First I'm going to show you a video that will make you very mad, and very sad.

[Click to watch @ Sociological Images!]

This woman was raped, while she had health insurance, and was promptly DROPPED by her insurer after submitting a claim for anti-HIV medication that a doctor recommended she take for a month to try and prevent the contraction of the virus, since she was drugged at the time of her assault and was not sure if the rapist used a condom. Her insurance company dropped her because they claimed that she "didn't pay" and then, after she explained the situation, refused to pick her claim back up because she now had a "pre-existing contition."

[Check out this Huffington Post article on an awesome movement to defend women's rights to affordable health coverage: "I Am Not A Preexisting Condition"!]

To make a long story short: this woman's insurance provider found a bullshit excuse that allowed them to drop her coverage, so that they would not have to pay for the medication and therapy she needed after her rape.

Excuse my language, but I feel it is warranted: how the fuck is this allowed in our country? How can a company promise people that they will provide services, only to wiggle out of that promise when the services are actually needed. More specifically: how the fuck can the people who work for this company, who  make these policies, sleep at night knowing that they are leaving people who need their services, like rape and domestic abuse survivors, without a lifeline all so they can turn just a little more proft.

To the people who claim that this is simply good old American capitalism at work, all I have to say is f*ck you. No, wait, I actually have a little more. To the people who want to let the "market" dictate health care and are adamantly opposed to real government intervention... how would you feel if this was you? How will you feel on the day that you file a legitimate claim and get denied through one of the many loopholes that insurance providers weave so cleverly into their policies. Honestly, its not much of a stretch, just look around... you could very easily be next, and I have to tell you... capitalism? You may have its back, but its not going to have your back when its your illness, you medical needs, draining profits away from the insurance provider's pockets.

I've said it before, but I'll say it again: there are some things that we simply should not be trying to profit off of. Human life? Yeah, that's one of those things.

Socialism. Its one of this big "scary" words that people have been throwing around for years now to scare us away from insurance provider's who's goal is actually providing insurance; not making money.

Think of our schools. They're socialized. Public schools mean that every American child gets a chance at an education, regardless of how much money their family may have.

Think of our police forces. Again, socialized. We all pay what we can, through taxes, to provide a service that protects everyone, that is available to everyone. 

Firefighters? Same story. Can you imagine if you called 911 because your house was on fire and, afterwards, after losing so much in the fire... you were handed a HUGE bill for the services you incurred?

Everyone needs to understand this: there is no such thing as private health insurance in this country. It can not be purchased. It does not exist.

You can _think_ you are being virtuous and prudent by paying for health insurance. You can pay for it every month for years and years, maybe even get a few minor claims reimbursed along the line. You might, over time, really become convinced that you are “insured.” But I say again: there is no such thing.

The _moment_ you make a substantial claim, your insurer puts armies of lawyers and accountants to work, going over every detail of your medical history and your insurance application for some flaw, some tiny error or omission that allows them to rescind your policy. And they will find it. It doesn’t have to be intentional, it doesn’t have to be material, it doesn’t have to have anything to do with your current sickness or injury.

Quick! Take a sheet of paper and write down every single visit you’ve ever had with a doctor or nurse in your life.

Think you might have missed one? Or gotten a date wrong? Or forgotten that you also had the dermatologist remove a wart that time you went in for a facial rash? Then you do not have insurance. You can not buy it. It does not exist.

The evil of this system–what other word is there?–is astonishing.

I have a good friend whose policy was rescinded for a trivial and harmless error in her application. But she just had a skin growth biopsied, and…well, if you’re an insurance company, you can’t be too careful, no? You don’t make money by paying out claims, after all.

I caution everyone I know in the strongest terms possible against having to purchase private health “insurance.” It is a phantom, and you will never know it’s not really there for you until you need it. You have to find some way to get benefits through an employer, union, or other group that can not reject or rescind your coverage. Even at the cost of doing a job you don’t like and woudn’t otherwise take. Your life could depend on it.