You probably would have been more confused by the title of this post prior to the murder of the United Health CEO. Unfortunately, that incident was the catalyst for many people finally realizing that all health insurance is not the same. This is something that I have been trying to help others understand for a very long time, specifically in regards to medical assistance (MA). It’s not only the name of the insurance that matters. MA health plan options vary depending on 1) your age 2) your state recognized disability status 3) which county you live in 4) your transportation options 5) extra perks.

This applies to Medicare advantage plans and commercial plans as well. I feel like I am pretty on top of my own insurance, at least regarding specific coverage, and yet recently, I became aware of extra perks that I had never learned about and I think it’s because I don’t get anything in the mail and I don’t go online and browse through the catalog often. I know many of us are not able to pick our insurance company because it’s chosen by an employer, myself included as I get my insurance through my husband’s work, but even those plans are important to evaluate every year because things do get cut out or adjusted even if they were available in previous years.

And as far as UHC, Humana, and CVS go: read the facts. There are lots of executives coming out right now and saying that they don’t actually deny things often, they approve 90% or more of claims and data just does not back that up because it’s a lie. Senate and department of justice and other online sources make it really easy to find out truthful information, including being able to find individual company policy manuals. These things show that there are certain diagnoses in certain states and certain programs that are specifically being audited or watched more closely because they cost more money. This is just corporate greed. It’s important that we acknowledge the truth and look past “prices rose because inflation” When prices rose because the people making the price knew they could get higher amounts of money, even though it hurts other people. Also, inflation rises as a way to stop spending, but that is a separate economy lesson.

Why do I care? Because health matters and that means pain for health matters which includes insurance and it’s important to find covered that actually benefits you and your specific needs not just because you want to stay loyal to some brand or keep it simple because it’s easier. Become self empowered and look into these things for yourself or find someone who can help you because nobody needs the extra stress of denials. and remember, we don’t ever have as much control over our health as we think. Things happen that are outside of our control and hopefully we can have empathy in these areas even if we don’t have a high need for insurance ourselves at the moment, it’s likely that one day we will and it’s important to make policies that benefit everyone.