Interesting Article on Health Insurance Rates

[longfisher]

http://www.stateline.org/live/detail...ntentId=585688

LF

[Avenger]

So basically, the problem with Obamacare from the beginning. Everything was about paying, and nothing about cost. Government at it's normalist.

[seapower]

"it's that deep sucking sound"! I don't much care for anything crammed down my throat. Mandated by those who don't have to pay their own health insurance! Yep it's a piece of cake being self employed nowaday's. The money just keeps rolling in, pure wealth at its finest! How about THEY lead by example. THEY ballance their budget like I have to ballance mine, then they'll see why health care is soooooo expensive for the rest of us that make aliving on our own. I for one pay (and I mean "pay in full" out of pocket) my medical bills when they are needed. Guess part of the problem is that I'm not a frequent flyer. Anyone in my family better have an appendage hanging off before we head to the neighborhood hospital. Cold, flu, sniffle's, ain't happening, I"m not a Government Worker, so I can't afford it. I can get over being sick (most of the time) just as fast at work as I can staying home and laying around. Guess that's the rub, I would rather work than lay around. I know this doesn't make sense to the average Gov't regulator, "well if he likes to work that much, he oughta be loaded", turn on the deep sucking sound. Yes sir I just keep going and going, because I love sweating and hurting that much! Moron's!!! Frank

[-Æ-]

I see it every day. Aches and pains int he ER and costing a minimum of $1000 per event. Makes me sick when people do that!

[longfisher]

So basically, the problem with Obamacare from the beginning. Everything was about paying, and nothing about cost. Government at it's normalist.

...but I completely respect your views and opinions.

Still, I wouldn't mind if you pointed out where in the article Obamacare is responsible for paying and no cost.

I didn't add my take on the article whe I first posted it. Perhaps I should have. So, I'll do so now.

My take is that the Obama Administrations attempts to highlight and make transparent the insurance industry's sham, self-serving and rapacious rate increases has caused some of them, perhaps not all, to shrink from thier exhorbitant rate increases.

So, what did you read in that article that I didn't read?

Best,

LF

[longfisher]

I see it every day. Aches and pains int he ER and costing a minimum of $1000 per event. Makes me sick when people do that!

I don't know your background, Sir. But I agree. The ER is full of people who do not need emergency services. I know because I have had to endure triage in ERs because of my pack of accident-prone kids. And, it's maddening to have a kid bleeding all over the floor or with a dislocated joint only to be told that we're the 84th in line...when we have insurance.

But I also sat there during those infuriating times and wondered why folks were in the ER with the terribly sad and pained looks on their faces when they really had little more than superficial injuries or illnesses. And, I think I have the answer.

The look that way because that's the only way they'll get seen there. And, they go there because they can't (or won't) afford insurance. If they could, instead, they'd go to their primary care physician and we wouldn't see them in the ER.

How does that square with your observations, Sir?

LF

[Avenger]

I was speaking more generally, but the thrust of the article was the price of health insurance skyrocketing and the gov't being powerless to do anything about it, yet the gov't was supposed to be making health care affordable for everybody.

Don't misunderstand me, without a doubt the insurance companies brought government control on themselves. My perception of the problem is that nothing was done to address the reasons that healthcare is so expensive, which is the rationale the ins. co.s use to justify their rates. For example, there's never going to be any discussion of tort-reform when all your representatives are lawyers and the ABA is one of the biggest lobbies in the country, and let's not forget the ins. co.s lobby as well. Health Care reform is definitely required, but until we're willing to honestly address all the issues, forcing people to buy health insurance, taxing everybody to pay for it and utilizing forced price controls is a setup for failure.

[-Æ-]

I don't know your background, Sir. But I agree. The ER is full of people who do not need emergency services. I know because I have had to endure triage in ERs because of my pack of accident-prone kids. And, it's maddening to have a kid bleeding all over the floor or with a dislocated joint only to be told that we're the 84th in line...when we have insurance.

But I also sat there during those infuriating times and wondered why folks were in the ER with the terribly sad and pained looks on their faces when they really had little more than superficial injuries or illnesses. And, I think I have the answer.

The look that way because that's the only way they'll get seen there. And, they go there because they can't (or won't) afford insurance. If they could, instead, they'd go to their primary care physician and we wouldn't see them in the ER.

How does that square with your observations, Sir?

LF

Spot on. I am in the medical field. I am in 10 different hospitals each week. Since I am not a physician, but rather work for a large medical device company, I am the 3rd rail in this equation. Physicians being the first, insurance being the second and industry being the third. I study this situation daily as it has been a downward spiral for the last 2 years. Physicians being reimbursed less and less each month with a patient population that has dwindled due to lack of insurance or loss of insurance with unemployment or can't even afford the copay. Companies that supply the products to save lives are taxed more and more and are seeing up to a 75% drop in business over the last 2 years due to lack of ability to pay out of pocket for the products that will keep them alive or insurance companies refusing coverage for these products, and then the insurance companies that are bragging about record profits. Follow the money trail and there will be a problem sitting next to the pot of gold.
75% drop in business means 50% drop in income. Not good.
I saw your post about the insurance rates coming down, but didn't see what the differences in coverage were. That would be something to see. I bet the coverage has also decreased, or the copay is much larger to get the lower rate.

[clt_capt]

AE - You hit one of the nails on the head - The ER has become the "Free Healthcare" Ward... It drives me bonkers to see a kid with sniffles in the ER - Especially when I'm waiting for stitches, broken bones or some other major issue - Been there done that...

A good ER probably has the highest qualified personnel in most hospitals - Especially for the Trauma Qualified Staff - but they are dealing with issues far below their training, at a much higher cost than necessary.

You want to resolve some of that issue, Allow a triage nurse to make the call as a patient walks in the door... If there is a true emergency - get the patient to care ASAP, send the others to the tent in the parking lot staffed with PAs, Nurse Practicioners, candystripers.

[-Æ-]

AE - You hit one of the nails on the head - The ER has become the "Free Healthcare" Ward... It drives me bonkers to see a kid with sniffles in the ER - Especially when I'm waiting for stitches, broken bones or some other major issue - Been there done that...

A good ER probably has the highest qualified personnel in most hospitals - Especially for the Trauma Qualified Staff - but they are dealing with issues far below their training, at a much higher cost than necessary.

You want to resolve some of that issue, Allow a triage nurse to make the call as a patient walks in the door... If there is a true emergency - get the patient to care ASAP, send the others to the tent in the parking lot staffed with PAs, Nurse Practicioners, candystripers.

Fred,
Pa's and NP's are some of the most underrated professionals in the medical industry. Without them, a lot of Physicians would be helpless. They should not be relegated to the parking lot. I say that physicians should be professionally rated each year. The bottom 25% should be taken out of practice and put into parking lot duty.
What really ticks me off is when the migrant workers come to the ER for their free healthcare because they KNOW that they will not be turned away. Maybe if we started to turn people away at the door, they would think again about getting some healthcare insurance and keep LF in business. Just today, I was in a hospital with the ER lined with people that were sweating and complaining about the heat outside. It was 95º outside and they didn't have AC. The mother was complaining that her "chile" had a lung disease and the dust falling from the ceiling was "makin her koff!'

I will be back soon, I gotta go puke now!