What I want is really simple healthcare. I pretty much have that with my Medicare and supplemental insurance, but most everyone below Medicare age has a royal mess on their hands.
Need an appendectomy? This hospital will charge $8K, but that one across town will charge $32K. What's that all about? Can you shop around? Not really, because doctors are not in-network on all insurance plans, and are not on-staff at all hospitals. And each health insurance company covers certain things, but not all things. Some things are covered this year, but not necessarily next year.
Some things are covered by United Health Care, but not Aetna, or Anthem. WTH? Insurers determine AFTER the event if it was necessary, and may or may not pay. But SURPRISE, you're still responsible for the bill. And if they decide your doctor charged more than the "usual and customary" fee, you're responsible for that, too. How the hell is a layman supposed to know these things?
Doctors go to school for decades it seems, and owe $$$$$$ after med school, yet walk on eggshells every day, afraid they'll be sued. Most are if they practice long enough. To defend themselves they put patients through test after test, bleeding us almost dry, to make sure they have every eventuality documented. On and on and on.....
If I get sick, I want to go the the doctor and I want him/her to evaluate me and fix me. Don't send me a bill, or a statement, and I don't want to hear from my insurance company, ever. The Doc fixes, the insurer pays. Period. No arguing about if this falls into the covered or non-covered category. I don't care about Tier 1 or Tier 2 medications, or "formularies". I don't care how they build the car. I just want to turn the key and have it start.
If they want to do it through the government, Medicare style, I don't care. If they want to do it via private health insurance, I don't care. I'll pay for it with higher taxes or higher premiums if necessary, but once I pay, I want no excuses.
Bundle it all, I'll cut one check, then that's it. Life is too short to put up with all this bullshit. Is this asking too much?
S
No, not asking too much at all. Just move to Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Sweden, and so on, become a citizen and voila! There you are.
ReplyDeleteA single pay system is what we need, just like other industrialized nations.
ReplyDeleteWhat ever is done, it will either cost a lot more, or service and quality will suffer. I hear good and bad things from systems in other countries. I would like to see Doctors in more control and Ins. companies having less say in treatment, and less law suits filed where settlement is cheaper than fighting even if the doctor s right. And, no, I have no idea how to do that.
ReplyDeleteWell every system has its flaws, but Canada, the UK, Sweden, etc are all on the whole better than the US.
DeleteI'm not sure it will cost a lot more. My sister (in Germany) almost fainted when she heard what we pay for braces or colonoscopies.
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