waiting for insurance approval

There is so much I don't understand about the objections I hear about the current health reform bill.  But the thing I completely don't understand is when people say that they don't want the government making health care decisions for them.  I suppose that when people say that, they think that the alternative is that they themselves are the ones who should make these decisions.  And I guess that they must think that is what happens today.

I'm here to tell you otherwise.  When it comes to an expensive treatment or test, the one in charge of making decisions today is not the patient.  It's the insurance company.

A few weeks ago, Shawn was dehydrated, and many of his labs were elevated, including his calcium level. After modifying his medicine (dropping the most recently added diuretic) the dehydration and most of the lab results improved but his calcium level was higher rather than lower.  The sustained hypercalcemia has led Shawn's doctors to look at some other conditions not previously considered.  But when his doctor tried to schedule a CT scan, the insurance company requested more information before they would approve.  So we are now waiting for the insurance company before the next round of tests can be scheduled.

I see nothing in this current bill that will change this.  So I don't understand the argument of "I don't want the government making decisions for me."  In fact, the only decision the government will be making in this new bill is that everyone will have insurance coverage in the first place.  Then the insurance company gets to decide just like they do today.

And if the doctor and/or patient don't like the insurance company's decision, what can they do?  Well, they can sue the insurance company which puts it in the hands of, uhm,  the government.  That's not new, and also won't be changed by the health care reform.

But what is new is that the insurance company can't decide to just drop the individual when they determine that they are spending too much money on them.  And they can't decline to cover someone.  In our case, that is worth quite a lot.