Mildly Infuriating

That's more than mildly infuriating....

Sounds like discrimination based on sex. A clear violation of the Civil Rights act of 1964.

My friend, you need to do two things --

One, get treated. It seems you've visited urgent care. They are "real" doctors and, assuming the hospital or clinic the urgent care is associated with is well-staffed and stocked, should be able to get your sorted today. Be sure to get any prescriptions you need filled on-site, if possible, before you leave.

Two, review your healthcare plan. While the Affordable Care Act mandated certain minimum coverages several things happened since that allow people to purchase plans that do not conform to the ACA mandates. On those so-called "catastrophic" plans, insurers can deny or decline to cover all sorts of things. Patients often simply shop by monthly premium cost and don't check coverages. Make sure your health plan is ACA-compliant, and, if not, look into a way to get covered by a compliant plan.

If it IS ACA-compliant, then treating a UTI, even in a male, is covered. You may be selecting providers that are not in-network, or do not have the proper staffing to treat this fairly rare condition, though. It may be worth a visit to your primary care provider if you can't get something like CVS or another "Doc in a Box" to treat it.

So a few things. This is a CVS minute-clinic visit, not a visit to a general provider. The minute clinics have contracts with insurance companies that look a bit different in terms of what and who they are permitted by the insurance companies to treat. There are some really odd variations in these contracts by insurance companies for reasons that are not always grounded in science.

This, as you've noted, is an unfortunate reality of a for-profit health care system that is dictated by private companies, insurance companies, and mind-bogglingly complex contracts that sit between providers and patients. The most annoying part IMO is that insurance companies provide zero transparency into these contracts and the justification behind decisions. It's all "business decisions" at the end of the day, not decisions that are medically sound and in the best interest of the patient.

And for those wondering why OP maybe just didn't go to a "regular doctor" - the U.S. has a horrible shortage of general practitioners (primary care) physicians. This shortage is worse in some areas than others. And even if you're lucky to live in an area that has general practitioners, the waiting list to get into their practices might be long. This leaves many people relying on a "doc in the box" aka CVS Minute Clinic or some similar outfit. These doc in the box clinics often only have a nurse or nurse practitioner on site, with a supervising physician off side. They are for-profit entities and they work with the insurance companies to design their contracts to maximize profit.

If you ever find yourself in OP's physician, one easy way to get around this is to indicate that the visit is for something more general, like abdominal pain or unexplained fever. While the staff still might refer you off to another provider, it might be a good way to at least "get in" with someone.

Another option is to visit a local urgent care clinic if one is available and covered by insurance. These are often staffed by actual physicians so they can treat a wider range of conditions. Many often even have testing facilities right on site for a number of issues.

Finally, another option is to call your insurance company and see if they have an over-the-phone nurse consultant available. They can usually help direct you to the right location for treatment based on your symptoms and insurance coverage.

But yes, OP, I agree with you that we need something better. Medicaid and Medicare have slowly been expanding and my hope is that they will eventually expand enough to cover all Americans. it has been proven that they can still operate without completely decimating the insurance industry (see Medicare and Medicaid managed care). While I don't agree with for-profit health insurance, the reality is that they are a lobbying force that has to be worked with if we are going to get everyone universal coverage.

Source: Health policy professional by trade, extensive experience within the health care industry

Should have just said that you identify as a woman, problem solved. /S

But in all seriousness that's just terrible. Everyone no matter if your a man or woman should be treated equally.

Are you sure this isn't just a CVS thing? It says the same thing for me and I know my insurance covers UTIs for everyone. Maybe try an urgent care?

You are presuming that it is a UTI and and coding it wrong for insurance purposes. Do a visit for something more generalized that is covered like abdominal pain and doctor will know how to code it properly for insurance.

That's disgusting if you ask me.

Also, you have to be 18+ for getting a contraception appointment. I guess teens in the US are also having sex like teens in other parts of the world and would very much need access to contraceptives, right?

The entirely of modern America could be summarized with "Mildly Infiruating", tbh.

It is utterly baffling to me how the US has not figured out nationalized healthcare. Literally every other developped nation in the western hemisphere has at this point.

Its crazy that a politician could come out and say "my number one priority is to ensure that every American has access to healthcare, paid for by the state", and would instantly be villified by like half the country.

I think you're just supposed to die now...

The most developed country in the world ladies and gentlemen.

I hope they don’t catch you op.

That's so fucked up! I'm sorry OP.

I can't help but wonder what happens to girls 15 and under when they get UTIs. Insurance company says sucks to be a girl?

There is a cause and there is a solution for our disgusting system.

