Insurance companies turn breast reductions into masectomies

This really annoys me. I like breasts as much as the next guy, but sometimes, they need reduction for a variety of reasons. If the woman's life is not enhanced by their breast size, they may need to come down. If their size is causing them daily pain, or worse, causing damage to things like their spine, they definitely need breast reduction. And, health insurance companies should pay for it like any other reasonable medical cost.

However, insurance companies found a loophole. They don't want to pay for this, they say, because later women will want another reduction, so they turn a reduction, basically, into a mastectomy. That is incredibly sad. Pathetic really, on the part of health insurance companies. And more said on the part of women. Because that means women are suffering because of the health insurance companies.

Insurance companies say, basically, if you want a reduction, okay, then you have to take off an amount specified by the Schnur scale. This is a fairly general scale used by doctors, but we've heard how that goes. Not to mention, this was originally intended as a guideline. Not an end all be all as insurance companies have turned it into. Especially, if you are short, then the scale can be off.

Breasts, especially in the US, are an important commodity, an important social status issue as well as quite important in a woman's self esteem. Something that the insurance companies seem to give no credence to whatsoever. It is a number, not in any way, an emotional consideration.

Consider you are in that situation. You need some weight taken off your chest, but not too much. Just enough so you can handle the strain on your back. So the insurance company says, okay, but we need to take nearly all of them off. Would you do it? Even if you are in pain every single day? Especially, if you are a young woman?

I really think the health insurance industry needs to be taken to task on this one. From their perspective, they have a reasonable scale to make this decision by. But as many of us know, a DOCTOR should make that decision because there are a variety of things to take into account: the patient in general, their emotional status, their physical structure, size, weight, height, some of which the scale takes into account, but definitely, not all.

What this does is put the insurance company in the position of a monster, an uncaring bastard, really. And so, many women continue to suffer on a daily basis, in pain, and in many cases, deforming their spine, to the uncaring disconcern of paper pushers hidden away in corporate offices.

Sounds all pretty familiar, doesn't it?

About the Schnur scale