$1650 PER MONTH!
Yesterday, my good friend Lorie, who lives in Central Florida, confided in me that she and her self-employed husband pay $1650.00 per month for their healthcare plan for two adults, pre-retirement. Neither have any serious or unusual conditions – just age – they’re both in their 50’s.
$1650.00. That’s insane! That’s one thousand, six hundred, and fifty dollars. Not $16.50, about what you’d pay for a 12 pack of good beer.
This plan covers catastrophic (you have chest pains and you need an angiogram, Stat!) and point of service (a $10 co-pay for regular doctor visits and prescriptions, plus a portion of charges for hospital stays and procedures). Lorie says she shopped around virtually everywhere and tried to get only catastrophic, but was could not. In fact, this plan is actually a discounted plan purchased through a business trade group in Pennsylvania.
About five years ago, Lorie says they were only paying about $500 per month for the same coverage before the prices skyrocketed.
HURRICANE INSURANCE FOR ONE YEAR!
$1650.00 PER MONTH? That’s about what I pay each month for my mortgage! That’s $19,800 per year – more than a person earning minimum wage makes working full-time!
It’s also about what I pay for my home insurance, which includes hurricane coverage, PER YEAR! “And you’re much more likely to need hurricane insurance than I am to need to go to the hospital,” My friend Lorie pointed out. She’s right. I live on the coast of Florida unlike healthcare insurance, home insurance prices are regulated by the State of Florida.
Where does that $1650.00 per month go? It’s certainly not going to the doctors. It’s not going to the hospitals. I’ve seen the cars those insurance salesmen drive – BMWs, Jaguars, Audis, big SUVs (they can afford the gas.)
NO CONTROL
My husband works full time at a company which provides health insurance for him and myself. We pay about $250 per month which sounds like a good deal, but it’s not. I’d rather take the money and pay doctors of my choice directly.
The company picked two plans for us to choose from
Both are HMOs (one stop clinics) which can be good, but in this case, are horribly deficient. It takes months to schedule an appointment and doctors sometimes cancel only days before the date you are expected to go. Doctors make diagnoses based on talking with the patient and perform few actual diagnostic tests, which can be expensive. Doctors assume that symptoms point to the most common ailment, even when there are other symptoms present which do not match their diagnosis.
- We picked the cheaper plan, but were placed with bad doctors. The good doctors are no longer accepting new patients.
- We have heard from coworkers that the other plan is even worse.
Plans don't cover everything, so you're still paying out of pocket
Neither plan covers vision care, the only coverage I really use other than dental, for which we pay an extra $28 per month. Even then, we had to pay about $6000 for non-cosmetic dental surgery because the costs were higher than the insurance would pay.
The company decides our premium
Over the past twenty years, we’ve paid between a $150 and $600 per month premium for our company's chosen healthcare plans, or between $1800 and $7200 per year. The lowest figure was when I worked briefly for a public school system, a.k.a., the government.
We cannot opt out of the plan
It has always been mandatory for both my husband and myself to pay towards the company healthcare plan.
Yesterday, my good friend Lorie, who lives in Central Florida, confided in me that she and her self-employed husband pay $1650.00 per month for their healthcare plan for two adults, pre-retirement. Neither have any serious or unusual conditions – just age – they’re both in their 50’s.
$1650.00. That’s insane! That’s one thousand, six hundred, and fifty dollars. Not $16.50, about what you’d pay for a 12 pack of good beer.
This plan covers catastrophic (you have chest pains and you need an angiogram, Stat!) and point of service (a $10 co-pay for regular doctor visits and prescriptions, plus a portion of charges for hospital stays and procedures). Lorie says she shopped around virtually everywhere and tried to get only catastrophic, but was could not. In fact, this plan is actually a discounted plan purchased through a business trade group in Pennsylvania.
About five years ago, Lorie says they were only paying about $500 per month for the same coverage before the prices skyrocketed.
HURRICANE INSURANCE FOR ONE YEAR!
$1650.00 PER MONTH? That’s about what I pay each month for my mortgage! That’s $19,800 per year – more than a person earning minimum wage makes working full-time!