Conservatives (including neo-liberals) serve corporations, not citizens. If we can marginalize conservatives (including neo-liberals), then we can have nice things like the other 31 developed nations on earth.

This cannot improve while conservatives (including neo-liberals) have power in our nation's government. Period.

What the hell? Was someone drunk when they drew up that policy?

Yea it will. Just not at a minute clinic. You need to go to an actual urgent care or primary care doctor.

There is no fucking shot she is correct. If your insurance won’t cover it then man just cancel it, they’d probably not even cover an ER visit, it should be cheaper to not have it.

Also, report them to your state’s DOI.

Is it because CVS is out of network? Have them bill, get denied, and then appeal it. Put that it would be cheaper than an ER visit for them.

I had one a while back and it was literally just a round of antibiotics. It's not some invasive, complicated procedure that only affects women. That insurance is stupid.

This is a CVS thing and not an insurance provider issue. If you go to an in-network provider, they will treat your UTI.

Two years ago I passed a kidney stone, that led to a UTI, and then sepsis. My insurance treated me without blinking. In fact, the only out-of-pocket costs I paid, was a $50 co-pay for the ER/hospital stay, and $8 co-pay for my aftercare antibiotic.

That moment when it's better to live in Russia than in US...

This is mildly infuriating, I can give you a little more context though if you're interested. I don't know exactly about contracts between insurance companies and CVS so I can't speak to that definitely. Probably something related to how much insurance is willing to pay minute clinic for such a short visit, and what things are feasible to address in such a short visit (hence CVS only allowing certain complaints).

I think this is something to do with the concept of "uncomplicated" vs "complicated" uti. Complicated utis are when there's an increased danger of serious complications from a uti or increased likelihood of failing a typical antibiotic therapy. Utis in men are much much rarer than women, and are considered to be an automatic "complicated" uti by many. The greater length of the urethra in men helps prevent bacteria from being able to travel up to the bladder, whereas in women the short distance allows for this to happen much more frequently. So when a male has a UTI there is a much greater chance there will be complicating factors like prostate issues, structural problems, kidney stones, kidney infection, catheter use, atypical bacteria, etc. If you look more into their info on utis, they also state if they suspect any of those things, even in women, they won't treat it and will just refer you to someone else, probably the Ed or a real urgent care clinic. Since the odds of that are much greater in men, they probably aren't allowed to have longer appointments in minute clinic based on what insurance will pay for what they're providing, they just decided to not see that at all in minute clinic. Looks like they do see men for sexually transmitted infections though, which are actually the most common cause of utis in young men, so if that's a concern looks like they would be able to see people for that.

But I totally agree with you, fuck insurance companies in general.

Gawd, I know it happens more often in women but my husband had a nasty recurring UTI for a few months - they absolutely took it seriously and treated him! WTF, I hope you manage to get treated. ETA: UK

I'm living in Turkey. All health care is free.

So wtf, they want you to let it get worse until that infection spreads to kidneys or something and then pay 100x the amount to an emergency room? How does that make sense for their profits anyway?

Treatment is just a test to confirm and some antibiotics I think. Hope you can find some other way to get treated.

The extreme profit oriented business culture of the US combined with the human nature of bandwagons make these sort of disgusting practices possible.

Corporations are justified, by default, in anything they can do to increase profit, and will do so until there's enough public backlash to negate the amount of profit that practice makes.

The public backlash is tied to the social momentum the idea has. Because profitability is the default idea to be promoted, you can't say something like "don't do this obviously profitable thing because it's bad for people" unless there's enough people around you who'll get on the bandwagon. If suddenly some influential person or a critical number of schmucks say the opposite, then everyone is defending the corporation's, not only the right, but the duty to be profitable.

It's an unpleasant way to live, really, but people are creatures of habit and won't easily go against the culture they grow up in.

do get it treated OP, however one does that in that joke of a country you're unfortunate enough to live in. Do know that unlike female UTIs which are relatively common and often uncomplicated if treated, male UTIs are not common and CAN herald some other underlying pathologies (such as urinary stones, blockages, anatomical problems etc) which should be properly investigated. So do go see a doctor if you're able to.

I am sorry this is happening to you. I cannot even phantom why this is the case, anyone could please explain to me why UTIs are not covered for men?

A lesson I learned the hard way is the only way you can tell what your insurance actually covers is to read the fine print. The insurance company service reps can't be relied upon and the medical office reps just make up an answer if they don't know. Nor can you be sure the coverage statement from the insurance company is right wen they finally send it. That's wrong a significant percent of the time too.