peeved

[rootofnewt]

according to my insurance paperwork, food orthotics are not considered medically necessary devices.

*blink*

i suppose they'd rather pay for a wheelchair and painkillers for the rest of my life.

i mean, sure, having an abnormally long second metatarsal is sufficiently common that the foot guru ortho surgeon spotted it immediately, but it's still an abnormal skeletal feature which results in significant pain and disability.

boy pointed out that insurance companies don't believe in preventative care in general, no matter what they claim. this isn't preventative, though, this is the *solution* to my pain and lack of mobility.

ah, well. boy says we'll pay for the orthotics no matter what. he wants me walking comfortably. i'd rather not worry about where the money comes from. i'd rather he not cash in bonds he received at birth to pay for this. :(

i tried to call the insurance company, but their customer service hours are M-F, 8-6. Now, i don't work, but most folks with insurance probably do. This means that the insurance company expects you to contact them about potentially embarassing (or job-endangering) illnesses WHILE AT WORK. that's insane. i suspect they do this to discourage folks from calling about denied benefits... to encourage customers to suck up and pay for stuff that insurance should have covered...

ah, well. as boy points out, managed care is one of the most vile of the necessary evils in our life.

Comments

[mactavish.livejournal.com]

Sometimes, no hardware is considered medically necessary, whether it is or isn't actually necessary. Some insurance specifically excludes all hardware.

Some insurance is just fussy. Mine wouldn't cover Celebrex for ages. It is expensive, but they wanted me to continue naproxen or ibuprofen, even though I'd been on them for a long time and was getting stomach pain, and my doctor considered me at risk for gastric bleeding. It was almost as if the company would have preferred to pay for stomach repair than Celebrex.

[sabethea.livejournal.com]

according to my insurance paperwork, food orthotics are not considered medically necessary devices.

am i being thick, or do you mean foot orthotics?

sounds terribly painful, but if you've found something that will really help, then i hope you can manage to go for it.

[sheilamarie.livejournal.com]

I think most insurance companies do not cover ortodicts of any kind. The three I've worked with do not as well as a couple of others I've known. Just wanted to let you know that its not just HMO's, its PPO and Indemnity plans as well. I hate the insurance industry.