Wednesday, March 22, 2006

6 Comments:

The demands of this poor public are not reasonable, but they are quite simple. It dreads disease and
desires to be protected against it. But it is poor and wants to be protected cheaply. Scientific measures are too hard to understand, too costly, too clearly tending towards a rise in the rates and more public interference with the insanitary, because insufficiently financed, private house. What the public wants, therefore, is a cheap magic charm to prevent, and a cheap pill or potion to cure, all disease. It forces all such charms on the doctors.

George Bernhard Shaw, about 1910

John Fembup

By  Anonymous, at 9:36 AM  

The demands of this poor public are not reasonable, but they are quite simple. It dreads disease and
desires to be protected against it. But it is poor and wants to be protected cheaply. Scientific measures are too hard to understand, too costly, too clearly tending towards a rise in the rates and more public interference with the insanitary, because insufficiently financed, private house. What the public wants, therefore, is a cheap magic charm to prevent, and a cheap pill or potion to cure, all disease. It forces all such charms on the doctors.

George Bernhard Shaw, about 1910

John Fembup

By  Anonymous, at 9:37 AM  

Wonderful discussion, it really gets to the heart of the matter. I pay roughly 8% of my paycheck every month to fund SS and medicare, PLUS pay for my own insurance at $100 month, I'm glad for the guy's co-pay who was only $60 a month, but not me. Now, I'm 20ish making $24-30k fresh out of college paying roughly $3,500+ a year in healthcare/retirement costs as I see it. I worked my way through school full-time so this consis for the past 5 yrs. The medical services I've gotten in the past 2-5 yrs. can be covered under annual exams ($30-200 yr, depending on if I use school services/local PP or go with private doctors- average $60) , one wisdom tooth removal ($500), and roughly $350 in preventative out-of-pocket costs, no one paid for because my insurance doesn't pay for shots to give people traveling abroad. This means I have paid $18,500 into a system over 5 yrs. and gotten $850 out of it because preventative care was not covered. A fair bite in the ass, which is likely to continue for the next 40-50 yrs. and only increase as I get older and make more. No, I'm not on any drugs, have no medical health problems, and given my mom's health this isn't likely to change for at least 30 yrs. barring accidental injury. It just sucks to look at it. When I begin to whine about this I look at the fact that I've spent 4 yrs. at a great state supported school paying a fraction of my real cost which is actually paid for by my grandparent's property taxes. We're all getting stuff out of the system, the nature of being human is we tend to complain about the things we get/take them for granted and only look at the costs we pay and don't get back.

By  Anonymous, at 12:27 PM  

Dara,

Remember, your employer is also paying into SS plus you are only paying for a portion of your medical insurance.

Doctors only view their income as the cost of a test, but in fact, the labs may add hundreds to the total cost of any test or procedure.

It is nice to see everyone discuss the total cost of the system and to begin the process of finding a workable solution. What we have now is nuts.

Steve Lucas

By  Anonymous, at 9:19 AM  

Thanks Steve, let me not forget my awesome employeer. I agree the current method seems nuts. At 18 I felt massively robbed by the system, now in my 20s I'm trying to come to grips with the big pic. I think the current paperwork of the system breeds inefficiency, but not sure if it's simply the nature of large organizations in general or a possible reform in the making. Thanks. Any thoughts on how you would clean it up?

By  Anonymous, at 6:36 PM  

The purpose of insurance is to protect against financial catastrophe. When health insurance premiums become the catastrophe itself, perhaps it's time to move to a catastrophic coverage policy with an HSA.

Do not complain about not getting your money's worth from your health insurance! I had the same gripe as a young, healthy, strong woman...who has had cancer twice since this complaint. Hmmm. I got my money's worth. I would rather have not. Don't tempt fate!

By  kentuckyliz, at 6:38 AM  

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