It’s also about what I pay for my home insurance, which includes hurricane coverage, PER YEAR! “And you’re much more likely to need hurricane insurance than I am to need to go to the hospital,” My friend Lorie pointed out. She’s right. I live on the coast of Florida unlike healthcare insurance, home insurance prices are regulated by the State of Florida.
Where does that $1650.00 per month go? It’s certainly not going to the doctors. It’s not going to the hospitals. I’ve seen the cars those insurance salesmen drive – BMWs, Jaguars, Audis, big SUVs (they can afford the gas.)
NO CONTROL
My husband works full time at a company which provides health insurance for him and myself. We pay about $250 per month which sounds like a good deal, but it’s not. I’d rather take the money and pay doctors of my choice directly.
The company picked two plans for us to choose from
Both are HMOs (one stop clinics) which can be good, but in this case, are horribly deficient. It takes months to schedule an appointment and doctors sometimes cancel only days before the date you are expected to go. Doctors make diagnoses based on talking with the patient and perform few actual diagnostic tests, which can be expensive. Doctors assume that symptoms point to the most common ailment, even when there are other symptoms present which do not match their diagnosis.
- We picked the cheaper plan, but were placed with bad doctors. The good doctors are no longer accepting new patients.
- We have heard from coworkers that the other plan is even worse.
Plans don't cover everything, so you're still paying out of pocket
Neither plan covers vision care, the only coverage I really use other than dental, for which we pay an extra $28 per month. Even then, we had to pay about $6000 for non-cosmetic dental surgery because the costs were higher than the insurance would pay.
The company decides our premium
Over the past twenty years, we’ve paid between a $150 and $600 per month premium for our company's chosen healthcare plans, or between $1800 and $7200 per year. The lowest figure was when I worked briefly for a public school system, a.k.a., the government.
We cannot opt out of the plan
It has always been mandatory for both my husband and myself to pay towards the company healthcare plan.
Working couples pay double
After getting married, we had double coverage, but were not allowed to drop one of the plans. Even spouses working at the same company could not get out of paying double.
Not everyone pays the same
At one job, my husband was charged about $200 per month for his insurance. He was on an employment contract with guaranteed raises each year which matched the average rate of inflation. The company got into serious financial trouble, but could not take away my husband’s raise, so instead, they increased my husband’s healthcare plan charges to about $600 per month beginning in 2006, essentially taking away all the raises he’d received.
At Christmas, the company issued a lay-off notice with a letter explaining that employees would be allowed to participate in a COBRA plan where you can continue paying for your own healthcare plan after you are laid off. The plan cost $1200 per month. Some employees lamented that this would be four times what they were currently paying at $300 per month. That’s when my husband found out he was paying a higher charge for the same healthcare plan than some of his coworkers.
Unaffordable to unemployed and working poor
A person earning minimum wage at $6.55 per hour makes $13,624 per year if allowed to work 40 hours per week for 52 weeks per year. After taxes, this amounts to around $1000 per month. This worker cannot afford to pay for health insurance, even at $250 per month.
Unemployment pay varies by state. My husband's pay after being laid off in Washington state, about $2000 per month after taxes, covered only our mortgage and utilities. We could not even consider health insurance. In Florida, unemployment pays about half that, or about $1000 per month.
If given the choice, most will opt out
The problem with insurance is that you are paying towards a rainy day which may never come. If given the choice, most people on limited budgets will not buy health insurance, but will instead prefer to pay their own doctors as needed and gamble that they will not be hospitalized.
INSURANCE COMPANIES CONTROL DOCTORS
Our current system employs a middleman (the insurance company) to make medical decisions for us. The middleman is a businessman, not a medical practitioner. They hold in their hands the power to approve or deny a test or procedure which might save your life. Their decisions are based on the bottom line, not on the patient’s welfare.
If a doctor tries to fight the system and insist on care for his patient, he can be “let go,” his name “removed” from the list of approved doctors for these patients. As a result, few doctors challenge the insurance company. They have to eat, too.
For years, I submitted to the healthcare plan my company provided for me. I went to their doctors who would never refer me to a specialist. I suffered from numerous symptoms, but was usually told to take an aspirin, relax, de-stress, soak in a tub, etc. I was once even given the wrong medication. A few years ago, I had had enough and decided to go to my own doctors and pay for it out of pocket. I was given stellar service and no stone went unturned in diagnosing my disease. I now know that I suffered from a serious medical condition which could have been treated if caught in time.
