My body. My choice.

This is a phrase I am sure you are familiar with. You have probably heard it in the context of being chanted at women’s marches, or marches fighting for a woman’s right to have access to proper, and affordable birth control as well as having the choice of having an abortion or not. However, when it comes to our bodies and our health, we have a lot of other choices we deserve to make and insurance companies across the country are limiting those choices.

This realization was on my subconscious of something I could be victim to when it comes to choosing how I treat my type one diabetes, but I was jolted into this reality unexpectedly on a recent Thursday. As I opened Facebook and began to scroll through my newsfeed, I came across the headline: “Animas Corporation to Close Operations and Exit Insulin Pump Market | Johnson and Johnson.”

In layman’s terms, the company that produces the insulin pump I rely on was shutting its doors and if my pump is to fail right now, my family and I will find ourselves paying thousands of dollars for me to be able to have access to a new one.

Nine years ago, my parents gave me the power to choose which insulin pump system I wanted to use to treat the chronic, autoimmune disease that I live with twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.

My body. My choice.

As the shock waves of this announcement subsided, I began to grieve the loss of this device and began to process what this news meant for me. Unfortunately, unlike the death of the individual, with the “death” of an insulin pump, you can’t just bury it, hold a ceremony and then learn to cope without it. You must find a solution to this need you have in your life. I realized I need to be proactive about finding a new pump to transition to.

I was aware of three other insulin pump options that are currently available to diabetics in the United States, however, something stopped me and told me to see what options my insurance plan covered. This is not literary embellishment either. I was about to start looking at one brand of an insulin pump when I stopped myself to google: “What insulin pumps does X insurance company cover?”

Of three possible options, my health insurance company provides coverage for only one.

My body. No choice.

This elimination of choice for patients shows the outright greed health insurance companies have in the United States. Their desire to rake in millions upon millions of dollars in profits is prohibiting patients from receiving the forms of medical treatment that would be most effective and suitable for them.

Imagine trying to explore different treatment options for a whole host of medical conditions: addiction, anxiety, any autoimmune disease, cancer, diabetes, depression, eating disorders, other mental illnesses, obesity, skin conditions, the list can stretch on and on. This list can even include just trying to find a primary care provider, a gynecologist, or any other type of doctor.

Think of the devastation you would feel if only after hours and hours of seeking out the different treatment options or medical providers, the one you found that would be the best choice for you is not covered by the insurance you have.

Your body. Your treatment. No choice.

Health insurance companies should not have control over what treatments or providers you can or cannot have affordable access to based on what they choose to cover or companies they favor. These insurance companies need to learn some bedside manner and have the empathy and respect to give their patients the choice of treatment.

This country has somehow developed a fundamental mental blockade against providing people not only insurance that is affordable and accessible, but coverage that gives people the power of choice as to how they will treat their ailments.

It is my body, my health, and I deserve a choice.