Health Insurance Increases

Well, at least you should qualify for a Health Savings Account. That will help cover the high deductible.

Rick

What reality are you talking about? You would think they save money not processing forms with the insurance company, but the doctors I have worked with when I had no insurance would not match their charges to what the insurance companies pay. In one case I knew what the insurance company was paying and she would not match that, charging me $10 more for a visit. I pointed out the advantage of paying cash at the visit and she said she couldn't make a living off of that little! So why is she taking the insurance customers? Because they have more bargaining power!!!

The last time I looked, Brittan wasn't broke. The point is that our health care system doesn't provide health care to a large portion of the population. Can you really say that is better than universal coverage through mandated insurance?

Rick

Do you actually research any of this? The insurance companies are still free to have plans that you can be declined from. But there will be a plan in each state that will NOT exclude anyone. This plan will be supplemented with Federal funds for the next four years, IIRC. After that the rates will fully support it.

As to the big bureaucracy, it won't be that large, certainly smaller than the insurance companies or the administrative staff of medical care institutions. Don't worry about how much the government portion will cost, worry about how much the medical side will cost! That is what drives the cost of insurance. They do still have to compete with each other.

Rick

I suppose Obama is responsible for the rising price of gas too?

Rick

Again, that is not true. They have the same restriction with Medicare and they get the lowest rate of anyone, by Medicare rules which in effect are law. So do they charge all insurance companies the same, no... They "negotiate", meaning accept, the rates that each insurance company offers and they differ.

If you pay "cash", you aren't on the same terms as the insurance companies or Medicare so they can charge less if they want, but they never do because you have no leverage as an individual.

Supply and demand... For now the doctors have all the cards but that will change once mandated insurance settles in and people get to see the true impact of rising medical costs.

Rick

It was paid for by serving your country while you earn substandard pay, living in buildings that would be condemned for civilian uses and frequently being shot at. IOW, that FREE care was already paid for.

It won't do any good. Federally mandated redistricting forced him out in the primaries. He spent 22 years helping both civilians & Veterans in need.

Read my reply to your other post. This is simply not true. A doctor told me he could get away with charging less because it is "cash" rather than insurance meaning "credit". But he didn't actually charge me less then the insurance negoitated rate, just less than his book rate which is insane.

A friend was billed over $100 for a lab test and the insurance knocked it down to $3. Is that justifiable at all?

Rick

'Supplement' which is govspeak for "We provide enough to pay for you to get the customer's hooked, but then you are on your own" and also means that the customers will get a decent initial rate, and then be socked with the real costs just when they need them.

Also, why do you think there are big adminstrative staffs at those insurance companies and medical institutions? Well, insurance companies are almost ENTIRELY administrative, that is their function. Whenever government steps in 'to help' the first thing that happens if you need to hire a new department of folks to do the paperwork. And those huge administrative staffs on the medical institutions? They are there to deal with the paperwork of both the insurance companies AND the government.

Why do you think we have such a messed up education system? Government at all levels keeps getting involved, so the school system has half its resources sucked up in just dealing with all the 'programs' and 'mandates' and 'funding!'

Charlie

Pretty much. He is in charge of those who 'regulate' the markets, and has always had a policy of trying to wean us away from fossil fuels by driving prices up so we will have 'incentive' to got to hybrids and electric cars. Why have there been no new refineries built? Because no company could afford the regulatory compliance costs of building one!

Charlie

Just saw this morning that "we" are shipping Volts at a $49,000/car loss... and Biden claims that GM lives. ...Jim Thompson

I take it you ain't a doctor, or know any doctors? My brother in law is, and explained to me why it can ruin a practice to be 'caught' giving discounts to cash customers.

Also, I take it you have never encountered a doctor that says go away if you have medicare? Many, many do because the mandated fees don't cover their costs, especially when you add the adminstrative overhead in order to collect in!

Charlie

No, it isn't reasonable, which is why doctors charge the non-insured as much as they can. They can't handle the payments they get from the insurance companies now. Imagine if they were suddenly cut because it was found it their 'cash' price was lower than what it had been negotiated with for the insurance company. What? You didn't realize that the doctor's 'cash' price HAD to be given to the insurance company so they could base their reimbursements as a discount from them?

If Obama is in charge of gas prices rising, who is in charge when they go down? I seem to recall paying nearly $4 a gal in the last year and I am only paying $3.64 at the moment.

I suppose Obama is only in charge when the price goes up, he must be on vacation when it goes down...

Have you ever heard of supply and demand? What about the price of oil? Is this man so powerful that he can control the worldwide price of petroleum but he can't get bills passed in Congress? If I had that power I would retire and profit from investing in oil.

Rick

You obviously did not read my other post where I refer to doctors who have given me a discount.

I refer you to my earlier post where I point out I have never seen a doctor driving a Corolla... not even as a loaner car while his Lexus is in the shop. Who are these doctors going broke taking Medicare patients?

Rick

This is getting silly. If doctors didn't make any money with Medicare NONE of them would take Medicare patients. You can say some don't take Medicare patients, but that is the minority.

The insurance company doesn't give a rat's a** what the doctor wants to be paid. Souls in hell want ice water too. They pay what they are willing to pay and what they can get away with, again, supply and demand. If enough doctors drop off their list of providers, they improve the rates they pay and more doctors come back. Why do you think doctors will sometimes quit taking one or another insurance plans? Why wouldn't they take them all? They pay differently and it is not based on a discount from what the doctor "wants".

The "cash" discount is just that, you pay at the counter on the way out, no delay, otherwise it isn't a "cash" payment and therefore is in conflict with the rates the doctor provides.

Believe what you want. Who exactly will prosecute the doctor for giving discounts to cash customers? The insurance companies? I don't think so.

Maybe we should stop discussing this in many places in this thread. I'll just reply to one of your posts from now on.

Or maybe we should just stop. I think it is pretty clear that our views are diametrically opposed and I don't think either will have an impact on the other.

Rick

=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0...Jim Thompson

you

what is the price of insurance?

I could only find numbers for 2002, the tax paid healthcare for every one we have here cost 2500$ per person or 8.6% BNP same year the US spend ~4900$ per person or 13.9%

-Lasse

That is a -9% difference, and seasonal changes are the norm.

I've seen them driving beat up old Model T Fords, and fording flooded creeks to make house calls. That includes the doctor who delivered me. A film of him making house calls is on Youtube.

=A0 =A0 =A0 =A0 ...Jim Thompson

if you

gasoline price seem to be following crude prices pretty consistent, if anything gasoline is getting cheaper