Hi folks. The utterly true story of how I spent thirteen years thinking I had something medically wrong with me and it turns out I don’t. I share this story in the hopes that it can be of use to somebody. Warning: video is a true and serious story and may or may not have snippets of humor.
Interesting story, John. Thanks for sharing. Congratulations on the news. I had a friend who died of Hep-C. He got it from having surgery in the days when the blood supply wasn’t so thoroughly screened for positives and false positives. On a small side note, your story is yet another reason why the country NEEDS universal health care coverage. It would have been horrifying if you had been denied health coverage for having false positive tests for Hep-C. (And I hope that doesn’t happen anyway. But, it could.) But, if you think about it, it would have been even more horrible and potentially lethal if you had been denied coverage and your tests had been accurate. Insurance companies shouldn’t be allowed to cherry pick who they cover.
I found an article doing a Google search. I thought it was interesting. This might warrant a follow up from NeedCoffee.com:
http://coffeetea.about.com/od/health/a/healthliver.htm
I don’t think I would have had a problem getting insurance, actually. It just would have cost me more and rightfully so as I was a risk. Insurance companies have every right to say who they do and don’t cover, IMO. Now if you’re saying they had entered into a contract with me to cover me and then decided arbitrarily to deny coverage after the agreement was made with full knowledge of what I thought was the condition of my health at the time, then yes, we’re in full agreement. My concern was going from a plan I knew (and had already paid towards the deductible for and already had a HSA with, etc.) to a new plan that might be more expensive. But having looked into things, I don’t think there was any danger of me ever having NO coverage.
Good job bro and I’m glad you’re healthy. You’re right that there are no unique problems and sometimes the biggest help is knowing someone who went through it and learning from that experience.
The good news for those who do have Hep-C currently there is treatment. Bad news= very exhausting. I know two or three people who suffer from this based on their past lifestyle choices. Two of them have to undergo treatment for it and those times have been very rough for both of them. It’s funny how much we ask for people to get checked for AIDS(rightly so) and yet we overlook something that can actually shutdown your liver.
As far as healthcare goes it would be very expensive with HEP-C being a pre-existing condition due to the treatment it requires and other health risk (the liver quitting). Insurance companies definately shy away from people they may end up shelling bucks out for.
*Yet I wonder why they don’t pay for chiropractic visits and spinal screenings. Your spine houses your central nervous system but they try not to pay for that. Healthcare = Epic Fail.
Hi Widge, first off a huge congrats to coming back clean. Secondly i found myself in a very similar situation. I donated blood in 1999, and had been donating since 98, got the letter of doom for exceedingly high liver enzymes, possible Hep infection.
My family doctor is an unbelievable fellow he had me screened three ways till sunday for the virus, and enzymes separately. I had an Untrasound of my liver which showed massive fatty deposits, most probably due to using too much Tylenol at the time. Still wasn’t able to donate, but at least i just had to loose some weight.
About three years ago the red cross sent me another letter telling me that i could safely donate again being that my sample fell within certain safety guidelines as simply having high enzymes. SO i can donate again today. I was stunned to hear how similar your experiance was to my own, except for the extra tests my doctor ran.
Anyway just wanted to drop you a line saying congrats and you’re not alone
Damn…thanks for relating that Paul. I knew somebody else must have gone through a similar bit, but I didn’t expect it to be somebody I knew about…! Just goes to show you never know, right?