another Monday
I really have nothing to say, but that hasn't stopped me before.
A friend of mine, (well, an acquaintance), recently switched his/her blog to the new system, and from all indications, he/she is screwed. It was reported to me that even logging in is difficult, sometimes requiring multiple attempts. I have had no trouble reaching the blog from the outside world, but was unable to comment with my current ID, (thus mandating the 'signed' anonymous comment).
This sucks.
I am no friend of the Windoze operating system, or the corporate oligarchy that produces it, but even these folks, who, until now, were considered by me and at least one other to be the f**kups f**kup of the digital realm, occasionally get something right. It seems to me that the search engine sometimes known as g 00 gle has a ways to go before they are any threat to the big dogs.
But enough of that.
A couple of posts back, I was lamenting the altogether inadequate plan proposed by the lame duck regarding health insurance. While in that particular frame of mind, I had an experience that I will share with you. Last month, I made an annual visit to a doctor to make sure that certain issues in my bio-domain were still under control. I was billed for the vsit, and, having already plowed through my altogether outrageous deductible, the insurance company ante'd up and I was mailed a bill by the clinic for a small amount. That same day, I also received a bill, from the same clinic, for lab work that was a bit over the top, (over $700.00). I called, and they indicated that they had no record of my being insured. Not wanting to be argumentative with a clerk who had no clue anyway, I dutifully read my insurance info and > BINGO! <, the amount due instantly dropped to a figure just over $100.00. that is before the bill was submitted for payment. I don't know what insurance will pay, but that is not the point. The point is that I really don't know the cost of the service that was rendered, nor did the person who was making a poor effort at intimidation over the amount due. If I was in one class of people, (and it could be argued that this class is least able to afford healthcare), the bill was exhorbitantly high. Just as soon as I was confirmed to be in another class, the amount of the bill dropped, and, like I said, that is before the actual insurer gets into the act and 'negotiates' the rate down even more. I had a similar experience a couple of weeks ago, with an optometrist.
I was placing an order that was very clearly not covered by anyone for anything, but, since I had health insurance through the carrier that I do, I got an instant "discount".
My first problem with the current proposal is that it does nothing to level the playing field, as the administration claims. Its purpose is not to extend coverage to more individuals, it is to relieve business of what is seen to be an onerous expense, and to grant further means of obfuscation of costs and services to those that benefit from this situation----the insurance industry.
Agree or not, what do you think?
Stay focused.
A friend of mine, (well, an acquaintance), recently switched his/her blog to the new system, and from all indications, he/she is screwed. It was reported to me that even logging in is difficult, sometimes requiring multiple attempts. I have had no trouble reaching the blog from the outside world, but was unable to comment with my current ID, (thus mandating the 'signed' anonymous comment).
This sucks.
I am no friend of the Windoze operating system, or the corporate oligarchy that produces it, but even these folks, who, until now, were considered by me and at least one other to be the f**kups f**kup of the digital realm, occasionally get something right. It seems to me that the search engine sometimes known as g 00 gle has a ways to go before they are any threat to the big dogs.
But enough of that.
A couple of posts back, I was lamenting the altogether inadequate plan proposed by the lame duck regarding health insurance. While in that particular frame of mind, I had an experience that I will share with you. Last month, I made an annual visit to a doctor to make sure that certain issues in my bio-domain were still under control. I was billed for the vsit, and, having already plowed through my altogether outrageous deductible, the insurance company ante'd up and I was mailed a bill by the clinic for a small amount. That same day, I also received a bill, from the same clinic, for lab work that was a bit over the top, (over $700.00). I called, and they indicated that they had no record of my being insured. Not wanting to be argumentative with a clerk who had no clue anyway, I dutifully read my insurance info and > BINGO! <, the amount due instantly dropped to a figure just over $100.00. that is before the bill was submitted for payment. I don't know what insurance will pay, but that is not the point. The point is that I really don't know the cost of the service that was rendered, nor did the person who was making a poor effort at intimidation over the amount due. If I was in one class of people, (and it could be argued that this class is least able to afford healthcare), the bill was exhorbitantly high. Just as soon as I was confirmed to be in another class, the amount of the bill dropped, and, like I said, that is before the actual insurer gets into the act and 'negotiates' the rate down even more. I had a similar experience a couple of weeks ago, with an optometrist.
I was placing an order that was very clearly not covered by anyone for anything, but, since I had health insurance through the carrier that I do, I got an instant "discount".
My first problem with the current proposal is that it does nothing to level the playing field, as the administration claims. Its purpose is not to extend coverage to more individuals, it is to relieve business of what is seen to be an onerous expense, and to grant further means of obfuscation of costs and services to those that benefit from this situation----the insurance industry.
Agree or not, what do you think?
Stay focused.
posted by eccentric recluse at 5:18 PM
12 Comments:
The new Blogger does a few neat tricks, but overall I preferred the old one. Too bad they can't seem to get it right. I think quite a few people got screwed changing over. I resent being strong-armed into switching, but like most of us, I didn't want to go to some other company and throw countless hours of work and a great bunch of friends out the window. The bastards kind of have us where they want us.