INSURANCE COMPANIES CONTROL DOCTORS
Our current system employs a middleman (the insurance company) to make medical decisions for us. The middleman is a businessman, not a medical practitioner. They hold in their hands the power to approve or deny a test or procedure which might save your life. Their decisions are based on the bottom line, not on the patient’s welfare.
If a doctor tries to fight the system and insist on care for his patient, he can be “let go,” his name “removed” from the list of approved doctors for these patients. As a result, few doctors challenge the insurance company. They have to eat, too.
For years, I submitted to the healthcare plan my company provided for me. I went to their doctors who would never refer me to a specialist. I suffered from numerous symptoms, but was usually told to take an aspirin, relax, de-stress, soak in a tub, etc. I was once even given the wrong medication. A few years ago, I had had enough and decided to go to my own doctors and pay for it out of pocket. I was given stellar service and no stone went unturned in diagnosing my disease. I now know that I suffered from a serious medical condition which could have been treated if caught in time.
WE NEED SOCIALIZED MEDICINE
This week, both U.S. Presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain released their healthcare plans. Both involved the use of health insurance companies as a middle man to control our current healthcare system. Not a good idea. It won’t work! It will simply build up the middle men by boosting the health insurance business. We’re just feeding the patients and the doctors to the lions!
The United States Government needs to do what most other civilized countries do and offer free basic healthcare as a public service, similar to the way public schooling is provided. Yearly checkups, immunizations, disease screenings, and standards treatments would be included. Each state government can decide how to do this, whether to run their own clinics or contract this through private companies. If a patient wants something special, they can go to a special doctor (just like a special school) and pay for it out of their own pocket.
WHO WILL PAY FOR IT?
Americans are already paying for the healthcare for not only themselves, but also for the uninsured and under-insured. It's possible the bill for socialized medicine might even be cheaper than what we currently pay for no-choice medicine. We are paying for it through higher medical costs, insurance premiums and taxes.
Eliminate the middle man
If we took the money we’re already paying to health insurers, we will come out ahead, for we will eliminate the middle man who’s making money off of our misery.
Health costs don’t need to be as high as they currently are
Most hospitals and doctors don't charge the same for everyone. They charge on a “sliding scale.” If they think you have more money, you get billed higher than if you don't. I paid $35 per visit out of pocket when I went to the eye doctor with no insurance. My insurance company paid $169 per visit (I paid a $10 co-pay) when I went back to the same doctor through my insurance.
If you can’t pay your medical bills, you may lose your house
Even if you do have healthcare insurance, but your medical bills cost more than what is covered, you may be forced to sell your house to pay your bills.
If you don’t have insurance or assets, medical is free anyway
If you're really sick, you could lose your job and hence, your insurance. Then you could become impoverished and qualify for free medical care! Who pays for this? The taxpayers. So, we’re paying for this system already.
Even doctors have a hard time getting paid by insurance companies
Even if you have insurance, a doctor will sometimes require you to pay them out of pocket and make you attempt to get the money back on your own. They say they require this because the insurance company takes too long to pay. My husband made the mistake of giving a doctor a personal credit card, and before we knew it, $700 was charged that should have been sent to insurance.
WE CAN HAVE CHEAPER AND BETTER CARE
In conclusion, I don't think the American worker, nor their employers, would have to pay any more for healthcare than they do now if the system were shifted to a government mandated free clinic system. Yes, taxes would have to go up. However, I think the system would save money because the insurance people would no longer take a huge share.
The best medical care I ever got was when I became self employed and took my healthcare into my own hands and paid doctors out of pocket. I chose my own HMO clinic where I went for checkups, immunizations, and regular illnesses. If needed, I went to doctors at the UW Medical Center in Seattle and the University of Chapel Hill Medical Center in North Carolina. Both are teaching hospitals with all the latest gadgets and treatments. Neither will tell you don’t need a procedure or test, unless you really don’t need it. Both are affordable. In one year, I paid about $800 out of pocket for two clinic visits and four UW Medical visits. Compare this to the company healthcare plan where I paid $3000 per year, but was not referred to specialists.
We have the ability to offer the best medical care in the world to our own citizens. We just need to eliminate the middle man.
