The university system wins it! Second only to Universal

I thought that teachers had good health coverage. That was until I looked into how good professors have it. The University of Michigan health coverage for faculty is crazy good, and even better if you have type 1 diabetes. They have a diabetes program that eliminates copayments for most of the prescriptions: insulin, syringes, test strips. And other related prescriptions that are not necessary but can help with management, such as Symlin or Glucagon, are on a copayment reduction schedule which means they cost as low as $15 for 3 months' worth.

They even tried out a program to see if eliminating ALL copays for diabetes-related stuff (Dr visits, Rxs) would encourage type 2 diabetics to take better care of themselves. It didn't. That was a year before I got on UMPC.

However, it is hugely bureaucratic. Partly because it has to be in order to cut down on fraud or unnecessary services, and mostly because it's managing so many moving parts.

Let me illustrate: There is something called "Coordination of Benefits." Sounds nice, right? No, it's not. It's more of a racket among insurance companies to make sure that nobody has to pay for something that another insurance company has paid for (OK, fine, it's mostly to protect insurers from fraud, but also kind of a racket.) I recently learned about this when I tried to lie, cheat, and steal my way to the new Dexcom G4 system, which is leaps and bounds better than the old SEVEN Plus system. Twice the range! 30% more accurate! Who wouldn't want that?

Well, when they go the request from my doctor, they actually called the manufacturer and demanded my records (wait, I thought that was against HIPPA). When they found out that my current CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitor) is still under warranty for another two months, they denied my claim. Oh well. Guess I'll just have to wait the 2 months.

BUT, my larger point here is that in the universal system THIS DOESN'T HAPPEN. There's no such thing as coordination of benefits. It's all already coordinated. I'm not saying universal coverage is without fault, but image, just imagine, a system that cuts out all that waste and extra manpower and paperwork?!?!? It would be so efficient.

Sigh.