Likewise, insurance companies have doctors over a barrel. They tell the doctor what and how much they'll pay, and put a limit on annual and lifetime costs that many patients are never told about. The doctor can take or leave the deal, but if they leave it, that means the loss of a lot of patients. In a way, your doctor is just a guy making a living, just as screwed as you are. The details of the latest healthcare "reform" seem a bit murky, but I don't trust it or the motives of the people pushing it. Much like Blogger, I don't believe politicians (and least of all employers or insurance) give a rat's behind what you or I want.
Like I posted earlier.. Throw honest market forces to the wind and all hell breaks loose. Not only are these insurance companies (and medicare/medicaid) pushing costs artificially high by "insuring" that something will be purchased,, NOW they're bringing down the quality and trying to dictate prices that THEY have skewed.
If your employer was allowed to pay you directly ('cause it is part of your compensation) what he spends on health-care.. and the government would allow you to keep what they confiscate in the name of health-care... and if health-care could go back to what it really is (service/commodity)... and if fully 50% of what you pay for a routine office visit didn't go directly to mal-practice insurance... you could afford health-care out of pocket...
Just think how much money is spent on the man-power bureaucracy alone..
I don't get what people find so frustrating about the new blogger, I find it a lot easier to work with. Just go to www2.blogger.com/start, put in the email and password you supplied for your Google account, and login. It's a little frustrating to log in from the comment pages of old blogger folks such as yourself, but that's avoided by doing the www2.blogger.com/start login. Also, if you have WV on your blog, when logged in and commenting on your own you skip the WV.
I really don't know much of, or what to think of the health care system. All I know is that I recently got a $150 bill that my insurance is supposed to cover, and me not paying it out of my pocket is risking phukking up my credit before I even have it. We were supposed to have settled it yesterday, so we'll see how things go...I gots to get myself learned about health care.
To anonymous, I say welcome back and thanks for the comment. I don't want to give you the idea that I am a rabid socialist, or a big-government control freak, but it was the market as much as any other factor that created this mess. I agree that if an employer was to pay me what they put into medical care, it would go a long ways towards allowing me to choose my own coverage, but that will not happen. i cannot think of one business, not one, that would pass the extra income on to its employee's if it was sudedenly no longer obligated to provide insurance. it would be a case of "OK, we got ours, now you go take care of yourself..."
The notion of employer provided insurance originally filled a need for workers and was cost effective for the employers. For the most part, it still is cost effective, but in the market environment, a dollar spent on labor costs is a dollar not returned to the owner(s).
This, like other major problem/issues is rather complex, and cannot be solved with a "if they would..." attitude.
If the system is to be adjusted, then all participants/recipients must change course, and yes, feel the pain a little bit.
Just my $0.02.
Oh gosh yes, it's a complex problem and it's gonna take a painful adjustment period to fix it. But like anything else (border, social security, etc.).. the longer you wait, the more painful the fix.
You "slipped" the key words in there.. "choose my own coverage". The only, long-term fix to this, is to get it back to being what it is; a commodity; like autos. If a person chooses to cover the unthinkable on their own, that's fine. But institutionalized coverage is insane. I spent some time in the auto-body business and saw the same problem grow, much more quickly. Remember when a fender-bender was something you'd just fix out of pocket ? It's no cooincidence that it went from $150 to $1,500 to fix the little blemish about the same time mandatory insurance became vougue.
If I'm not mistaken; health insurace got it's foot in the door during a wage freeze. Employers used it to lure and keep employees in lieu of raises and bonuses.
I'll reference my late father here a couple times (an employer of many); He lamented this health insurance fiasco 30 years ago.. saw where it was headed. "You cannot guarantee that something will be bought and paid for.. it makes no sense".. And on an aside, "Labor is by far, an employer's cheapest expense"...
One, good, first-step to fixing tis mess would be to end all but the criminally negligent mal-practice lawsuits. Sure, a few people will be wronged, but we can't guarantee that all people will be made completely whole, all the time, no matter what. Especially when facing the fix-up of a long-broken system.
Other steps will be painful too and if we just keep ducking the issue, it'll only get worse... And that leaves socialized medicine as the only solution. The countries who have tried that cluster-foxtrot are good evidence to stay clear. Even with the U.S. as the safety-net, it aint working. Who would be OUR safety-net ?
MOLLY
http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=18028
Health care IS NOT a commodity and never will be!
JB
Health-care is a combination of products and devices developed through research, developement and marketing. It's delivered by by people trained specifically for that service.
It is SO much a commodity, that, like any other service or product, advances are made in the pursuit of profit.
Do you honestly think medicine would be where it is today, if the U.S. had a European/Canadian-type, socialized medicine system in place ? You cannot just deem medicine some sort of right and then expect talented people and cutting-edge companies to just fall into place. It don't work that way in the real world. The Canadian/European systems are kinda like "know it all", bratty children... full of ideals but not able to function on their own without realistic parents in place.
