Special insurance program

[Guest guest]

Some of you may remember an earlier post of mine about an offer from

my insurance company to participate in a special program for people

with chronic conditions. I did not have a good feeling about it,

beginning with the brochure, which listed the conditions this program

is designed for. ALS was on the list, and as you probably know, most

people with ALS die in 5 years of diagnosis. It frightened me to be

included in such a list, when I'm doing quite well!

Then, I received several calls from the program's representatives.

They called when I wasn't home, and I chose not to return the

messages. I could tell from the accents that the people who wanted to

manage my care were located in a distant part of the country.

Today I received a letter in the mail, and I responded to it with a

brief note-- " Not interested in participating. " Hopefully, that will

be the end of it.

As far as I can tell, the only benefit I would receive would be phone

access to a nurse, 24/7--not much to get excited about there.

I feel that hope is such an important aspect of health and well-

being. This program offer, with its distant helpers and scary

brochure, made me feel less hope for my future. (The first letter I

got from them implied that I will definitely be getting worse and

that my care will become more complex.) I suppose this reaction would

be better directed toward the insurance co. as feedback for their

communications dept., but I guess I just wanted to vent it here.

Thanks.

Sierra