I re-read the comments I posted on Government Run just to be sure, and I was right. No where did I say that working hard, being responsible, and taking charge of your life was easy. In fact, these are difficult to achieve, and impossible if you don\’t put forth some effort.
Yet, so many like you think that difficulties in achieving an education or opportunity are your excuse for demanding the government hand you whatever you want. If you feel it was the government that put you in the situtuation you are in, what makes you think they care about getting you out.
The government did not create \”unequal schools and unequal opportunity\”. It is most likely the government\’s incompetance which allowed these conditions to exist. Now, how would the government fair if called upon to \”fix\” the health care problems we face today?
Stop looking to the past, and work HARD for the future!
So after watching the show how do you feel? I was left wondering why a two person household making 50K a year could not afford at least an HMO plan for the husband (HMO\’s MUST TAKE EVERYONE). Then I got to thinking and that can be dangerous. See I have alot of clients and they all have two cars, dinners out 3 or 4 nights a week, new clothes, in short \”lifestyles\”. Perhaps if a car was sold \”POOF\” health insurance for the hubby (equals NO BURDEN on society). Oh you mean they made a \”Choice\” to maintain a lifestyle vs. paying for health insurance because \”it\’ll never happen to me!\” Roll the dice, sometimes you pay the price.
What ever happened to personal responsibility for ones own actions and living with the consequences of our choices? I see and hear these tails all day long in my insurance practise and frankly I\’m not surprised. People create most of their own problems and then they want someone to clean up their mess. It must be someone else\’s fault. The system is broke but so are our ethics in this country. FREEDOM doesn\’t mean FREE RIDE!
Not true. The guy on 60 minutes had been turned down for health insurance.
I buy my own policy and the cost is $1400.00 per month for a comprehensive policy.But even the very low end policy is $600 per month for someone making $1400 per month. And that\’s if they will take you. So not eveyone can afford insurance because of the cost and then if you can buy the lowest price policy, only about half of a catistrophic hospital bill will be paid. Because of the full sticker price, and after insurance paid half, the individual is left filing bankrupsy. It is the same as walking onto a car lot and being told you will pay the full sticker price for this car. This while you know that 90% of the customers are given discounts.
The fact that so many of you commented on this article tells me something, our medical care is something we are passionate about. So I will let you in on a little secret, as long as the medical professionals can blame the insurance companies, and vis versa, this will never, ever be solved. I am so anti big government it is silly, but I think this is an area where we will soon have no choice but to have government regulation. These children will not play nice until dad comes home and lays down the law. I am not advocating socialized medicine, I have Canadian friends, it does not work. If you are passionate about your helth care contact your legislator, not for a hand out, but to tell him you want the system fixed. Hospital bills are only a symptom of the greater disease that could eventually bring down the best healtcare system in the world today.
Gene the fact of the matter is you made a choice to be responsible for yourself and not a burden to society. Thank You. Yes it is expensive…no the guy on TV said he was turned down for health insurance BUT did not say he could NOT GET HEALTH INSURANCE which I GUARANTEE he could have BUT choose NOT TOO because of PRICE. That\’s the back story that no one wants to talk about when airing a show like 60 minutes. It plays well to the un-educated public but for folks in the industry we KNOW BETTER. He made a choice…period.
The system is broke and needs to be fixed. Assuming everyone bought a individual health care policy, works hard, sacrifices second cars, eating out and does everything possible to satisfy society\’s requirements of appropriate suffering. Guess what? You\’ll still over-pay the medical community. They have us over a barrel and are laughing themselves silly all the way to the bank. How else are you planning to stay alive or to end you or your loved one\’s suffering? Until you take the money card off the table, you\’ll have this continued lopsided issue. Human life is being bartered for a Mercedes. Regulate the medical community.
I think many of you are forgetting about another large drain on the medical system in this country. Many in California and Texas are already accutely aware of it. Many of the millions and millions of illegal immigrants in this country use the hospital emergency room as their personal physician because anyone who walks into that door and is in need of medical care is treated (without regard to ability to pay and the illegals usually can\’t). There are numerous emergency rooms in Southern California that have been shut down because the hospital couldn\’t afford to keep them open because of these non-paying \”guests\”.
If you want to do something about the medical crisis, start there. Kick the illegals out or change the law so that hospitals don\’t have to treat people who can\’t prove they are citizens or that they are here legally.
No, the individuals shown on the show were not really given a fair choice. First, the individuals in the show never chose to pay 3X the value of the services. They chose to pay a fair price in the event they got sick. The fact that they are paying 3X the value of the services received is proven by the fact that the hospital accepts 1/3 of the billed amount when an insurance company is involved.
