Insurance policies overlook health needs

By Jami Knowles

I got out of the doctor’s office four years ago, got in my car and said, “What the hell do I do now?”

My gynecologist told me there were abnormal cells in my cervix.

I wasn’t very concerned, because I had heard of so many women who had the same experience at one point.

When it came time to get the results of the biopsy, I didn’t expect to hear the word “cancer.”

I was diagnosed with high-grade cervical dysplasia. It was explained to me that the abnormal cells could and commonly do become cancerous.

The doctor started talking to me about performing a hysterectomy to remove my uterus, therefore removing any chance of having children.

I was frightened by the uncertainty of what was going to happen to me, by the impending medical procedures and bills.

I was a freshman in college at the time, so I still had my parent’s medical insurance to pay for the onslaught of bills that resulted from the lengthy recovery.

Now the dysplasia is back, but this time, I’ve graduated from college, I have no full-time job and no way to pay for treatment.

When I turned 23, I went off my mother’s insurance and had to pick up NIU’s.

With that policy, there is a little rule about “pre-existing conditions.”

According to NIU’s insurance, any treatments for dysplasia can’t be covered because the condition existed before.

It’s good to know the reason I purchased this insurance is moot.

Insurance should insure people. Instead, they ensure a profit.

A person who pays a monthly premium in case they get sick should be taken care of, despite when their illness arose.

When a person has a near-fatal car accident and suffers a spinal injury or head trauma that causes them future health problems, they should not be denied coverage because of chronology. And neither should I.

The regimen I undergo includes expensive procedures such as cryotherapy and LEEP, and colposcopies, which cost $500 a pop. During the treatment, a person can undergo several of either of these, making the final bill quite high.

Now my useless student insurance is about to expire, and I’m facing another bout of treatments.

I am trying to find an honest insurance company that will not discriminate against “pre-existing” anything.

But let’s face it, insurance is to honesty as cancer is to pleasure.

The option I explored as a replacement is just as useless as NIU’s with their asinine policies. Pekin Insurance is offering a $250 deductible and a $600 premium for six months as its best offer.

Of course, this will not include my “pre-existing condition.”

If I choose to go with Pekin, I will not be protected for any probable illness. Not the flu, not a broken bone. This is what I like to call “catastrophe insurance.” When Armageddon comes and an earthquake hits the Midwest and I am crushed under a skyscraper, I will not have to worry about my hospital bill.

Insurance companies need to treat people like people and not investment opportunities. Sickos.