I don't want a national healthcare system, but... something must be done.
My current healthcare provider, Blue Cross & Blue Shield has been steadily raising rates.
Currently, I'm paying $710 a month for their premium individual HMO plan, with no deductible. Saturday, I received the contract renewal, it jumped to $857 with a $1,500 deductible.
They offered one alternate plan. Lower premium, higher deductible. I did the math and it's nearly the same money.
Pay me now or pay me later... it all seems the same.
I did 'the shopping thing' last year when they jumped 18% and couldn't find another plan I trusted. So, I'll have to find time this week to do more insurance shopping.
I'm sure many people are eagerly awaiting a government healthcare system. The skeptic in me says it hasn't worked in other countries... why would it work in America.
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| I don't want a national healthcare system, but... |
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blue130160
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May 24 @ 12:04PM
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So if you taxes went up 300 and you had free health care would you go for it..
710 now 300......
I'm just throwing it out there..
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chatillion
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May 24 @ 12:14PM
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Blue, sure it may look good on paper. Many failed systems do.
I foresee we will see a drop in quality of care. Long waits for appointments and less service. This will give rise to uncontrolled greed. A new system and no monitoring in place. Billing for services not rendered. Total chaos for the first 5 years.
Maybe someone has statistics for other countries were a national healthcare system is actually working.
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asnet
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May 24 @ 12:20PM
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don't worry c. relax. nothing is going to happen. and if anything does happen, it won't make any difference. look up your nearest public hospital/academic medical center and find out what their sliding scale is. other than that, it's catch 88 ... we are screwed no matter what happens or doesn't happen. 
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RightWingRepublican
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May 24 @ 12:24PM
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I lived in England for two years and they have National Healthcare.
There are pro's and con's to having this.
Yes basic healthcare is low to no cost. Flu, Common Cold etc.
if you have a serious problem like Cancer or Heart problems, you are going to pay out the a$$ for medical help.
The docs that take care of the smaller things, they don't get paid much, so they don't try very hard to help
The Specialists costs are through the roof. You have to get independent health coverage to be able to go see a Specialist. And it's freaking expensive.
You get what you pay for and with National healthcare, you're not getting a whole lot.
It's a great idea in theory, but i would rather live with how we have it now.
It doesn't work at all.
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mik48
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May 24 @ 12:28PM
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I am from Canada, and may no monthly premium at all on basic healthcare. I do pay for prescriptions out of pocket Yes, there can be a couple of hours wait at the local emergency room or clinic in an emergency and yes some tests do have a scheduling wait of days to a month, but if I need something like an emergency appendectomy or tonsils a broken limb or just stitches that is all covered including any hospital stay in a ward room if necessary. Things like Kidney Dialysis and Cancer treatments are covered as well. This is all covered by our Federal and Provincial governments. It is part of our taxes. Our tax rates are very similar to yours, so it's not like we're paying a lot more either. Something to think about.
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RavinLunatic
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May 24 @ 12:40PM
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If you put all the money you are paying into a savings account or a high yield checking account that has an interest rate, you would have the money to pay for just about any health care costs IF you are basically a healthy person. Did you know that medical providers charge a whopping rate for people with insurance because they have to screw around for hours on the phone with an insurance company?
Also the insurance companies pay little of what they are sent so medical providers tack on more and more crap to the bill JUST to get the minumum charges sometimes that a cash paying customer pays. If you tell them you are paying cash now, they give you discounts, especially if you ASK if there is a cash incentive and request it.
I used to work at a chiropractors' office. They charged $30 for cash patients then and it was $75 for insurance patients. They charged insurance separately for all the things they gave included to cash patients.
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chatillion
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May 24 @ 12:55PM
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If you put all the money you are paying into a savings account or a high yield checking account that has an interest rate, you would have the money to pay for just about any health care costs IF you are basically a healthy person.
I'm considering that now...
I know about the cash rate versus the insurance rate. Years ago I went for 2 MRI's and they billed the insurance company $3,000. On the side, I asked how much if I came here and paid cash... $1,000.
Yes, we're being jerked by the system. Everyone knows this and they are getting ready for a free-for-all when the national healthcare plan goes into effect.
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RavinLunatic
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May 24 @ 1:10PM
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Glad I checked back on your blog. That much difference? Wow, is all I can say.
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ceecee1952
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May 24 @ 2:30PM
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It would be great if we could find some sort of middle ground on this issue. It is absolutely horrendous that some do not have any care at all. I have friends and family that struggle with this issue. Some are young and healthy and just take their chances others are older and in need and juggle without taking proper care. It is by far a difficult issue with many many layers of complexity.
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kjac
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May 24 @ 2:49PM
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I've found pretending a problem doesn't exist doesn't make it go away. And that seems to be the best solution for some people.
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Slohand_47
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May 24 @ 2:51PM
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Friend of mine from Canada just wrote last week......
I have gallstones and will have to be having surgery later this summer if i can handle waiting that long
That's what free health care gets you. Hurry up and wait. When my folks retired, they spent their winters in Brownsville Texas. There were a number of Canadians in their park. They quite frequently said that they would cross over the border for any surgical procedures if they could afford it because you could get things taken care of in a timely manner instead of going on a waiting list for months at a time.
THAT is what national (socialized) healthcare gets you. Rationing of services due to lack of providers.
