Cheating insurance companies deny patients proper care

By Aaron Gormley

We all know that there are many areas where health insurance is suffering in this country. One of the most frustrating examples of this is in the area of so-called experimental treatments. Insurers are routinely denying patients important healthcare because they have labeled certain treatments as investigational or experimental.

Another frustrating part of our struggling healthcare system is insurers who don’t cover preventative treatments that can actually prevent a more serious disease from forming. An example of this is that an overweight person who does not bring his or her weight down may develop diabetes.

TMJ Surgery

A good example of the ridiculous concept of experimental treatment is that of reconstructive surgery for TMJ. An alloplastic hemiarthroplasty of TMJ has been proven to be successful for fifty years. Insurance companies have labeled this surgery as experimental. To further confuse the issue, they will cover multiple autologous grafts that have a 69-90 percent failure rate.

Does this make even the slightest sense? Deny a patient surgery that is proven to work, but approve a surgery that is known to fail. It’s ludicrous. The health of Americans will never improve if insurance companies continually make these decisions.

Gastric bypass surgery

Gastric bypass surgery is a surgery reserved for those persons who are morbidly obese. They must be at least one hundred pounds overweight and tried other weight loss methods before being medically eligible for gastric bypass. However, just because a patient qualifies for the surgery does not mean the insurance company will cover it.

Although some insurance policies are beginning to cover this procedure, there are many that still won’t. Yet if these obese patients do not get help, they are at risk for diabetes, heart failure and other health problems. One study proved that very few states ensured coverage of obesity, even though it is seen as one of the most challenging health problems Americans face.

Not covering preventive care

Most people think of preventive care as a complete physical exam once a year, but it is much more than that. For instance, an overweight person can develop diabetes or sleep apnea if they do not get their weight under control. The insurance company will cover treatment for diabetes, but will not cover weight loss treatments that could prevent diabetes in the first place.

The same concept applies to conditions like sleep apnea. Sleep apnea can affect anyone, but overweight people are at a higher risk. If the insurance companies would step in and help overweight patients lose weight, they would not have to later cover conditions that were brought on by the obesity.

What the insurance companies say

Insurance companies try to insist that they will conduct reviews of new treatments to determine if they should be covered under their plan. Reading their handbook will lead a patient to believe that they are doing everything they can to research these treatments and eventually provide coverage. This is far from the truth, as this article shows.

If insurance companies will not cover a TMJ procedure that has been proven to work for fifty years, it is highly unlikely they will cover something that has been on the market for only five years.

The sad part is, while the insurance companies are dragging their feet about covering certain treatments, people continue to die. It’s a shame and the healthcare in this country will never be healthy until insurance companies are prevented from making these types of exclusions.

About the author: Aaron Gormley writes on all financial topics, from insurance scams to how to find CDs that yield high rates.

Dangers of debt consolidation

Debt consolidation does have a few pitfalls that may not be quite so obvious when faced with daunting debt. Even so, being aware of the dangers of debt consolidation before obtaining a consolidation loan can help reduce and avoid additional financial complications later on. Some of the dangers of debt consolidation are described below.

• Costly variable interest

If a consolidation loan offers a low introductory interest rate that is variable, the rate could go up at any time after the initial interest rate offer expires. This may save money in the short-term, but if the variable rate rises to a weighted average interest rate higher than the loans that were consolidated, it's no longer cost effective. After this point the consolidated debt becomes financially ineffective and possibly dangerous depending on how high the interest rate goes.

• Lower debt to credit ratio

Another potentially negative consequence of consolidating debt is it can affect credit score in the wrong way. One way this can happen is if previous loans, credit cards or lines of credit become closed accounts. This is because credit score is partially based on how well you manage different types of credit. If the amount of debt paid off with regular payments is less than a proportional amount of prior debt payment, a negative affect on credit score may also occur due to the slower rate of payment despite a lower cost of debt.

• Extra consolidation fees

Depending on the type of consolidation loan, consolidation fees may present an additional danger of debt consolidation. For example, if you obtain a consolidated refinancing of your mortgage other loans may be incorporated into the refinanced loan. Several things can happen here including consolidation fees associated with the mortgage refinance. Moreover, these costs potentially add up to thousands of dollars.

• Poor terms of agreement

Consolidation loans like other loans have terms of agreement. These terms of agreement can be a danger of debt consolidation if they are misunderstood or involve a caveat or policy that can be financially harmful to you at a later point in time. For example, can the lender increase interest rate if any payments are late? or are there ongoing loan management fees that you didn't read about? Several financial penalties or fees may be associated with a consolidation loan and may be detailed in the loan's terms of agreement.

• Type of consolidation

The type of debt consolidation can also be a danger. This is because consolidated debt can be rolled into several types of loan products which differ in cost considerably. Some different types of debt consolidation include mortgage debt consolidation, credit card consolidation, and refinancing of multiple auto loans under one new consolidated loan agreement. If the potential problems of debt consolidation described above occur together, the affects multiply for a more negative and compounded financial consequence.

Businesses such as banks use risk management to avoid becoming victim of bad debt consolidations. Individuals can also use a risk management when assessing debt consolidation loans. For example, to avoid bad interest rates build credit first and review the consolidation loan terms. If there are excessive front end fees and the re-scheduling of a mortgage amortization does not make the consolidation worthwhile, consider alternative options such as snowballing debt payments.

How to Eliminate Credit Card Debt

We aren't all millionaires and some of us have to stop living like we think we are. Credit card debt can be eliminated, and it can be reduced even easier. To make a long story short, one may benefit through implementation of one or more of the following techniques to reduce and/or eliminate credit card debt. The first letter of each debt reduction technique spell out SCARY when put together because it is scary to try and face debt.

• (S)top accumulating credit card debt immediately
• (C)onsolidate credit cards into one low interest loan
• (A)pply more money each month to paying off the debt
• (R)eassess and adhere to a personal spending budget.
• (Y)ell out for debt elimination assistance

These steps are common advice for eliminating debt and are easier said than done; after all a really smart monkey might be able to pay off credit card debt if one gave him a spinner with two options; pay off and don't pay off! The reality is many individuals use credit cards to help them live. The clue in this is either one is living a standard one can afford or one isn't. If the former, then paying off debt is more difficult and requires the following additional ingredients.

1. Dedication to the new budget.
2. Commitment to not spend more than one can afford.
3. Understanding of how compounding can cost more than the original debt.
4. Live within your means even if it means moving in with the parents for a while.

The way to eliminate credit card debt is easy, doing it is much harder. If it wasn't hard no-one would have this problem and credit cards would be making less money. If you or someone you love needs help paying off credit card debt, understand the seriousness of the situation and try to follow the above steps as best you can. There are also many references and online guides that can be helpful in developing a debt elimination plan. While this may involve a little thought, the amount of information available on the internet and through non-profit consumer services etc. can be useful.

Eliminating credit card debt essentially means paying off the credit card and if the cards are used thereafter, the new balances are paid of frequently in full. Implementing a credit card debt elimination plan involves making consistent and large enough payments to pay more than interest and costs added to the card. However, other techniques that may lower interest rates, and amounts added to the card(s) every month can also be helpful in eliminating the debt faster.