Inadequacy of Health Insurance
Millions of American people struggle to pay for their medical treatments. Even though they have health insurance they still struggle to make the payments for this possibly life saving medicine. According to stastisa.com about 33 million Americans don’t have health insurance and 40 million people have inadequate health insurance. This is an issue because all of those people get stuck paying for their medical treatments out of their pocket. Insurance is supposed to be there to help support people but it often finds ways to avoid paying. The Healthwell Foundation helps to bridge the financial gap insurance companies sometimes can not or refuses to cover.
In “Why Was Postpartum Psychosis Not Considered a Medical Condition” , Jennifer Moyer, she asks why her postpartum psychosis was not considered a disease. In 1996 Jennifer was diagnosed with postpartum depression. She had health insurance, but she quickly used up her lifetime mental health benefit and wrote, “My husband and I had to use our lifetime savings to pay for the medical expenses.” Jennifer Moyer thought that her insurance would cover the cost of the medicine she needed to stay healthy. She also wrote, “Here I was having to take prescription medication to stabilize me and help me get better yet my insurance was telling me I did not have a medical condition.” Jennifer Moyer’s doctor recognized mental illness as a medical condition and agreed to help testify for her in court, however, she did not have to go to court for the issue because her husband got a new job with better insurance benefits. There was also a new piece of legislation that was passed later that year that said that mental health issues required lifetime coverage equal to what insurance companies would give to a person with a physical disorder. Many people, like Jennifer Moyer, trust that their insurance is good enough and will cover them, but will it really stand up to the test of time?
The Healthwell Foundation was started impacting people's lives in 2003. Their headquarters is in Gaithersburg, Maryland. They bridge the gap that regular health insurance cannot. They are a non-profit and independently-governed board of directors who are experts in their respective fields. This group guides Healthwell to making strong and conscious decisions to help the people they help. Healthwell serves any person with a form of health insurance pay for their treatments of chronic or terminal illnesses. They offer financial aid or complete coverage of medical treatments that any person may need. People can donate money to this organization through their website. By donating many people receive help with their medical payments like a child’s asthma medication, or a cancer patient’s chemotherapy.
People not being able to afford the care that they need is a huge problem in our society and it needs to be solved. Thankfully for organizations like the HealthWell
Foundation help to solve this problem. Jennifer could have needed to use this organization but luckily to some unforeseen circumstances she was helped. People need to get together to help solve this problem by confronting insurance agencies or donating to help. How can we as people help make an impact.
Works Cited
"HealthWell Foundation." HealthWell Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Mar. 2016.
Moyer, Jennifer. "Why Was Postpartum Psychosis Not Considered a Medical Condition?" RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Mar. 2016.
"U.S. Health System: Persons with Inadequate or No Health Insurance | Statistic." Statista. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Mar. 2016.