Monday, November 22, 2010
Health insurance companies and ethics
Health insurance companies should be guided by, and held accountable for, a large set of ethics. Like many big businesses, health insurance companies strive to increase profits. However, they must not violate ethical principles in order to increase profit and should be held accountable when they do . It has become clear that there are many health insurance companies that routinely deny patients access to life saving treatments in order to save money. Somehow, these health insurance companies should be held accountable for their actions, legally and financially.
There is constant litigation regarding health insurance companies and patients that are denied medical treatments. However, health insurance companies have large and powerful law firms on their side. Frequently patients exhaust all resources while fighting health insurance companies both financially and psychically. The patients window or opportunity for treatment may pass by while they fight their health insurance company in court.Consumers choose a health insurance company to represent their medical interests with doctors and medical institutions. An individual pays a health insurance company to work out deals with doctors, pharmacies and medical institutions in order to receive care at a realistic cost for all involved. Sometimes, a consumer will pay a co payment to the medical institution on a per visit basis in addition to their health insurance premiums. Health insurance companies try to discourage office visits by utilizing this practice, which saves them money. While that has long been an accepted practice, patients often find themselves unable to afford their co payment and fore-go their doctors visit to save money. There should be a reasonable and ethical solution. Perhaps health insurance companies could allow for a certain number of visits that don’t require a co-payment.
Health insurance companies will sometimes make decisions that consumers are not happy with. It is important that you go over your policy carefully before you select a policy. For instance, if you are denied treatment for a medical ailment because your policy prohibits that treatment, that is not a question of ethics, but a question of patient responsibility. Yet, if you find that your health insurance companies policies are ambiguous and deny basic medical coverage, it becomes more of an ethics question.
There is an old ethical question that asks you to consider the ethics of stealing medication for a loved one that can not afford to purchase the life saving medication. The answer may be different for everyone. However, we all know it is not ethical for a health insurance company to deny us access to life saving medication, in doing so, they steal precious healthy moments away from us. We must begin to hold each and every health insurance company accountable for their actions. Perhaps, the first step is to not utilize their services. Perhaps we must also encourage legislation to govern health insurance companies ethical responsibilities. It seems that so far, health insurance companies have not held themselves to a very high ethical standard. Its about time that someone does.
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