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#107163 - 08/11/08 05:50 PM
Insurance whine
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sheepshearinglady
Member
Registered: 03/26/04
Posts: 218
Loc: Nebraska
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I just got a letter from our health insurance company that rates will be rising again. We switched to this company 2 years ago for $678 per quarter for 2 of us. Last year it went to $944, and now it is going to $1214. My husband just started simvastatin. It is the only drug either of us take. We have had no claims, and we have no chronic medical conditions. So that means that a good chunk of my pay each month will go toward health insurance. Lovely. I have just spent the better part of the day trying to get quotes from other companies. The best I have found for similar coverage (10,000 deductible HSA account) is $861 per quarter, with most of the quotes around $1300. Who has this kind of money? I just feel discouraged right now.
Okay, I am done whining.
Sue
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#107171 - 08/11/08 07:25 PM
Re: Insurance whine
[Re: sheepshearinglady]
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BlankKeys
Member
Registered: 04/09/08
Posts: 754
Loc: New York
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I'd say your "whining" is justified. Speaking for my family, medical insurance is our biggest expense. We are currently paying around $700 a month for 4 of us. It's crazy. 
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#107174 - 08/11/08 07:44 PM
Re: Insurance whine
[Re: BlankKeys]
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Badfinger
Member
Registered: 11/07/07
Posts: 507
Loc: Grand Prairie, TX
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I swear medical insurance is the biggest scam on Earth. I could have a vacation for what I've spent on med insurance through the years, it seems. Either that or at least a nice car.
_________________________
I've got something to say . . . . it's better to burn out than fade away.
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#107177 - 08/11/08 07:57 PM
Re: Insurance whine
[Re: Badfinger]
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moaab
Member
Registered: 02/02/08
Posts: 467
Loc: Chicagoland
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I agree! We have health insurance through my husband's company and we pay $12,000 per year. Now they are cutting back on what they are covering and we're having to absorb even more cost. So, you're not whining, just commiserating.
_________________________
Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.........Abraham Lincoln's mother
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#107178 - 08/11/08 08:01 PM
Re: Insurance whine
[Re: Badfinger]
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Badfinger
Member
Registered: 11/07/07
Posts: 507
Loc: Grand Prairie, TX
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I could have a vacation for what I've spent on med insurance through the years, it seems.
Ha! I meant "vacation house!" Man, my proofreading just su-didly-ucks today!!
_________________________
I've got something to say . . . . it's better to burn out than fade away.
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#107255 - 08/12/08 05:22 PM
Re: Insurance whine
[Re: Badfinger]
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thisismyusername
Member
Registered: 06/04/04
Posts: 653
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7800.00 per year here for a family of 4 with no chronic medical conditions. The only medication any one of us takes is the occasional ibuprofen or Tylenol.
Thank you, EMTALA and the ambulance-chasing lawyers. I'm SO TIRED of paying for those who choose to use the ER as a PCP. Perhaps I should do the same. If you can't beat 'em, I guess join 'em...if my conscience will allow it.
_________________________
I think that 1 of the poisons America faces is from a generation of well-educated triangulators.
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#107260 - 08/12/08 05:53 PM
Re: Insurance whine
[Re: thisismyusername]
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tropsicleAfter
Member
Registered: 10/30/06
Posts: 2679
Loc: Vicksburg, MS
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thisis, I see you are still stuck on the totally short-sighted blaming of legislation and ambulance-chasing lawyers for the price of health insurance, as well as poor use of emergency rooms.
The problem is MUCH more complicated than that, and EVERY side of the equation bears responsibility. Leaving out the blame on greed by insurance companies and greed by hospitals and other healthcare providers indicates that you don't feel they share any of the blame, and that is what makes you wrong. In fact, big insurance and big healthcare are much more responsible for the huge increases in costs of each of their sectors.
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tropsicle
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#107267 - 08/12/08 06:45 PM
Re: Insurance whine
[Re: tropsicleAfter]
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MattsKat
Member
Registered: 11/28/04
Posts: 2864
Loc: Here and Now...USA
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In fact, big insurance and big healthcare are much more responsible for the huge increases in costs of each of their sectors.
I think that's only part of it. It's not the big insurance companies who push for the cutting-edge surgical skills, technology and equipment to make a heart-lung-liver-kidney-pancreas transplant a reality.
