You Wanna Know Why...Then Read This

October 1, 2009 — If you want to know why health care in this country is so high, then read this account from today's Austin American-Statesman online addition http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/2009/10/01/1001clinic.html. What is happening to Lee Ann Murray is just flat out WRONG! And, it's not the fault of the health care provider in this case the Austin Diagnostic Clinic (ADC). Lee Ann has a very dangerous medical problem. Lupus is a nasty disease, those in my family know this to be very true, and this women is being forced to change Drs because of the failings of her health care insurance.

Is the problem the administrator of the health care insurance...in this case Humana Military Healthcare South? They are currently the administrator in this region for Tricare which is government provided health care insurance for military active duty and military retirees that cannot get to a military installation for their health care. The answer to whether they are part of the problem is an emphatic YES! My family and I also use this affordable health care insurance and on two occasions in the last six months Humana Military Health Care has inappropriately handled claims from providers of some of my health care. One of these claims is still not resolved after three months. The claim has a National Provider Indicator (NPI) number on it that did not match that which was on the authorization that was approved by Humana. An NPI is a number that specifically ID's a health care provider and every provider in this country has at least one of these and maybe many more. You see there is a different NPI issued for different types of specialities, different office locations, etc. This is part of the Medicare system in this country that was created by the federal government and seems so unnecessary and burdensome and causes much confusion. What is so wrong with having one number for each provider? Nothing in my opinion. And, the sooner the Feds get rid of Humana Military Health Care the better off we will all be...yes I said all of us. Even though you most likely have no connection to Humana Military Health care...you do have a connection through your tax dollars.

So, the other part of the problem here is the federal government. Their oversight of contracts they let to entities such as Humana is very poor. If a public option is to be part of any health care reform currently being debated, then the Feds better get a whole lot better at their oversight or the so called reform will be no reform at all, but rather a continuation of the same old problems and the cost of healthcare will never be controlled.

I have much empathy for Lee Ann Murray. She desperately needs care and her health care provider is abandoning her because of the problems they have with the insurance carrier. It has to be an incredibly scary time for her. This is just so wrong! Her healthcare should never be jeopardized like this. She and so many more like her deserve much better than this.

When you examine the health care debate in this country I challenge you to think about stories such as Lee Ann's. We have got to do better than this in this country...it's what really matters!