Opt Out

From now on, when someone asks me for something, I will never say no. Instead, I will choose to "opt out".  It is a professional way of saying that I have no desire to do what you want, but I will say it in the most discreet way. Insurance companies coined this phrase a few years ago, when they decided to lower your benefits. It would not have been nice for them to tell you, that even though you are sick and have paid them your life savings in premiums, they do not want to pay your claim. The only problem, was that they slid that option into your policy, without you even realizing it. All that private companies saw when they renegotiated their health care plans, was a lower premium. No one looked closely enough into it to see that they chose the "opt out" plan. Mental healthcare was the benefit that was involved. When the country introduced Parity, the insurance companies needed to find a way around it. Parity means that mental illness is equal to physical illness. There would be no limit on coverage. Insurance companies offered a lower payment in exchange for you signing off on parity. It breaks my heart when I have to deliver this bad news to a patient. It hurt the most, the other day,when the man who's child was sick, was the one who signed the opt out rider for his company. He just had no idea......