Which brings me to think that if the hospitals were being run by the feds, would they even be in operation? I mean its only because they can bill people directly that they collect. I am not talking about private hospitals that can reject non-emergency cases, I mean what if they had to take anybody and everybody?
Which brings me to my HMO-- I used to go to the nearby hospital for all my lab work, easy in and out. Then one day I noticed that even in the early am (6 am) there were long lines waiting for the lab. Its wasn't long before the wait was so long, they started handing out appointments for non-emergency (me). Why? Because since the public hospital had been closed due to cost over runs and no county taxes to keep it open, the load had shifted, and the government had told my HMO they HAD to take people in an emergency- you know, like a cold, flu, headache, whatever. So my HMO raised their rates, and built a clinic nearby, so people like me could continue to get care while the hospital now is essentially a public hospital subsidized by the members of the HMO...
So I wonder how this is going to work when the federal gov is running all health care...what happens to my HMO, does it become Department of Health and Human Services supplemental plan Bronze coverage? I gather they are getting these ideas from Massachusetts, where the premiums look kind of high to me.
So I hear all the grumbling going on the radio, and i wonder. i wonder how a complete take over of national health insurance has a friggin thing to do with making insurance available for people that don't have it and need it. I wonder how a government can compel me to buy something I may not want to buy.
As i write this my heart is starting to pound, which means I need to stop, because I am getting upset... which I have already expressed in emails to my Senators, Tweddle Barb and Diane Finewine, and my Congressional rep, who was elected because her husband had been a good Congressman before he died...
But health insurers don't provide health care. The problems with healthcare are with healthcare. There may be problems with healthcare insurance providers, but it won't do a damn thing to help people get health care. In order for this to work, to help people be able to get healthcare, they would also have to mandate that the insurance companies pay for 100% of the cost of healthcare, and cap the premiums. However, that would just drive the insurance companies out of business. One of the reason that healthcare is not affordable is because of healthcare insurance. People starting going to doctors for things like a damn cold and billing the insurance companies. Hospitals started doubling their rates because people were billing it to insurance companies. Insurance is the reason that healthcare costs rises much faster than the rat of inflation. The solution is a complete overhaul of the entire healthcare system, including insurance, drug companies, and corporate healthcare. It has to be all three, or it will be a waste of time and taxpayers money and in the end, people will still not be able to afford healthcare.
ReplyDeleteThe availability of health insurance as a perk of people's employment made insurance much more common and exploited than it had been before unions started demanding it. And like Secretcorners says, it is exploited simply because people have it and want their money back (as they see it, since it represents to them money they aren't getting as wages), so they go to the doctor for things people used to take care of at home. Then, too, hospitals and doctors' clinics pass along high costs because they know they can stick it to the insurance companies. One hospital charged me and I simply paid up by check and cash---they then dug around and found a record that I was insured by the Catholic Church as part of my recent employment teaching and sent them a bill! The nerve! What gall! They knew I had already paid, yet they were wanting still more and willing to try to steal it!
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