SI, is it scary that we have to FIGHT to get health care for procedures that we need? I'm glad that you were able to succeed in the fight with them. It's a scary prospect that people need to fight for procedures that would save their lives in the most prosperous country in the entire world.
I know how many of you feel about Michael Moore, but he did a piece about the status of health care and more importantly, HMO's in America.
He had been approached by a man who needed a pancreas transplant because of a disease he had. His
HMO told him that they would honor all medical procedures due to the disease. When the needed transplant came up, Humana [the guy's HMO] said they wouldn't cover it. If he didn't get the transplant, simply put, he would die and leave 2 small children.
So, he started fighting the HMO to no avail and contacted Moore. So they went out and tried to get Humana the nice way with phone calls and stuff but they were just pulling bureaucracy. So, after checking out caskets and putting an obituary in the paper [cause of death according to the guy: "lack of quality care from my HMO, Humana] Moore and the guy showed up and asked why his pancreas wasn't covered even though the HMO said they would cover costs of procedures due to his disease. The guy wouldn't answer, so Moore and the guy asked the Humana spokesperson what sort of casket he liked in the catalog. After a little badgering about that, the guy starts handing out "You're invited to my funeral" cards wearing a "I paid into Humana for 7 years and all I got was this lousy t-shirt...but no pancreas" shirt. They even got a hearse with a casket and his family and friends to stage a mock funeral in front of Humana's corporate HQ. After that, Humana decided to honor it's original statement that it would cover costs due to his disease.