By Denise Ross

Anyone who’s had to deal with a health insurance company for even the most routine doctor visits knows how frustrating all the numeric codes and lists of “preferred providers” (sometimes outdated? Nah.) and those “explanation of benefits” that come in the mail can be. I can hardly imagine dealing with all that on top of a debilitating disease.

But many do. In anticipation of the pending health care reform debate about to consume Capitol Hill, South Dakota’s own Tim Johnson has asked his constituents to share their stories. Some of those stories are posted on his website, and I culled through those for one of my recent newspaper columns.

If you have a story of your own, it’s not too late to tell Sen. Johnson about it. So far, doctors have weighed in alongside the parents who struggle to pay for their children’s health care and those thunderstruck by a disease that quickly consumes their lifetime maximum.

Coverage, one doc says, is already “universal,” just not “effective (or) efficient.”

Read the full column by clicking “CLICK HERE” below.

Senator collects health stories

Johnson still seeks real-life tales for upcoming reform debate.

By Denise Ross

These days, most everyone has a story about health care woes and frustrations. Or more precisely, the stories are about the cost of health care and often maddening interactions with insurance companies.

Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., and his staff are collecting real-life stories from South Dakotans and posting them on Johnson’s website where you can share your own story.

While this might sound like the kind of slick and highly effective work that propelled President Obama into office, this idea rests solely with the Johnson office. It isn’t a mass effort to help pass Obama’s pending health care reform. It is a collection of compelling, if all too familiar, stories.

Johnson’s staff has done the hard work of reading and condensing the stories to what’s now posted online. I’ve sorted through those to include what can fit in this space.

Brian Smith, a physician from Rapid City, wrote in to sum up his frustrations. Coverage, Smith says, is already “universal,” just not “effective (or) efficient.”

He adds: “The bureaucratic, non-health related overhead is skimming an excessive amount of health care dollars from a faltering system.”

Here’s a sampling of the other stories:

• Jennifer from Cavour was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer in 2003. After a series of treatments over two years, including a double cord blood transplant, her medical bills topped $750,000.
  • “I was blessed to have an understanding employer and great health insurance through it all. Unfortunately my medical bills maxed out my $1 million life-time benefit on my insurance, and I was forced to leave a job I loved because I no longer had insurance,” she wrote. “My out of pocket expense of $50,000 was small compared to many, but it still has taken me six years to pay off my bills. And my once perfect credit was severely damaged due to bills I could not afford to pay right away. I also live in constant fear of losing my health insurance should I be laid off or lose my job. Once that coverage lapses, no other insurance company will pick you up without very high premiums.”

• Rhonda, a teacher from Madison, explained how ever-rising health insurance costs more than wipe out any raises she might get.
  • “We pay extremely high premiums and with high deductibles, still pay for our health care,” she wrote. “Most of us avoid going to the doctor because we have already spent $800 or more a month for insurance and can’t afford to pay the doctor bill.”

• Renae from Sioux Falls is a substitute teacher, her husband a plumber. Their six children are covered by the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). One has epilepsy, another obsessive-compulsive disorder.
  • “She (a 13-year-old daughter) has frequent trips to the neurologist, EEGs, and is on a lot of medication. Her medication costs over $1,000 every month, which is covered by CHIP. If we didn’t have that coverage, she would be having uncontrolled seizures due to lack of money to pay for the drugs she needs,” wrote Renae.

Meanwhile, Renae and her husband - with back problems - go without insurance altogether.

“We keep putting off doctor visits unless it becomes a life or death emergency. I pray every day for continued health.”

• Carol from Sioux Falls was diagnosed with a rare disease at age 40. Ongoing treatment for the disease cost about $20,000 every two weeks.
  • “I used up all of that lifetime expense in a short 3 years,” she wrote. “Luckily, the state of South Dakota has a high-risk pool insurance. But, there again was a lifetime max of $1 million, which is changing July 1. Thankfully, I have a little more time.
  • “I feel like I would be a ‘bad’ employee to get a job with a small company that pays the premiums for their employees and shortly after I am on their policy the premiums would be too high for the company to continue coverage for their employees. Because not only do I have no insurance, but I would cause people I work with to lose out on their insurance.”

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