Health Insurance

Yesterday, my beginning-of-the-year health insurance plan summary came in the mail.

I'm extremely fortunate to have a good job with lots of security, that also includes excellent health care as one of its benefits.

From what my plan summary says, I'm pretty well covered for any of the typical NHL treatments out there. Rituxin. Chemotherapy. Even stem cell transplants, including coverage for travel and lodging for a companion, should I need to go someplace else. (Which is unlikely, given that Yale's Med School specializes in stem cell transplants, and they're 10 minutes away. But it's nice to know that's available.)

CT scans. PET scans. MRIs. There's even a provision for up to $350 for a wig, post-chemo. I'll give that some serious consideration, given that right now my hairline starts about two inches from the back of my neck.

I'm even covered for participating in clinical trials (phase III, multi-site).

I'm very lucky, and I know it. And I know there are lots of others who aren't so lucky.

There are all kinds of stories coming out of my support group about people who have no insurance, or inadequate insurance. One woman on the list has been updating us daily about her stem cell transplant. She's physically weakened, of course, from the intense chemo, and has been fighting with her insurance company every step of the way. She's sent us pictures of the facility she's in, and it's a mess. It's a little scary.

We need serious health care reform in this country. I try to keep politics out of this blog, but I'm hoping some good comes out of the economic mess we're in, and people with no or little coverage will get some help. I'm not so naive as to believe that either Obama's or McCain's health plans will be (or would be) the perfect solution, and I'm even less confident that either of their plans will be (or would have been) passed without all kinds of changes from an insurance-industry-lobbied Congress. But something's got to change.