Government is not even capable of running out healthcare system, just ask anyone who is on medicare. The medicare system is so incompitent, it is incredible. Try calling medicare, good luck! When you call a private health insurance company, no the service is never perfect, but it does get done. Medicare is just downright broken, I was trying to get something done for somebody on medicare and every person I talked to gave me a completely different story and little did they do it with any enthusiasm. It was a nighmare! Also look at the service you get at the post office, what a joke! I have more and more of my small business clients just staying on their group health plan because they are frightened as hell to go on medicare. Only a fool would want government to run out healthcare system.
This is where many of you are wrong. Gov. run \”optional\” health care is the only solution. The premiums would be based on you annual income, and the deductible/co-pay would also reflect the individuals income. If you make something totally free people will always abuse it. I know people with full coverage that visit there doctor once a week for minor symptoms. Why do they do this? Because it cost $5 to see the doctor and $0 for drugs. It just does not make sense to offer medicare and Medicaid for FREE we need to make seniors/low-income/middle class pay initial cost of seeing a doctor and brand name prescription drugs and costs related to Health care will go down.
It is a simple solution. Instead of $5 doctor visits make them pay 30.00. When think with their wallets in this country.
The government is NOT the solution! This has not yet become a socialist government; although we are well on our way.
Don\’t forget that insurers and medical service providers are all private businesses (excluding state run charity hospitals, and the like), and government regulation of these businesses has caused many of the problems with the system today. Lawmakers try to \”fix\” every little issue that comes up with a new regulation which just causes problems somewhere else.
People who think the government is the cure-all have no clue what this great country was founded on… INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM, not the gimmee, gimmee, gimmee, society we have become. If we turn to the government to solve all of our problems, we are simply slaves of the state.
Work hard, be responsible, and take charge of your life. Don\’t rely on someone else to make things better; you will always be disappointed.
I have an old indemnity policy the same as was in effect 50 years ago They pay 100% of the bill and up to the usual and customary and pay what 90% of doctors in my zip code do.
It goes like this. For an appendix operation a ppo or managed care policy would be charged say 25000.00. My insurence pays $50,000. The problem is because I have indemnity and it is not managed care, I am charged a bill of $75,000.00 or full sticker price. Even after being paid 100% more then the best managed care plan pays from my insurance, they then want another $25000 from me out of pocket.
Billing people say 75000.00 is not an over charge in spite of the fact they usually receive $25000.00. As billing agents always tell me, We can charge you anything we want, you are not under managed care. I tell them I can go anywhere I want and I do. You would think a hospital or doctor who has 85% of his patients under a managed care product would welcome a patient under the fullpaying indemnity. NOt true, I can actually prove doctors and hospitals like the managed care patients whose insurance discount there rates over those patents whose insrance pays 100% more. This because they shove the indemnity patient away by balance billing after having been paid so well. Now if this isn\’t greed, I don\’t know what is.
When Government creates unequal schools and unequal opportunity, people do not have the same opportunity to \”Work hard, be responsible, and take charge of your life\”. If it were only that easy, we would all be doing that.
I don\’t believe hospitals (or any medical provider) are the losers when they negotiate contracts with insurers (or goverments on behalf of the military and goverment employees). A contract is a negotiation. Both parties give up something in return for something else. Hospital and medical providers negotiate fees in order to assure access to a large number of patients. It is a business deal. No party would sign a contract if it was a lose-lose one sided contract.
I watched 60 minutes, and read, many of your readers comments. The 60 minutes segment pointed out that hospitals have a license to steal. They have twisted so many arms in Washington that they now have almost everything they could dream of, but they still want more. They want the state and national governments to make them immune to lawsuits. That is why you keep hearing their appeals to lawmakers to limit medical malpractice awards, and this year in Florida it is do away with joint and several liability. They will not be satisfied until they have every advantage possible over the people that they are suppose to serve. I feel exactly like the person testifying before Senator Joseph McCarthy\’s subcommittee. I just want to address the hospital associations by saying \”Sir, Do you have no shame?\”
The fact remains that hospitals charge the least able to pay four or more times what they charge anyone else. It\’s all about the hospitals showing large writeoffs on paper – would you rather write off $20,000 or $5,000 if you are trying to justify your non-profit (pays no taxes) status and to try to increase their Medicare payout from the government. It is not about the cost of the services – the hospitals still make money on what they charge insurance companies. Many \”non-profit\” hospitals show healthy profits even after all the writeoffs.
