I'm
completely pissed off at
Unicare. I
recently quit my full-time job to stay home with my beautiful 17 month old daughter Zoe. My husband is a contract employee and therefore is not
eligible for
health care insurance from his employer. I knew when I quit working that we would be taking on a huge financial burden with having to pay for private
health care insurance, what I didn't expect was the letter that I got in the mail today. We applied for a very basic
Unicare plan called "Unicare Fit 2000". For our family it costs
$351 per month and doesn't cover much, but it was one of the only affordable plans that I could find that had a
deductible under 5,000 per person.
Some back ground on me. I've been fighting depression since I was a teenager. I had a far from normal childhood and it's taken me awhile to come to terms with it. I took
Effexor for many years and it worked wonders until I tried to get off of it. I had been living in the NYC area for the
past 4 years and hadn't had any problems with it the whole time. But had to move back to Texas in February (long story short - we ran out of money). It wasn't a move that I wanted to make. This place holds hundreds of bad
associations for me. I also wasn't ready to go back to work when my daughter was 6 months old. As a result my depression reared it's ugly head again. So like a
responsible adult I went to the doctor and got on an antidepressant called Zoloft.
I filled out an application with
Unicare online in which they make you list any health problems that have been treated and any medication that you have taken in the past 10 years. You also have to supply your doctor's
information so that they can look at your medical files to verify what you put on your app.
I am 29 years old, within the optimum weight category for my height, don't drink, don't smoke, don't do drugs, and have no health problems other than depression and
occasional insomnia. I listed both of these problems/medication on the application. A few weeks later I received a call from
Unicare saying that they needed to ask me a few questions. I called them back and was on the phone with them for about 10 minutes:
Unicare: Did you take your medication today?
Me: Yes.
Unicare: Are you planning on getting further treatment for your depression?
Me: No.
Unicare: Have you ever tried to kill yourself?
Me: No.
Unicare: Have you ever been hospitalized for mental illness?
Me: No.
Unicare: Has your illness ever affected your ability to work?
Me: No.
... and on and on. These seem to be very personal questions. In the end, they are trying to figure out how much of a risk I am to their company.
Back to the letter... It reads "thank you for your interest" but we can't offer you coverage.
"We find that we cannot offer membership to you due to your recent change in Medication for depression as document during a telephone interview.
"Unfortunately, our current medial underwriting guidelines prohibit us from offering enrollment to any applicant with the above noted medical history."
In other words, Unicare will not offer coverage to anyone who has taken more than one type of antidepressant in the past 10 years.
I'm not the only one getting denied for treating depression. But it can't just be the cost of the medication. Zoloft is no longer protected by a patent and the generic cost about $30 per month retail. Just to put this in perspective, when I was taking Effexor my month bill was over $200.
There are millions of people in America (literally) who are taking medication for depression. The first one you take may not be the best one for you. It's a process of trial and error to find the right one.
Last week, I saw the move
Sicko. The film opens with the stories of people who don't have health insurance. While I was watching it never crossed my mind that it might happen to me.
I'm going to apply for health insurance with other companies, but I fear that it's most likely going to be the same story.
I just want to say fuck you Unicare. I hope that every investor and top employee at this
profitable company will one day understand the ramifications of the actions of this faceless corporation.
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I must say that I have the best husband on the planet. For my Chrismahanuka gift this year he booked an appointment at Toni and Guy to have my hair streaked. I have been wanted to do this for at least three years. I wanted a wild color. It was a difficult decision but I finally decided on Pillarbox Red. Thank you Manic Panic :) What would the punk world be without your wonderful products? The dye has faded quite a bit since it was done a week and a half ago. The stylist told me that red is the fastest fading color. But I love the way it looks. I feel like an exotic bird. Strangely enough strangers have been more apt to strike up conversations with me since I added this color to my life. It doesn't take much to stand out around here. Wanna see more pictures?
More exciting news - I finished knitting a sweater for Zoe. If I had finished a month later it would be too small.
