we’ve always had the same HMO, at least I have. There were a few "clinkers" now and then, but in general I must say-we’ve never been told "No you can’t have this". No one batted an eye about my going on Enbrel. No one said no about all the various trips to physical therapy either. Not for me, our son. when my husband had complications from a tonsilectomy and went to the closest hospital-they did everything to be sure he was okay. Took care of our son when he was 14 and had a cancer scare-let dh stay in the room and let us stay with him as long as possible. Even brought in movies for him and his cousins so they could spend time together. Our daughter needed a breast reduction-they did it. Again, we’ve had some rotten apples, but for the most part-very lucky. even sent me to a private eye surgery center for my cataract operations and sent me home with lunch and dinner so my husband didn’t have to cook!!!

We always have trouble with our insurance. Dh works for county government and we have a plan that’s supposed to be one of the best around. They usually end up paying the claim they denied, but it takes days of phone calls and aggravation to fix the denied claims. Some of the goodies from over the years: the anesthesia for my c-section was denied (this is my personal favorite!); denied paying for diagnostic tests on my son because the doctor who read the tests was not in their plan (the kicker was they sent us to this facility because it is participating in our plan); denied pediatrician bills (it was a doctor covering for our vacationing ped); denied ER scans because they wanted us to send bills to our car insurance when no car was involved in the mishap that sent us in. These examples immediately come to mind. If I think about it longer I’m sure I’ll come up with more!