This is mostly a rehash of stuff I’ve already said here, but in the interest of having it in the wild in a cohesive form, here’s the post I put on FB today about my splendid experience with Regence insurance.  I still can’t sleep when I think about the $30k.  It runs through my mind constantly.  I’ve become desperate to find ways to make extra money..only I’m coming up blank.  So I figured I’d write.  And tag them publicly.  I don’t expect anything to change.  But I want it in public and somewhere more people see than here.  Because if just one person reads it and goes with a different provider, then I’ve done something good.

And I’ll continue to preach that gospel.  If my profile expands due to writing or film stuff, I will sing from as high a mountain-top as I have available.  Until my dying day.  Which, you know, could be today.  I don’t have any way to even guess about that day anymore.

Here’s the post:

Serious post time again. I apologize, because this isn’t usually the kind of thing I talk about more than flippantly with anyone but my closest friends, but I want to put this on social media for any and all to read. Because I think it’s horrible. And I want it out there. So I’m posting it here, and probably a few other less overtly-mine places.
Ahem. Here goes.

As most of you probably know, 7 months ago I woke up feeling really awful and went to the ER, only to find out that not only was I having a heart attack, but that I had some massivelly unchecked/undiagnosed diabetes. I had a stent put in via my wrist artery and spent 3 days in the hospital while they monitored my heart and blood, etc.

Fortunately enough, aside from apparently having the beetus, I escaped with no permanent damage to my heart. My last A1C test showed my blood sugar below even the pre-diabetic level too. I’ve lost 50lbs, and am in the best shape of my entire life. So I’m doing alright, health-wise, luckily.

Pretty much immediately after my return home people began telling me I should just file for bankruptcy right away. The thing is I’ve had insurance through all my jobs since I was 18. I pay for whatever the best plan available is, and almost never go to the doctor (turns out that’s not a point to be proud of). So I figured I’d be looking at a lot, but probably around 5k a lot. Imagine my surprise when the bill arrived and, after insurance, I was told I was responsible for almost $30,000.
That’s thirty. Thousand. Dollars.
For a three night stay. With no major surgery. And no major intervention other than the stent. Literally the rest of my time there was monitoring.
I’m going to put that right here again. $30k. For an emergency medical visit that didn’t involve surgery.
I’ve lost a lot of sleep over that number.
I filed an appeal both as an individual and through professional advocates my company contracts with. Not a single cent was reduced. The hospital also refused to reduce the fees at all.
So here I am. Stuck paying at least $500 a month for the next six or so years…years that could very well be the last ones I have to spend now.

$30,000 is a nice car. Monthly it’s two ok cars. Or rent. I was going to get a place late last year. And try to shoot a feature.
Did I mention I sold my pride and joy? My brand new Mustang. So I could reduce my monthly $ output a little bit to soften the blow. I still miss that thing every damn day.

The thing is, I make pretty decent money. And I’d structured my life so I had quite a bit of free income. And honestly that’s the only reason I’m surviving right now. I can’t imagine if I had a family depending on me for their survival, or even if I was making the same wage i did 3 years ago. I would be absolutely ruined.

I looked on my insurance company’s FB page and, unsurprisingly, almost every single review, comment, etc that isn’t from them is negative. People trapped in similar situations…or worse. Screwed over by the company they’re required to work with. The company that supposedly exists to protect them. It’s great, too, because their slogan for the year appears to be “live fearless”. I often see billboards saying that and showing rock climbers and people enjoying their lives. And all I can do is sardonically smile and think to myself no. Live in terror that anything unplanned might happen to you. Because you will end up getting absolutely destroyed by their failure to do their job. Honestly, if any other business sector was set up the way the medical industry works it would be criminal. It *IS* criminal. The laws just favor the criminals, in this case.

So the reason I’m writing this post is I want to make sure if anyone from Regence BlueCross BlueShield of Utah​ or anyone AT ALL reads this, they really feel this next few sentences.
It goes like this.
In one moment I found out I was both having a heart attack and diabetes. I was given what amounts to a slow death sentence with the diabetes. I was put on medication that makes me likely to bleed out and die. I’ve lost many of the things I loved in life, from my brand new car, to the ability to drink alcohol, to time I used to have free that I spend at the gym now. I’ve lost the ability to use salt in my food, and to eat refined carbs. I eat almost no fat and cholesterol now. I can’t eat out almost anywhere.

All of that horrible stuff happened to me.

And out of it all, the heart attack, the diabetes, the car, the MAJOR life changes…the absolute worst thing that happened to me was that I happened to be covered by Regence.

And with that out in the wild, I strongly urge anyone who is currently covered by, or considering coverage with Regence to not give them a cent. If I were looking to work for a company that used them as a provider I would either not take the job or pay the extra to get coverage from a company that’s less known for screwing over the people it represents. If you know anybody considering them, or currently covered by them, maybe have them talk to me first. I’m more than willing to spend the time explaining why they should give their money to pretty much anyone else, even if it costs them more up-front.