Diagnosis / Symptoms

With all the controversy swirling around the health care reform bill, here is something else to be considered in the mix. Shortly after my celiac diagnosis, our health insurance provider at the time (Blue Cross/Blue Shield) sent us a letter asking if we had supplemental health insurance. We called the insurance company as this was a strange request they’d never sent us before. The insurance giant stated that we probably forgot that they periodically sent us the same letter. We had not forgotten anything and had never gotten such a letter from them in the past, peroid.

After speaking with some people that worked in the insurance industry, and some who used to, everyone agreed this letter might be the insurers attempt to drop my coverage because I had recently been diagnosed with celiac disease. We told the insurance company we didn’t have supplemental coverage and that was the end of it. Maybe we assumed wrong about the meaning of the letter but we’ll never know one way or another.

One of the main issues here is that most insurance companies do not think most people with celiac disease are following the gluten-free diet faithfully. Studies show that up to 60% of patients who are told to go gluten-free continue to eat gluten, so the insurance companies assumptions are understandable. Many of them even mark the charts of celiac patients “pre-cancerous condition”. This is because untreated celiac can lead to several types of cancer, including but not limited to, non-Hodgkins lymphoma.

Certianly I don’t know what the answer is regarding health care reform. Health insurance is not the same as health care anyway, but that point seems to be get lost in the discussion at times. It also seems that in this country, you might be better off not having a bonafide celiac diagnosis on your health record. Here is some evidence that this assumption might be correct.

Excerpt from the Chicago Tribune:

When 17-year-old Brianna Rice was diagnosed with celiac disease in February, she had health insurance.

She doesn’t now.

In the months that followed her diagnosis, her insurance company, American Community Mutual Insurance, combed through her medical records and ruled that her parents lied on her application last year.

In May, American Community not only canceled her policy, but also rescinded coverage all the way back to the day it started — Nov.

Please take time to read the entire article. At the very least, what is happening to this family is sad and unfortunate. Share your thoughts about the issue in the commments below.