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Government is not even capable of running out healthcare system, just ask anyone who is on medicare. The medicare system is so incompitent, it is incredible. Try calling medicare, good luck! When you call a private health insurance company, no the service is never perfect, but it does get done. Medicare is just downright broken, I was trying to get something done for somebody on medicare and every person I talked to gave me a completely different story and little did they do it with any enthusiasm. It was a nighmare! Also look at the service you get at the post office, what a joke! I have more and more of my small business clients just staying on their group health plan because they are frightened as hell to go on medicare. Only a fool would want government to run out healthcare system.
This is where many of you are wrong. Gov. run \”optional\” health care is the only solution. The premiums would be based on you annual income, and the deductible/co-pay would also reflect the individuals income. If you make something totally free people will always abuse it. I know people with full coverage that visit there doctor once a week for minor symptoms. Why do they do this? Because it cost $5 to see the doctor and $0 for drugs. It just does not make sense to offer medicare and Medicaid for FREE we need to make seniors/low-income/middle class pay initial cost of seeing a doctor and brand name prescription drugs and costs related to Health care will go down.
It is a simple solution. Instead of $5 doctor visits make them pay 30.00. When think with their wallets in this country.
The government is NOT the solution! This has not yet become a socialist government; although we are well on our way.
Don\’t forget that insurers and medical service providers are all private businesses (excluding state run charity hospitals, and the like), and government regulation of these businesses has caused many of the problems with the system today. Lawmakers try to \”fix\” every little issue that comes up with a new regulation which just causes problems somewhere else.
People who think the government is the cure-all have no clue what this great country was founded on… INDIVIDUAL FREEDOM, not the gimmee, gimmee, gimmee, society we have become. If we turn to the government to solve all of our problems, we are simply slaves of the state.
Work hard, be responsible, and take charge of your life. Don\’t rely on someone else to make things better; you will always be disappointed.
So what do we do now? We have a large bill pending with a hospital and we feel we are being over charged by 3 to 4 times.
I had my appendix removed and get $15,000 in bills – my insurance (Blue Cross) settled it for around $5,000.
I have an old indemnity policy the same as was in effect 50 years ago They pay 100% of the bill and up to the usual and customary and pay what 90% of doctors in my zip code do.
It goes like this. For an appendix operation a ppo or managed care policy would be charged say 25000.00. My insurence pays $50,000. The problem is because I have indemnity and it is not managed care, I am charged a bill of $75,000.00 or full sticker price. Even after being paid 100% more then the best managed care plan pays from my insurance, they then want another $25000 from me out of pocket.
Billing people say 75000.00 is not an over charge in spite of the fact they usually receive $25000.00. As billing agents always tell me, We can charge you anything we want, you are not under managed care. I tell them I can go anywhere I want and I do. You would think a hospital or doctor who has 85% of his patients under a managed care product would welcome a patient under the fullpaying indemnity. NOt true, I can actually prove doctors and hospitals like the managed care patients whose insurance discount there rates over those patents whose insrance pays 100% more. This because they shove the indemnity patient away by balance billing after having been paid so well. Now if this isn\’t greed, I don\’t know what is.
When Government creates unequal schools and unequal opportunity, people do not have the same opportunity to \”Work hard, be responsible, and take charge of your life\”. If it were only that easy, we would all be doing that.
I don\’t believe hospitals (or any medical provider) are the losers when they negotiate contracts with insurers (or goverments on behalf of the military and goverment employees). A contract is a negotiation. Both parties give up something in return for something else. Hospital and medical providers negotiate fees in order to assure access to a large number of patients. It is a business deal. No party would sign a contract if it was a lose-lose one sided contract.
I watched 60 minutes, and read, many of your readers comments. The 60 minutes segment pointed out that hospitals have a license to steal. They have twisted so many arms in Washington that they now have almost everything they could dream of, but they still want more. They want the state and national governments to make them immune to lawsuits. That is why you keep hearing their appeals to lawmakers to limit medical malpractice awards, and this year in Florida it is do away with joint and several liability. They will not be satisfied until they have every advantage possible over the people that they are suppose to serve. I feel exactly like the person testifying before Senator Joseph McCarthy\’s subcommittee. I just want to address the hospital associations by saying \”Sir, Do you have no shame?\”
The fact remains that hospitals charge the least able to pay four or more times what they charge anyone else. It\’s all about the hospitals showing large writeoffs on paper – would you rather write off $20,000 or $5,000 if you are trying to justify your non-profit (pays no taxes) status and to try to increase their Medicare payout from the government. It is not about the cost of the services – the hospitals still make money on what they charge insurance companies. Many \”non-profit\” hospitals show healthy profits even after all the writeoffs.