If the people in those systems who can afford to come to the U.S. when push comes to shove, no longer have our free-market medicine to count on... those systems would implode. Even with the U.S. as a foundation, those systems are bureaucratic messes. We wouldn't have the luxury of an "US", if we ever stop treating medicine as what it is... a commodity.
Florida, because of its disproportionate elderly/retired or poor population, is a good example of what happens when the worst of both systems collide. The brilliant, young, difference-making doctors are nowhere to be found. They've either been swept up into super-private practice for the wealthy, or just avoid practicing in Florida period. And it's getting worse.
A driven, succesful person is not going to sit in a waiting room with an alcoholic ditch-digger to get his government run, civil-servant dispatched health-care. The governmet has as much business running health-care, as it does running the automobile business. Selection, availability and quality would evaporate.
"Universal Health-care", no matter how you try to paint it, is socialized medicine.
In "touchy-feely" terms, it's wonderful to say health-care is not a commodity.. but that's not reality.
I'm sorry. I can't think when a Lee Michaels song is playing.
-Roy
Okay health care is a commodity and the free markets rule everything. Oh wait....we can pick coverage, doctors, labs, hospitals, etc. and the price of care continues to skyrocket.
Seems to me that a "good" representive goverment has a major role to play for it's citizens. If not a bit of the provide for the common good then at least help regulate. Maybe instead of setting policies behind Cheney's closed door with Corp. interests a little more open discussion about the problems and fixes.
JB
You missed my point. We still have the free market and pick of docs, labs, etc. (to a point).
The cost problem (as I've posted to earlier) is that insurance companies and the government have taken over the business of paying for it all. When payment is "insured".. THAT's when prices skyrocket. Turning the whole thing over to a single payer (which one way or the other ends up being the government) would make this bad situation not only bad, but as stagnant and deteriorating as public education (I saw a reprint of a math/geography/grammar test at 8th grade level, from the 1950s... very few of today's high school graduates could read it, let alone pass it).
The problem is not how to pay for health-care... but to address the cost itself. Get insurance companies, the government and lawyers out of the loop. Mal-practice premiums alone account for nearly 50% of health-care cost.
The representative government has its role and when left to that role (licensing and regulating WHO/WHAT can practice medicine and how new procedures and drugs are approved) it did a marvelous job. Nobody wants a free-for-all in health-care, any more than we'd want a free-for-all when it comes to who can fly which planes for hire. The FAA does a tremendous job managing the sky. But I've dealt with them; and I sure wouldn't want them running an airline; or to be in charge of making planes.
I must have missed your point entirely because I agree, controling cost is the key. Let me ask you something. When's the last time you heard of a hospital going out of business? Everyone has horror stories...the wife has gastric by-pass and the bill that comes in the mail is $34,000 (inclusive). Her insurance is a "goldplated" type and the claim finally shows that the insurance settled and the final payoff was 8,000. That doesn't sound like an insurance issue.
Now don't get me wrong, I don't begrudge hospitals, doctors and all the fine folks that support them making money. It's just that someone is needing to control their costs.
I do find it hard to believe that mal-practice accounts for 50% of costs. I'd have to read a couple of sources before I believe that figure. If it's anywhere near that much then of course that needs to be addressed. But closing off avenues to redress grievances with hospitals and doctors seems to be a backward approach. That said, with most of our law makers being laywers that will be a tougher problem to fix!
JB
I've not only heard of hospitals going out of business; I've watched it happen. That's besides the point.
You hit the billing issues squarely on the head. Once the paperwork hits the hands of administrators, the figure dance twixt them and the providers (government or private)(medicare/medicaid/insurance) begins. My ex handled medicare/medicaid claims for the state of Michigan for years. You've heard the stories about an administered aspirin showing up as $160 line-item on a bill. That's not any, one thing to focus on; but it happens and is a good barometer as to how it "works". The initial bill from a hospital is pretty much arbitrary. It's just a starting point where the dance to get "what you can, where you can" starts. Fraud runs rampant.
Because of the medicare/medicaid/insurance layer's presence and inevitable growth, this can happen. That layer alone adds a significant, needless chunk to the cost of health-care.
My 50% mal-practice premium quote is based on the individual doctor. You won't find it disputed, and it's from a few years back and might even be low. I don't know what percentage applies to institutions (hospitals) as a whole... but if you go see your doc today, and the visit bill is $100.. you can bet your life that $40-50 of that goes directly toward his mal-practice premium.
To fix these thing for real (not just make it tolerable for a few more years) (election cycle), there's gonna be pain. People are gonna get hurt in the adjustment phase. If we'd have tackled it 20 years ago, we'd be sitting pretty. If we wait... it'll just get more painful. If we throw up our hands and let the government tax-n-grow us into universal health-care.. I don't even like pondering that...
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