After more than a few years of schooling and training, the day is approaching when my erudition and skills may be of some value. So, I recently applied for a disability insurance policy.
These insurers, they ask a lot of questions. When they got to the part about traffic citations over the past five years, I had to stop and think. It's been three years since I've even
owned a car (but
what a car it was). And I know I had a speeding ticket at some point in the early part of this decade. But was it 2002 or 2003?
I was reminded of Michael Moore's documentary, SiCKO, where a health insurance company denied coverage to a young cancer patient because she had forgotten to disclose an old, easily treated yeast infection. They called it a
pre-existing condition.
And suddenly, it's became very important that I dig up old car documents from another state, even though I don't drive. God forbid I'm denied coverage at some point because of a misrepresentation in my original application (after talking to enough insurance agents, "God forbid" is a phrase that has worked its way into heavy rotation).
Does anyone know if I'm being paranoid about pinning down the date of an old speeding ticket?
Another question: I've often wondered why health insurance companies don't push harder for DNR status on elderly, moribund patients with dense dementia. Find and talk to the next of kin, work with the guardian, adjust expectations and prepare everyone for the inevitable.
Yeah, it's unseemly, but so much of what they do is already unseemly. And having seen too many of these unfortunate resuscitations, it seems that getting more aggressive about DNR status is more humane than trying to cheat otherwise healthy, active people out of coverage for out-of-the-blue health problems.
