Reasons Our Medical System Is Harming Us

I have always enjoyed reading the Saturday Healthline posts by Wil Dubois, but the one on July 2 was a very profound post. When Wil says, “On this marking of our country’s 240th anniversary of independence — that I feel like I’m losing mine. I’m being manipulated by people in power. I’m being robbed of choice — and by association, of my humanity,” he expresses the feelings of many of us with diabetes.

He continues, “It’s not a king on a throne in a distant land that’s oppressing me. It’s men in the shadows right here in my own free country who hide in high-rise buildings on Wall Street, looking at me as a number, not a human being with a beating heart and a vibrant soul. Men who make decisions on what I can do, and can’t do, based on lining their own pocketbooks. I’m talking about the oppression of the insurance formulary.”

In this, Wil is correct. Why else would many heads of insurance companies be receiving large six and some seven figure incomes when they -

1. Can rip diabetes supplies away from us
2. Limit the supplies we can receive
3. Substitute inferior quality of diabetes supplies
4. Negotiate deals for cheaper supplies that don't meet our needs
5. Constantly change the formulary to prevent us from managing our diabetes efficiently

The insurance cartel follows the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) lock-step and even does more to harm patients when they won't allow patients to make use of the medications and tools that will help them manage their diabetes.

Wil then says, “Diabetes, left unchecked, is a slow and expensive killer.” I agree as I have seen what happens to patients that are prevented from testing as often as they should. They can have hypoglycemia, not have sufficient testing supplies, and end up in the hospital. This is more expensive than the test strips that could have helped them prevent the hypoglycemia from becoming worse.

Often many type 1 diabetes patients are forced to choose between insulin and food. Many type 2 diabetes patients are forced to do without the medications they know help them because the insurance company constantly changes their formulary and also prevents them from using the tools to manage their diabetes.

The medical insurance cartel needs to be broken up and prevented from harming patients. The doctors should not have to justify every medication they prescribe, especially when the medication has worked for the patient in the past.

Please take time to read the post by Wil Dubois in the first link above.