Co-pays reveal a serious flaw

I recently accompanied my 18-year-old older brother to the emergency room at Middlesex Hospital in Middletown, Conn.

[Sanity]

Yes, Health Insurance companies have too much power. Why a consumer can choose to do business with ANY one (or more) of them. Unless of course, government regulations forbid them from competing in a certain area.

Only the GOVERNMENT should have power.

Big Brother is the answer, Winston. To EVERYTHING.

Have a good day.

[MAGNUM FORCE]

Sanity wrote:

Yes, Health Insurance companies have too much power. Why a consumer can choose to do business with ANY one (or more) of them. Unless of course, government regulations forbid them from competing in a certain area.
Only the GOVERNMENT should have power.
Big Brother is the answer, Winston. To EVERYTHING.
Have a good day.

The people should have the power, NOT THE GOVERNMENT.

[disgusted]

Maybe Sanity needs to go back to Communist Russia.

[Hank Rearden]

Since you want the government to be by our brothers keeper which in turn makes the rich everyones keeper, Grace, where were you with the $150 to cover your brothers costs?

Is it only somone else who needs to pay for your families health care?

Did perhaps your brother schedule an appointment with his Dr and pay instead the $20 or $30 copay?

Now I'm not saying that $150 is a pitance but I too have insurance with the exact same copays and you know what, when I deem it is worth it, I pay for the emergency service. Whan it isn't worth it I go to my normal Dr.

[garygenius]

You went to the Emergency Room for a rash?
Seems like you could have called your Doctor and had him take a quick look instead of the ER.
If the ER visit was cheap, why would anyone go to the family Doctor?
$150 seems reasonable to me!
If you had a real emergency, you'd pay it and get the service needed.

[Skeptical Onlooker]

I'd say the system worked beautifully. You saved $150.00 on an ER visit that would have cost $500+ and all for nothing. If it had only cost you $25 as a co-pay then you would have said YES, cost the insurance company $500 to find out all was OK.

[Dagny]

Grace's letter sounds as though her brother did not have choice in his health insurance. He could have chosen a different plan or chosen no insurance at all.

To my knowledge, only Massachusetts requires health insurance for each person (a topic for another day...)

Regardless, an hefty infusion of capitalism in the health insurance industry would help.

[the Doctor]

Hank Rearden wrote:

Since you want the government to be by our brothers keeper which in turn makes the rich everyones keeper, Grace, where were you with the $150 to cover your brothers costs?
Is it only somone else who needs to pay for your families health care?
Did perhaps your brother schedule an appointment with his Dr and pay instead the $20 or $30 copay?
Now I'm not saying that $150 is a pitance but I too have insurance with the exact same copays and you know what, when I deem it is worth it, I pay for the emergency service. Whan it isn't worth it I go to my normal Dr.

Insurance companies set the co-pays high for ER visits for this very reason! To many people go to the ER for rashes and sniffles instead of seeing their primary care physician. I once as at BMC for an hour waiting with a 2 year old child gasping for air. This is what the Emergency room is for.. EMERGENCIES ... not for rashes. There were people in there with headaches and coughs.

[religion kills]

This is a big problem. But I don't mean the high copay. Admittedly these are two young people so we should give them some room to learn here, but it exemplifies a huge problem in our country.

People want everything for nothing. They want you and me to work hard so they can get things for less then they cost. When confronted with the actual cost they complain.

She reveals this by admitting she doesn't think it would be fair for his insurance company to lower the copay but raise the premium to cover the cost. She implies the expectation is that her brother get the care without paying for it, since he shouldn't pay that much and the insurer shouldn't get compensated if it pays more of the bill.

Everyone here is right: go to the clinic. Most towns now have walkins that are billed as doctors visits, specifically for non urgent "emergency" care like her brother was seeking.

So many problems in our society arise from the desire to have others pay for what you cost society. This will result in all of us that already pay for everything also paying for the newly covered that choose not to afford coverage.

We need more personal responsibility. Of course given who is saying this, I need to add that religion is part of the cause. If you can behave horrible with impunity (pay and you are absolved) why would we expect people to behave morally? 95% of this country operates under a system of allowed and acknowledged immorality, called religion.

[Nurse]

The problems with health insurance has its roots in managed care. The first HMO's worked pretty well and simply paid bills as submitted for care without all this nonsense or 3rd party interference. The problem started with Medicare. Once Medicare was implemented and could refuse care and only pay a percentage of customary charges, the insurers followed suit, realizing they could substantially increase profits by giving less and charging more. Hence all these co-pays, limited payments, refusals of care and astronomical premiums that we now deal with. All to protect the almighty shareholder profits and huge C.E.O. salaries. Initially the Feds passed a law which protected these obnoxious and negligent insurance companies from being sued. In spite of that law, some lawsuits were successful and have increased dramatically over the years. Prior to managed care, lawsuits were the exception rather than the norm. Most nurses had never even heard of malpractice insurance and were covered under the hospital or practice where they were employed. . Interestingly enough, it is the govt. that conspired with the insurance companies to alter our previous system. While there cannot be any substantial improvement in our system while Managed Care reigns, we must also take care NOT to entirely trust the government to protect our health and well being.

[Hank Rearden]

Why is it that we do not manage our own care? Oh yea because we do not have to. You pay your monthly premioum and feel that you are entitled to everything.

It is like a shopper going into a store and only having to pay $100 per shopping cart and there are no prices and no charges other than the $100 which we will bill to you later.

Here is a novel idea we are the greatest consumer nation in the history of the world. let us know exactly what the costs are BEFORE we walk in and then we can discuss with the Dr what the biggest bang for our buck will be. Everyone gets a card that has a set amount on it and anything you do not use this year gets added to next.
Ad in a govenment sponsored catistophic care to keep peopel from going broke and let the insurance companied cover the hole.

[Yoga Man]

Moochers and Looters!

More and more we Americans identify with Moochers and Looters.