The roof on my house is totaled from hail and wind damage. It will cost big bucks to replace it. Problem is, my insurance company says it isn’t totaled and says here’s a few bucks to fix it. Problem is, what they have offered to fix it is not enough to fix it at all…not even close. Last winter I had ceilings inside the house cave in because the roof failed. These areas of the roof have not been included in the “fix it” quote by my insurance company.
What do I do? Do I sue them? The insurance company has found “experts” to say that my roof isn’t totaled and can be fixed. They all seem to agree on the same number. You see, the real story is that my insurance company is broke, hoping to delay and deny long enough for current premium collections to catch up with their enormous hail losses here in Oklahoma last year.
What does any of this have to do with health care?
I am probably going to have to fix my roof myself, with my money, with no help from the insurance company, unless I want to run the risk of having ceilings cave in again this winter. We feel certain that if our house burned down we would receive the same treatment from this insurance company, so consider ourselves, essentially uninsured for the moment. Problem is, no insurance company will touch this house unless we have a new roof. Not a repaired roof. A new roof. And why should they? Why should a new insurance company assume the risk of a failed roof, the repair of which should have occurred on the old company’s watch. They won’t and they shouldn’t. For if the new company did, everyone’s rates would have to increase to cover this certain, future loss. Everyone’s insurance rates go up. This coverage becomes even more unaffordable than before, and all because a “pre-existing condition” associated with my house was allowed and covered. The young struggling couple down the street would be right to be angry about their rates increasing as a result of their insurance company acting irresponsibly and taking on high risk, certain loss leaders.
For all of you loonies out there that think that mandating insurance companies to cover individuals with health insurance, pre-existing conditions be damned, get ready for your rates to become unaffordable. That is, of course, what the feds had in mind with mindless crap like this mandate. If insurance becomes unaffordable then there will only be one place to go to get it…Uncle Sam.
I am probably going to have to fix my roof myself because my agent chose poorly when shopping for insurance companies. My roof is not my neighbor’s problem and shouldn’t be. My bad fortune is just that: mine and no one else’s. Once my roof is replaced, I will be eligible for and will seek the best insurance for my home at the best rates and share the savings meant for those at low risk.
G. Keith Smith, M.D.
