I was an MD in practice for 23 years and battled daily with these companies. They not only denied care, but just didn't pay claims for ridiculous reasons such as they never received it (even though it was in the same batch as others they did pay). The fact that denials are not medically based is well known. There are even people who leave the insurance industry and speak publicly about how they simply throw claims in the garbage.

Then I became very ill with a spinal disease and later stage 4 cancer. After treatment for my cancer my company called me and said I really wasn't covered and they were taking back all the bills paid for my cancer. $300,000 in total. They did take all the money back and left me uncovered for the extra care I was expected to need. I was facing bankruptcy and cancer care I could not afford. Luckily I alerted the state authorities and they told them to put all the payments back. The reason for denying my coverage was an experiment in twisting the law to see if it would stick. Luckily I fought. Others would not have.

We have fought for a single payer in one form or another since the 1920s and been blocked by charges of socialism. We are the only industrialized country where medical bills is the number 1 cause of bankruptcy. And don't tell me about long waits. Getting an appt in the US for a specialist can take as much as a year. Our system is no better. The difference is you can't afford it and we all hate it. In Europe they love their systems in spite of their problems. The difference is important to understand. In a state sponsored system the goal is to take care of people. In our system the goal is to make money for stock holders. With the money we spend on premiums, plus taxes for public systems, plus the vast amounts paid by each private company on administration and advertising (25% vs 8% for Medicare) we could afford to insure everyone. I urge everyone to keep the pressure on with stories of abuse under the current system. We must make ourselves heard in Washington where the roadblock sits.