This is further complicated by the fact that when you have an emergency, you have no bargaining power. What the hospitals are doing is exactly what an efficient player would do in this situation: Clean out anyone who has assets and did not have the ability to do prior price bargaining.
The real solution: require all uninsured paitents be charged the lowest rate given to any bulk payer plus a reasonable fee of 10-20% to cover potential administrative burdens they escape by not buying insurance.
Who likes the current system: The insurance companies–this pressures people to pay through inefficient insurance companies. Also the liberal wing — it creates obvious injustice and an opportunity to fix it with socialized medicine. And of course the hospitals, which get the money.
The costs of \”illegal\” immigrants on the medical community is just the tip of the iceberg. The drain is also noted in un-insured motorist claims in personal lines as well. Until we secure our borders, nothing will change.
IndAgent – It would seem that you have never experienced \”hard times\”.
Years ago, when I had been laid off from a job, the COBRA offer came and it was twice my rent per month – half of the salary I had been making. I had no chronic conditions or other issues making me uninsurable. THIS is NOT an ability to get insurance. Sure, I made a choice – no insurance, but I could still afford to maintain the address where my medical bills would come, eat, and pay for the transportation to find a new job.
Now, as an underwriter, rather than refuse coverage for an undesirable risk, we\’ll \”price them out\” – surcharge to a point that the coverage offer is not really an offer at all, and either the risk will go uninsured or seek coverage elsewhere.
So, IndAgent, sometimes when people say that they \”cannot get insurance\”, it may just mean that by buying insurance from the one company that will offer it at an extreme price, they will not be able to pay their modest rent or buy auto insurance or any number of basic needs. Not living lavishly, but just adequately. They take the gamble, hoping that they won\’t get sick or that an accident won\’t happen.
The SYSTEM is broken.
I honestly believe much of it (not all) stems from personal injury lawyers suing frivolously and then hospitals and physicians order extra tests and must buy malpractice insurance at higher and higher prices, which drives up the cost of care. The uninsured are also more likely to file malpractice claims simply because they cannot pay.
The SYSTEM sucks and needs to be fixed.
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lormit,
I re-read the comments I posted on Government Run just to be sure, and I was right. No where did I say that working hard, being responsible, and taking charge of your life was easy. In fact, these are difficult to achieve, and impossible if you don\’t put forth some effort.
Yet, so many like you think that difficulties in achieving an education or opportunity are your excuse for demanding the government hand you whatever you want. If you feel it was the government that put you in the situtuation you are in, what makes you think they care about getting you out.
The government did not create \”unequal schools and unequal opportunity\”. It is most likely the government\’s incompetance which allowed these conditions to exist. Now, how would the government fair if called upon to \”fix\” the health care problems we face today?
Stop looking to the past, and work HARD for the future!
So after watching the show how do you feel? I was left wondering why a two person household making 50K a year could not afford at least an HMO plan for the husband (HMO\’s MUST TAKE EVERYONE). Then I got to thinking and that can be dangerous. See I have alot of clients and they all have two cars, dinners out 3 or 4 nights a week, new clothes, in short \”lifestyles\”. Perhaps if a car was sold \”POOF\” health insurance for the hubby (equals NO BURDEN on society). Oh you mean they made a \”Choice\” to maintain a lifestyle vs. paying for health insurance because \”it\’ll never happen to me!\” Roll the dice, sometimes you pay the price.
What ever happened to personal responsibility for ones own actions and living with the consequences of our choices? I see and hear these tails all day long in my insurance practise and frankly I\’m not surprised. People create most of their own problems and then they want someone to clean up their mess. It must be someone else\’s fault. The system is broke but so are our ethics in this country. FREEDOM doesn\’t mean FREE RIDE!
Kinsey said: HMO\’s MUST TAKE EVERYONE
Not true. The guy on 60 minutes had been turned down for health insurance.
I buy my own policy and the cost is $1400.00 per month for a comprehensive policy.But even the very low end policy is $600 per month for someone making $1400 per month. And that\’s if they will take you. So not eveyone can afford insurance because of the cost and then if you can buy the lowest price policy, only about half of a catistrophic hospital bill will be paid. Because of the full sticker price, and after insurance paid half, the individual is left filing bankrupsy. It is the same as walking onto a car lot and being told you will pay the full sticker price for this car. This while you know that 90% of the customers are given discounts.
