When you have a chronic illness, your health insur...

When you have a chronic illness, your health insurance can be your lifeline. It can also be what drags you down, making life more unbearable than it was before. So count on Humana to throw you an anchor.

We signed up with this company because they seemed to offer better rates and services than the one we were with. Yeah, that's right up until you sign up, then it's a whole different ballgame.

After we were stuck, they started taking all of my medications off of their formulary. People with MS need specific medications, but you can't get them covered by Humana. If you need a three day course of IV steroids, you can't do it at home......well, you can for $3000. They'll cover it, if you are hospitalized, but then you've got three days of hospitalization to deal with. And who wants to spend 3 days in the hospital for something that you can do at home? So, you just skip it and put up with the symptoms.

How about something simple like post menopausal hormone replacement. Uh.....no. Fork over $120/mo. if you want to sleep at night, because Humana isn't going to cover it.

Tests? Glad you asked. Need a bone scan for osteoporosis, that'll be $300. Need an MRI, oops...that's $350. So, if you're going to this company and have health issues, you'd better be independently wealthy if you want to get what you need. I've had to cut out all but two meds (both generic) and have multiple chronic issues that are undiagnosed because I don't have the money for the copays.

Is there a specific doctor that you know is really good? Maybe, maybe not. But if you want an 80 year old primary from a medical school somewhere in Thailand, you're good to go. If you want to change your primary to someone else that's in the system, expect to spend at least an hour on the phone......and I'm still waiting for the updated card they promised me 6 MONTHS ago.

If you want lots of unidentified calls with no messages, count on Humana. I know it's them, because I look up the numbers......right before I block them. If you want to talk to me, leave a freakin' message.

The only reason they get two stars is because I got decent emergency room coverage. But doing one thing decently does not make them anything but next to the bottom of the barrel.