No Insurance for a Caesarean?
This makes me so mad, I can hardly think straight.
Can you say “sexist?”
This is nothing but outright discrimination against women. Perhaps they should deny their husbands insurance unless they get a vasectomy, since these women are only worth insuring unless they are sterilized. Just like the drug company is only targeting Gardasil to adolescent girls when they get HPV by having SEX which usually involves SOMEONE ELSE, and more dominantly, a BOY.
OR just like all the main symptoms for heart disease we are told to look for are predominately found in men, while the symptoms women face are hardly understood or studied as much.
Or just like how women used to be diagnosed with female hysteria and subject to ridiculous, harmful, and demeaning treatments because some “had a tendency to cause trouble.”
I don’t know, or just like how women are told if they nurse their babies longer than six months they’re abusing their children.
Or how stay-at-home moms are pitted against working moms as if we’re all a different breed from each other.
Or, you know, how the rumors about the casts from Sex and the City or Desperate Housewives are always cat-fighting, but no one starts rumors about the Sopranos, because you know, women just cat-fight and men are rational.
I’m effing sick and tired of the establishment discriminating against us just for being women.
How ’bout that pay raise now?
May 31st, 2008 at 5:09 pm
Similar thing happened to us a couple years ago when I was an independent consultant. I had to get individual coverage, and my wife had our daughter via C-section a couple years before.
Thing is, I wouldn’t have minded paying more. I see insurance as “aggregated risk” and I understand c-sections are pricier. I don’t mind paying our fair share into the pool.
But they weren’t going to cover ANY pregnancy related costs due to the C-section. Special waiver and everything. I even asked if I could pay more, and they said nada….
That I don’t understand. It’s simple math at that point.
June 4th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
I can understand if the c-section was elective. However, as in my case, I wanted a natural delivery but was not able to do so. My c-section was mandated and I would be totally angered if I was denied coverage or penalized based on a medically necessary decision made by my doctor.
June 4th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
i love that you put “effing”.
June 13th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
Amen.
June 16th, 2008 at 9:00 am
Yes. Please let’s not forget that 25-30% of U.S. births are C-section births, because the medical establishment needs to “control” women’s labors so they don’t go past 24 hours. Not cost-efficeint, you know.
This practice also diminishes the urgency of women who NEED C-sections. Again, we can’t win, no matter what.
June 16th, 2008 at 9:08 am
This is just awful. Combine it with asshole borderline quack OB/GYNs who push women to have c-sections for b.s. reasons (like maybe missing their tee times), and it’s double-jeopardy for women.
All because the patriarchy medical and insurance establishments treat pregnancy like a medical “condition” instead of a natural process. What a load of ass.
June 16th, 2008 at 9:21 am
Hi, I’m here through Shakesville
Great post. I was absolutely fuming mad when I read about this.
I don’t see how it’s justifiable even if the c-section was elective. Women should have all options open to them. They shouldn’t be pressured out of the type of birth they prefer. And a lot of women are pushed toward the c-section option by their doctors. It is just unconsionable to deny coverage because a woman has decided that a c-section was the best option for her. Doubly so if a woman has had to have a c-section because she truly had no other options.
June 16th, 2008 at 9:50 am
I don’t know, or just like how women are told if they nurse their babies longer than six months they’re abusing their children.
I was shocked at the number of complete strangers who felt it their responsibility to point out that my child really was, in their opinion, far too old for breastfeeding. We breastfed for exactly how long she needed to. And when she was done, she was done. No drama, no screaming upset child - just the acknowledgement that she was ready to move on.
I wouldn’t have done it any other way.
June 17th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
After 36 hours of painful labor and no dilation beyond 3 1/2 inches, it was determined that I needed a c-section. This was the right choice for my health and my baby’s health. By doing it correctly, futher (expensive) complications and procedures were avoided. Now I will be penalized for it if i lose my insurance.
Oh, and it’s not like my insurance covers everything. My out of pocket was well over $10,000 for the pregnancy and delivery (I have a typical 80/20 plan with co-pays).
The ONLY solution is a single-payer solution. Health insurance should NOT be a “for-profit” enterprise. It is as necessary to life and safety as a police force and a fire department. Single-payer systems eliminate the choice between profit OR delivering needed care (guess what the insurers choose?) and eliminate billions in other waste (marketing costs, CEO salaries and more).