The fact that so many of you commented on this article tells me something, our medical care is something we are passionate about. So I will let you in on a little secret, as long as the medical professionals can blame the insurance companies, and vis versa, this will never, ever be solved. I am so anti big government it is silly, but I think this is an area where we will soon have no choice but to have government regulation. These children will not play nice until dad comes home and lays down the law. I am not advocating socialized medicine, I have Canadian friends, it does not work. If you are passionate about your helth care contact your legislator, not for a hand out, but to tell him you want the system fixed. Hospital bills are only a symptom of the greater disease that could eventually bring down the best healtcare system in the world today.
Gene the fact of the matter is you made a choice to be responsible for yourself and not a burden to society. Thank You. Yes it is expensive…no the guy on TV said he was turned down for health insurance BUT did not say he could NOT GET HEALTH INSURANCE which I GUARANTEE he could have BUT choose NOT TOO because of PRICE. That\’s the back story that no one wants to talk about when airing a show like 60 minutes. It plays well to the un-educated public but for folks in the industry we KNOW BETTER. He made a choice…period.
The system is broke and needs to be fixed. Assuming everyone bought a individual health care policy, works hard, sacrifices second cars, eating out and does everything possible to satisfy society\’s requirements of appropriate suffering. Guess what? You\’ll still over-pay the medical community. They have us over a barrel and are laughing themselves silly all the way to the bank. How else are you planning to stay alive or to end you or your loved one\’s suffering? Until you take the money card off the table, you\’ll have this continued lopsided issue. Human life is being bartered for a Mercedes. Regulate the medical community.
I think many of you are forgetting about another large drain on the medical system in this country. Many in California and Texas are already accutely aware of it. Many of the millions and millions of illegal immigrants in this country use the hospital emergency room as their personal physician because anyone who walks into that door and is in need of medical care is treated (without regard to ability to pay and the illegals usually can\’t). There are numerous emergency rooms in Southern California that have been shut down because the hospital couldn\’t afford to keep them open because of these non-paying \”guests\”.
If you want to do something about the medical crisis, start there. Kick the illegals out or change the law so that hospitals don\’t have to treat people who can\’t prove they are citizens or that they are here legally.
No, the individuals shown on the show were not really given a fair choice. First, the individuals in the show never chose to pay 3X the value of the services. They chose to pay a fair price in the event they got sick. The fact that they are paying 3X the value of the services received is proven by the fact that the hospital accepts 1/3 of the billed amount when an insurance company is involved.
This is further complicated by the fact that when you have an emergency, you have no bargaining power. What the hospitals are doing is exactly what an efficient player would do in this situation: Clean out anyone who has assets and did not have the ability to do prior price bargaining.
The real solution: require all uninsured paitents be charged the lowest rate given to any bulk payer plus a reasonable fee of 10-20% to cover potential administrative burdens they escape by not buying insurance.
Who likes the current system: The insurance companies–this pressures people to pay through inefficient insurance companies. Also the liberal wing — it creates obvious injustice and an opportunity to fix it with socialized medicine. And of course the hospitals, which get the money.
The costs of \”illegal\” immigrants on the medical community is just the tip of the iceberg. The drain is also noted in un-insured motorist claims in personal lines as well. Until we secure our borders, nothing will change.
IndAgent – It would seem that you have never experienced \”hard times\”.
Years ago, when I had been laid off from a job, the COBRA offer came and it was twice my rent per month – half of the salary I had been making. I had no chronic conditions or other issues making me uninsurable. THIS is NOT an ability to get insurance. Sure, I made a choice – no insurance, but I could still afford to maintain the address where my medical bills would come, eat, and pay for the transportation to find a new job.
Now, as an underwriter, rather than refuse coverage for an undesirable risk, we\’ll \”price them out\” – surcharge to a point that the coverage offer is not really an offer at all, and either the risk will go uninsured or seek coverage elsewhere.
So, IndAgent, sometimes when people say that they \”cannot get insurance\”, it may just mean that by buying insurance from the one company that will offer it at an extreme price, they will not be able to pay their modest rent or buy auto insurance or any number of basic needs. Not living lavishly, but just adequately. They take the gamble, hoping that they won\’t get sick or that an accident won\’t happen.
The SYSTEM is broken.
I honestly believe much of it (not all) stems from personal injury lawyers suing frivolously and then hospitals and physicians order extra tests and must buy malpractice insurance at higher and higher prices, which drives up the cost of care. The uninsured are also more likely to file malpractice claims simply because they cannot pay.
The SYSTEM sucks and needs to be fixed.