An Industry That Needs A Slap Across the Face

Hurricane Katrina brought to light for people in south Mississippi and Louisiana the ugly reality that insurance companies are happy as long as you're paying them but when they have to pay you, it becomes a different story.

Recently, an arsonist set my family's farm on fire and burned everything to the ground, the barns, the equipment, the farmhouse, everything. None of the animals died. We were able to hurd them to the farm down the road while the brave and galant men of the fire department cut a trench and filled it with water to serve as a breaker, thereby saving the next farm.

After 40+ years of paying premiums to Farm Bureau of Mississippi, our claim was denied because the "structures" on the farm were too far apart to insure. They continued to take our money throughout the years but never made us aware of this.

Now, my health insurance company, Aetna, has denied a medical procedure to determine why I can barely walk. My GP thinks I have a pinched nerve in my hip. He wants to do x-rays or an MRI. Aetna said request denied.

Why am I paying premiums for medical insurance that is of no use use to me? I guess my GP will have to continue guessing about my health and trying to treat me accordingly. Before you start to scream, "Hillary was right, Michael Moore knows best, socialized medicine is the way to go," I lived in England for a while and NO, socialized medicine is WORSE than the broken insurance system here is the U.S.

Why do stories similar to mine get told to me over and over and over?

Because we have a country that loves greed and in the words of Gordon Gekko, they believe greed is good. That coupled with politicians in Washington who get nice things from these insurance companies and you have an untenable situation.

As they laugh at Americans like you and me, it means we really don't get what we pay for.