Robert Hruzek of Middle Zone Musings is always giving his fellow bloggers an interesting challenge. What could be more interesting than trying to present what you’ve learned from the government?
Of course, the pat answer would be: “Not much!” But that wouldn’t be true. And I’m also thinking in terms of allergies, which puts a new spin on the whole writing challenge.
Personally, what I have learned from the government about allergies is that allergies do not have sufficient profile for the government to be taking action on the behalf of the allergic populace.
Too harsh? i think not. If you can believe it, I recently read that some private health insurers in the US are using allergies as a reason to deny an application for coverage. Allergies? Are they kidding? I’m not talking about life threatening allergies either (which could be argued as a chronic problem that can become very expensive over time), but we’re talking about your garden variety hay fever cited in the newspaper article.
I don’t know about you, but in my family we pretty much handle these kinds of allergies ourselves without ever seeing a doctor, let alone fill out a prescription. Personally, I find that hay fever and other environmental allergies can be managed really well with some smart tips for avoiding your allergens. In fact, the majority of our allergy management strategies in my home are non-drug strategies.
Even if I had family members with much more severe allergies, the treatment of the condition is not so expensive as to pose a big bill for an insurer. So what gives?
Which brings me back to private individual health insurance and the new barriers being erected to coverage. Why isn’t the US government intervening here? Even if the feds don’t want to get into the insurance business, couldn’t they mandate that insurers have to reduce such barriers to allow more folks to get insurance? After all, if they don’t, it will simply mean more people will apply for the the “last resort” insurance plan in each state - or will turn up on the federal plans.
It just doesn’t make any sense.
Allergies, while generally a chronic condition once you are in adulthood, are not a life sentence. They are an issue of management. If conditions like allergies can be used to prevent an otherwise healthy person from getting insurance coverage, the government should take action to ensure people who want insurance can get it.
I think it’s that simple.
