experimental drugs, acupuncture, herbs & minerals, etc) then your premiums would be unaffordable. Think of it this way…if you go to the grocery store and all of the meat is free-are you going to stuff your cart with steaks or chicken?

Healthcare is expensive…that is why health insurance is expensive. Until the doctors, hospitals and therapists take a pay cut, the financing of their services (health insurance is nothing more than a way to finance your healthcare) will remain expensive.

Any questions?
Misty B.

PS – Austin and I will be raising money for Autism Speaks on November 15th. Click here to donate to the cause and read a little more about my awesome son: http://www.walknowforautism.org/c.mrKQIWPAImE/b.3620419/siteapps/personalpage/ShowPage.aspx?c=mrKQIWPAImE&b=3620361&sid=hwJWIbPXJoL5KgPUKsG