Insurance is a scam

My rant today was initiated by my prescription service.

I hate insurance companies. They are the worse form of bureaucracy imaginable. Actually, I should qualify my statements...I hate medical insurance companies. I've dealt with several varieties over the years, and can state that the HMO concept could only have been conceived by an evil, evil person. You are required to jump through all their hoops, but they have no obligation to provide reasonable, rational services.

At the end of July, I order 2 prescription refills through my mail-order prescription service. The refills were shipped August 2. Through an error on the part of the post office, instead of my pills arriving in MY mailbox, they ended up at my son's apartment in Kennesaw, Georgia. Since he and his wife were in the process of packing their household goods to be moved to his new post in Hawaii (he's in the Army), my pills inadvertantly ended up on an Army transport, on the way to Hawaii. No idea when they will see the light of day again. I've explained this to my insurance company (Pacificare) and their contracted prescription service (Prescription Solutions). But, since it's not time to refill the 3 month supply yet, any refills I get till October 8 will not be covered by my prescription insurance. So when I go to my local pharmacy (having given up on meds by mail), I not only do not get the advantage of ordering 3 months at a time, I have to pay full price, not just my co-pay. The advantage of meds by mail was that you got 3 months for the price of 2. I called my insurance company about the problem, and was told only the prescription service could waive the refill date. The prescription service says that the insurance company makes that determination. I guess I could go to the post office and ask them to pay for the refills, but I suspect the med insurance bureaucracy might even be surpassed by the postal one.

Insurance seems like such a scam. You pay outrageous premiums for car insurance, and if you ever need to file a claim, they increase your premiums. How can that be right? House insurance is the same. Plus, they can arbitrarily decide they don't want to cover you anymore. Oh - and as far as car insurance, it's against the law not to have it. So they have government supported piracy going on. I feel really sorry for the folks down in the Katrina path, when they go to file claims and find out all the ways their insurance companies can weasel out of paying up. Some companies will probably just declare bankruptcy - easy for businesses these days, but not for the victims of the hurricane that have lost all. Thanks to our congress and president for passing that new bankruptcy law...

So - do you wanna ask me how I really feel about insurance now? LOL