Insurance company cancelled a policy for a patient suffering from cancer reports NPR.

The payments from the insurance company stopped while patient was still in the process of receiving treatment. This was part of Healthnet’s incentive program in which it paid bonuses to an administrator for meeting targets of policy cancelations.

This yet again exposes the bottomline approach of the insurance industry.

Consumers of healthcare need to assume the risk of their own care and take control of their medical decisions and expenses.

Archana Dubey, MD

This is a call for all the consumers of Healthcare aka. patients, please get to know the mandatory ‘Universal’ Healthcare solution, either you will be within network or without one.

Dear Consumers of Healthcare:

1. If you thought ‘Universal Healthcare’ increases our access to heathcare then be ready for unpleasant surprises.

There is a difference between universal coverage and actual access to medical care. Many countries provide universal insurance but deny critical procedures to patients who need them. Britain’s Department of Health reported in 2006 that at any given time, nearly 900,000 Britons are waiting for admission to National Health Service hospitals, and shortages force the cancellation of more than 50,000 operations each year. In a 2005 ruling of the Canadian Supreme Court, Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin wrote that “access to a waiting list is not access to healthcare.”

The solution of mandatory purchase of health care products from private for profit insurance companies is a simply unjust. Those who can only afford the minimal plans will remain largely exposed. The premiums are still too high and can cause real economic hardship for those who do not qualify for subsidization. The program increased the number who qualify for subsidization but had no provision to fund them. The cost of that legislative blunder is already being passed on to those who can least afford it in the form of more penalties in 2008, a discriminatory and possibly illegal act that essentially raises the income tax rate for a targeted population.

2. If you thought insurance improves the quality of healthcare then think again.

The New England Journal of Medicine study in 2006 found that- “health insurance status was largely unrelated to the quality of care.”

The Access Project, based in Boston, released the findings of its recent independent study of the health insurance industry- “The Illusion of Coverage.” The report demonstrates the specific ways in which health insurance products deliberately fail to protect people financially and fail to guarantee their access to needed care.

Our dangerous obsession with universal coverage will lead us to neglect important consumer reforms, such as enacting a standard health insurance deduction, expanding health savings accounts and deregulating insurance markets — that could truly expand coverage, improve quality and make care more affordable.

Healthcare isn’t really a priviledge or a right, it is actually a choice.

Archana Dubey, MD

New study finds-cancer diagnosis linked to insurance….

People who are uninsured or on Medicaid were more likely to be diagnosed with cancer in later stages. This includes common cancers that can be screened early like prostate, cervical and breast cancer.

This study further validates the negative impact of uninsurance, that has become a disease worse than even cancer. It also validates the negative impact of insurance- private or government.

The application of insurance in US Healthcare is very unlike in any other industry. In any other industry, consumers take control of their routine expenses and insurance is utilized for catastrophic needs. In Healthcare, consumers have come to expect utilization of insurance for routine care also, this has made us depend largely on insurance to prevent illness. When we land up with uninsurance, we do not take control of our health and lag in preventitive care and results are evident from the study.

This calls for shift in market, from the monopoly of insurance (private or state sponsered like Universal healthcare) to a free market. This shift will also enable us to address the huge problem of rising cost of Healthcare and will support quality Healthcare.

Shifting paradigm from “you manage my care” to “I manage my care”.

Working on it,

Archana Dubey, MD