Down the healthcare rabbit hole
Question for you.
A 58-year-old woman moves from Santa Monica to Studio City, keeps the same exact healthcare plan and has no change whatsoever in her health status.
Does her monthly premium:
A) Stay the same.
B) Decrease by $75.
C) Increase by $39.
D) None of the above; she loses her coverage altogether.
The crazy thing about healthcare is that no one would be surprised by any of those answers. Given the ulcer-inducing, profit-driven patchwork of incomprehensible factors governing medicine and insurance, we've all been rendered shockproof.
The subject of my little quiz is Susan Nord, a marriage and relationship counselor, who got hold of me after my column last week about a medication co-pay that went from $30 a month to $784 a month for a 10-year-old boy with cystic fibrosis.
Before I divulge the answer to Nord's Alice in Wonderland experience, I'd like to share some other responses to that column, which served as a reminder that when it comes to this subject, everyone's got a gripe and everyone wants a change.
"Premiums for my health care insurer have more than doubled in the past 2 years, from $489.10 a month to $1,030.67 a month," wrote Sarah Forth.
"I spend probably 20-30 hours a month on the phone," said Elise Free, whose 2-year-old daughter has cystic fibrosis. Free plays referee as Blue Cross, Medicare and California Children's Services "battle it out with each medication, feeling the other party is responsible."
Martha Stevens of Studio City went years without insurance after getting dropped from her plan because of breast cancer.
"I was so happy to turn 65" and get Medicare coverage, Stevens said.
My mailbag included testimonials from those who swear by Canada's national healthcare system and from those who say it's an overrated mess. And from a woman in Scotland whose brother moved to Los Angeles 20 years ago, then lost his health insurance and nearly everything else after being diagnosed with cancer, and returned home to take advantage of Scotland's national health service.
Stevens had some ideas for how to fix things closer to home.
She said she likes Barack Obama's plan better than Hillary Clinton's. And she supports state Sen. Sheila Kuehl's view that a single-payer plan would be best for California.
