Influential Insurance: Killing The Patient

Lately it seems that almost every day I hear about, read about or am told about directly by a breast cancer patient how they beat breast cancer and then, not too long after, it metastasized, which means that it spread to other organs, bones, or the blood or soft tissues. Once this happens it is difficult to control because of its aggressive nature, and the only way to get rid of the cancer is to die. The most frightening part, for me, is that all of these stories are coming from women under 50, most of which are under 40 and a significant portion of which are under 30.

The settings are always random: Monday night's breast cancer defeat story was told to me on the way out to the parking lot from my brother's baseball game by a complete stranger. I was walking with my parents and niece when suddenly a woman said, "You have the same haircut as me." As I turned, she took off her hat, and it was clear from her tired, black rimmed eyes that she was a cancer patient. She told me all about how she'd had it once at 38, gotten rid of it, and then five years later it was in her lungs. She never had insurance and didn't get scans (because they are REALLY expensive) until she had symptoms, at which point it was too late. Upon departing in the parking lot she said to me, "Good luck. I hope yours doesn't come back."

Each time I hear one of these stories I feel a little less certain about the success of my treatments and wonder if I should be doing something different. I have started considering all of these different miracle treatments that everyone and their sister's mother's great aunt has told me about and wondering if I should completely change my lifestyle. Blue green algae, zeolite, methylglyoxal, goji juice, all varieties of berries, ph levels, immune power herbal formula tea... I need a serious transformation in everything, apparently. And I think I should live by the ocean.

One of the most unsettling things I've read so far, though, is about a girl named Kristy Lasch. She was diagnosed in 2000 at 22 just after she had finished her BA degree at UM. She had surgery, went through chemotherapy, and then went on with her life. Everything was fine.

"After finishing her treatment and reconstructive surgery, Kristy's hair grew back and she regained her strength. She decided to accept a position at the University of Miami while pursuing her M.B.A. Kristy planned a big celebration for her 25th birthday with her friends. Life was returning to normal. Kristy became active in the Susan G. Komen Foundation and spoke at the 'Race for the Cure' in October 2003. She continued to have blood work done every 6 months, as covered by her insurance, and the tests continued to come back negative for cancer. Her insurance didn't let her get the scans because her blood tests came back negative. Apparently there are a significant percentage of people for whom cancer does not show up in the blood test and would go undetected without a scan.

In May of 2003, Kristy began experiencing pain in her stomach and back. Doctors reassured her that she was fine because her blood work looked normal. The pain came and went throughout the summer of 2003 and by August, she was sure that further tests should be done. Kristy had a scan done. She was diagnosed with cancer in the bones and the liver, and began an aggressive chemotherapy treatment soon after the diagnosis. "

She died on October 3, 2004 at age 26.

I guess the insurance company's main objective is to make money, and the best way to make money is to insure only healthy people. If people aren't healthy, it's a burden to insure them, so it is best to get them off the policy one way or another.

Good job you sick fucks.