Love for Un-healthcare
Published by Pyrofenix under Main on May 20, 2008Around Thanksgiving in 2006 my step-father, began having some health issues. One evening he went to the hospital when things got worse and he found out that he had bladder cancer. Just after Christmas, he had surgery to remove the cancer. All went well. Symptoms returned in November of ‘07, so he went back to the doctor who had treated him initially. That’s when we found out that we were supposed to have scheduled a follow-up visit after the chemo treatment. Alas, no-one told us during any of the doctor visits for treatment nor did they attempt to schedule an appointment with us.
Well, the cancer returned in November ‘07, and the doctor setup surgery which went well. Chemo treatments continued for 6 weeks after and on the final treatment, we were told to setup a check-up in 6 months. Yesterday, my step-dad attempted to do that only to be told by one of Georgia’s largest private practice urology groups that they would not be able to schedule an appointment until his bill was paid in full!
The first instance of cancer was mostly covered by his health insurance but the second instance was deemed a ‘pre-existing condition’ and they would not help pay. The insurance company calls something a pre-existing condition if there is a re-occurance within 1 year of the last treatment. John fell within that by just a few weeks. So now, there is a $10,000 bill which is due before a check-up can be completed. It’s being paid down, but not fast enough in their eyes.
So, if I break my arm in January and then re-break my arm again in October, will health insurance consider it a pre-existing condition?