In January 2002, my wife became eligible to receive 100% health insurance coverage from her employer. By that time, she had met the six-month employment requirement and was looking forward to having her premiums paid for by her employer. Unfortunately, it is now August 2002, and my wife still does NOT have any health insurance coverage!

For months, my wife and her boss (who also has not received her health insurance coverage) have pleaded with their employer many times via telephone and mail about the health insurance they were supposed to receive effective February 1, 2002. But, so far they have received only silence in return. Both are now contemplating bringing a small claims civil lawsuit against the company for the back payment of premiums that should have been paid.

This past weekend, we rented the Denzel Washington movie called John Q (GREAT movie except for the liberal propaganda universal healthcare mumbo jumbo towards the end!). We can certainly identify with the sentiment of the title character in that movie. John Quincy Archibald (Washington’s character) was so down on his luck and desperate to find a way to save his son from dying that he was willing to take the law into his own hands if that was what it would take to get the attention of the healthcare industry. Although we have not reached THAT level of frustration, we are extremely disappointed in my wife’s employer for dragging their feet on getting the paperwork to the insurance company. This has placed an unnecessary burden on our finances and health!

In the months following her eligibility for health insurance, my wife has had to go to the doctor for various health problems, including sinusitis, depression, anxiety attacks, chest pains and more. The multiple visits to the doctor have accumulated well over $1500 in out-of-pocket expenses since she was not covered by any health insurance. The amount of premiums that would have been paid out over that time are in excess of $1500, easily covering our expenses. We think my wife should be reimbursed retroactively for the money that would have been paid for her health insurance in premiums. This money should be paid directly to her from her employer since she was promised health insurance coverage by them in January 2002. That sounds fair, doesn’t it?

In fact, my wife needs to go to the doctor RIGHT NOW for a problem she has been having with pain in her wrist and panic attacks. Should we have to shell out another $300-500 to pay for another doctor to see her about these health conditions as well as the skyrocketing cost of prescription drugs? The Zoloft she has been taking costs over $90 a month! Now she needs Paxil which costs about the same. This is absolutely ridiculous and something needs to be done about it as soon as possible!

Does anyone want to offer their opinion about what she should do? Should she sue? What about the threat of losing her job? Should she quit and then sue? AAAAARG!!!

I am honestly seeking the advice of the highly intelligent and thoughtful Commonvoice community about what to do about what is becoming an all-too-common situation.

I think she deserves the money!

What do you think?