To be honest, Insurance CREATED the high cost of health care in the first place. (That, and the cost of outrageous lawsuits, but that's another blog)
IF you are old enough to remember the 50's & 60's, people paid cash and services were reasonable. Insurance came along and costs skyrocketed because people would run to the Dr for every little sniffle & boo boo. After all, they weren't paying for it....... Dr's & hospitals could charge what ever they wanted for the same reason. Nobody even looked at the bill any more.
sigh.................. 
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BandTMom
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May 24 @ 3:08PM
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Some may blame insurance companies for the high costs but this is not always the case. Remember that a big part of hospitals are owned by corporations who are out to make a buck. The days of not-for-profit hospitals are slowly going by the wayside.
I have worked for both profit and not-for-profit hospitals. The difference is amazing.
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RightWingRepublican
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May 24 @ 3:43PM
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I really enjoyed having to wait for 2 months to get a Colonoscopy (hence my blog about my procedure) Blue Cross messed me around about getting coverage and took their sweet time getting my card to me. In the mean time i'm sitting here in chronic pain waiting to get a procedure that costs over $4,000 (with everything combined)
The hospital wouldn't do it first and bill the company later.
They said is i could come up with $2,500 then they would do it before the insurance kicked in.
This would have had the same outcome even if we had N.I. I would probably have waited even longer due to all the people having them who don't even need them, but if it's paid for then they all want to get this stuff done.
N.I won't solve any problems.
if people stopped going to the doctors for every cough and backache, then maybe NI would be helpful. But for all the hypochondriacs using it, it makes it too hard for people who are actually sick.
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Supremebeing412
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May 24 @ 5:14PM
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Look at the public. Obesity is an epidemic, poor eating habits, smoking, illegal drugs, health care fraud through the roof and so on. How many accidents that result in injury are cause by people on cell phones?. I never had a close call with a drunk driver but a close call with a driver using a cell is daily.
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RavinLunatic
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May 24 @ 7:23PM
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if people stopped going to the doctors for every cough and backache, then maybe NI would be helpful. But for all the hypochondriacs using it, it makes it too hard for people who are actually sick.
Yeah, I so agree and RWR, I bet if you had paid cash, you could have gotten the procedure for $2,500.
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missliss78
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May 24 @ 8:38PM
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I've been without healthcare insurance since October 2001.
Prior to the plan I was on expiring, I shopped around.
At the time, IF a company would write me, I was looking at a monthly premium of $800 to $1200. I decided to do without.
Fortunately, I have been relatively healthy to this point. The few medications I take are generics & available at most major retailers for very low cost. My doctor treats me very well, whether I am in for my yearly check up or any other matter. He is mindful of what tests he runs on me & is always willing to check his medicine room for what samples he can give me.
I have found the costs to be much less, as others have described here, since I have become a self-pay patient and I have not lacked for care.
I am not sure what the answer is to our healthcare situation in America, but I know something has got to change, as there are more & more people every day walking in my shoes & if a catastrophic illness strikes....well, I'll just have to do the best that I can.
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ttomtarr
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May 24 @ 10:00PM
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The first step is to break the American Medical Association's death grip on Medical schools. By keeping the numbers of doctors low, the profits stay high.
The next step is to make bribery (lobbying) illegal. The AMA is among the top 5 lobby money spenders. That is why the government pays as much as a thousand times what a pill sells for in other countries. That is why the government turns a blind eye to the medicare ripoff artists.
The system of insurance companies getting discount billing payment and the ill person's copay paying most of the bill is nothing short of fraud.
Let's all thank the granddaddy of deregulators, Ronald Reagan who set the stage for this problem, and the banking, stock market, and real estate problems as well.
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chatillion
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May 24 @ 10:39PM
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if people stopped going to the doctors for every cough and backache...
If you have insurance and depending on the plan, the co-pay is $15-20 for a primary care visit and $35-50 for a specialist.
Do people really 'run down to the doctor' for every sniffle?
The largest hospital in Miami (Jackson Memorial) that sees thousands of people weekly... including those who haven't any money. It's an all day wait for non-emergency treatment.
Four years ago I had a severe ear infection causing vertigo. I waited 12 hours in the emergency room of my local hospital... simply because they deemed it non-life threatening. Yes, 12 hours and I have medical insurance. I grew tired of waiting and told the nurse I was having heart palpitations and they got me in to see a doctor within 20 minutes of my complaint.
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RightWingRepublican
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May 24 @ 11:26PM
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Yes they do when they have NI.
My doctor in England got so fed up he would put signs on his door.
Got a runny nose? Go home and blow it.
Got a head ache? Go home and take an aspirin, that's all i'm giving you.
His signs cracked me up. But yes they run to the doc for everything.
He said he got so tired of people coming in with really small things, sniffles, headache, watery eyes etc that he had to start spreading the word that he won' treat anything that can be fixed with over the counter cough medicine.
I was pregnant trying to make an appointment and i couldn't because of all the people coming in with seasonal allergies. People who knew they could go get some benedryl from the Market. That really chaffed my ass.
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chatillion
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May 24 @ 11:32PM
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That really chaffed my ass.
So I see...
Do you know they have over-the-counter medicine for that?
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RightWingRepublican
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May 25 @ 11:18PM
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Not sure, but maybe i'll fly back the England and have the doc check it out.
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