Insurance Woes
By Patricia Racine
December 2025
I have been fortunate enough that all of my employers have provided health insurance for me. I have never had to go out and find my own plan, until last August. Not only did I unload my store, but I also unloaded my health insurance. Let me first point out that I am not a big fan of doctors; I refuse to be put on any medication and generally have little faith in Western medicine, but not many Holistic and Eastern medical professionals take insurance, at least in my experience. (If anyone has the name of one that takes insurance, please let me know.)
Last August I begrudgingly went on the Massachusetts Healthcare website to talk to someone about what options were available to me. I was technically unemployed at the time of the phone call. I got as far as putting in my email and phone number when my phone began to ring. It wasn’t a number I recognized so I didn’t answer. After about a half hour of incessant phone calls I picked up and, low and behold, there was a representative on the line to help me find a plan. I am not well versed in insurance speak and talking to this guy was well over my head. But he had a nice low-priced monthly plan available to me, but the catch was that I had to commit immediately. Yeah, I don’t commit to anything immediately especially not if it is going to cost me money. In addition, he would not send me any paperwork that I could review with my Dad. So I hung up on him.
In the following days my phone rang non-stop all day long with insurance representatives until I finally signed up for a plan that was actually a really good deal, too good of a deal. Six months into having this new plan and three months past the cutoff for getting on High Lawn’s plan I finally used it for a routine appointment that is fully covered each year. You can imagine my surprise when a month later I got a decent-sized bill for that appointment. When I called the insurance company I was told that my doctor was out of network. What is this network they were speaking of? I was told that I could use all my regular doctors on this insurance plan. Apparently they misled me. It turned out that my network is in Boston and Chicago, not very convenient for a doctor’s appointment. In addition, to switch plans I had to wait until October for the open enrollment window at work.
It was a long summer waiting for that enrollment period while I was paying for something that I couldn’t use. I think that insurance is a big racket, more interested in taking your money than helping you stay healthy. I’m fine now, fully covered, and with a brand new dental plan to boot. Thankfully all my doctors are in the network and conveniently located. The lesson I learned is not to unknowingly trust the Massachusetts bureaucracy; they were absolutely no help to me.