It's not the hospital CEO who spends years of his life concocting a cure for cancer or hepatitis (or the dreaded E.D.)
Is it possible that in a roundabout way, we as patients/consumers are also responsible for pushing up health care costs because we all want, expect, demand to live better - and longer - than our grandparents did?
And let's not leave the pharmaceutical companies out of the "responsibility" loop. It's both a blessing and a curse to be handed a prescription for a miracle drug that'll cure what's killing you but your co-pay is $500 for a 10-day supply...
_________________________
Those who can laugh at themselves shall never cease to be amused.
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#107268 - 08/12/08 06:47 PM
Re: Insurance whine
[Re: MattsKat]
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tropsicleAfter
Member
Registered: 10/30/06
Posts: 2679
Loc: Vicksburg, MS
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True, I did leave Big Pharma out of the equation.
The point remains that there is plenty of blame to go around and that limiting it to blaming legislation and ambulance-chasing lawyers is short-sighted.
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tropsicle
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#107270 - 08/12/08 06:53 PM
Re: Insurance whine
[Re: tropsicleAfter]
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tropsicleAfter
Member
Registered: 10/30/06
Posts: 2679
Loc: Vicksburg, MS
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As far as patients pushing healthcare costs, sure, I guess there is a small factor there. However, for example, laser surgery was not invented to fill a patient demand, nor were drug-eluting stents.
I think the best way to prove the truthfulness of this equation would be to take away EMTALA and institute medical tort reform. Everyone that thinks healthcare costs would go down step to the left. The rest of us will be right here waiting on you to come back. 
_________________________
tropsicle
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#107271 - 08/12/08 06:56 PM
Re: Insurance whine
[Re: tropsicleAfter]
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truetran350
Member
Registered: 10/31/06
Posts: 318
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Health problems abound here, in that "middle zone" of below the rich and above poverty.....somehow always left out of the equation. So then you become the ED self-pay Yikes.
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#107272 - 08/12/08 07:03 PM
Re: Insurance whine
[Re: tropsicleAfter]
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Badfinger
Member
Registered: 11/07/07
Posts: 507
Loc: Grand Prairie, TX
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I sometimes think the general population, who has insurance, not taking care of themselves is why the rest of us end up paying so much. I really think that if people took care of themselves and not waited until the last minute to get a tumor checked out or their diabetes in check or stayed on their heart diet, then insurance rates wouldn't be as high as they are. Maybe it's just me, but I sometimes feel that I'm paying for somebody else's healthcare. My stepdad, for example, is in and out of the hospital all the time because of his heart. Why? Because he doesn't follow his doctors' orders half the time. Now, if my mom and stepdad are paying monthly for insurance and my stepdad's admissions are costing more than their monthly rate, who pays for the rest? It seems like WE do, the ones who do take care of themselves and spend gazillion $$ on insurance and only take, like someone said above, only ibuprofen or the occassional Tylenol and our yearly checkups but still pay out the butt like we're the ones who are the "regulars" at the hospital. So unfair. Enough ranting, better get back to work so I can pay for this wonderful insurance. . . ..
_________________________
I've got something to say . . . . it's better to burn out than fade away.
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#107277 - 08/12/08 08:03 PM
Re: Insurance whine
[Re: tropsicleAfter]
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MattsKat
Member
Registered: 11/28/04
Posts: 2864
Loc: Here and Now...USA
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As far as patients pushing healthcare costs, sure, I guess there is a small factor there. However, for example, laser surgery was not invented to fill a patient demand, nor were drug-eluting stents.
Agreed that it's not patient-initiated demand for something like laser hair removal which would then inspire someone to go out and invent it to meet the demand. It's the other way around: As science/medicine/technology advances, everything gets faster, better, smaller, safer, and we as the patients/consumers want to take advantage of all that but maybe we're not thinking about the time and expense that went into developing the technology in the first place. Along with faster/better/smaller/safer, I think there's the given of "more expensive."
My mom was just diagnosed with colon cancer and is scheduled for laparoscopic surgery. Even 10 year ago, she wouldn't have been offered colonoscopy much less surgery - (She's 89.) She's not "demanding" surgical treatment but she's not willing to shrug her shoulders and wander off to die, either. (She's a feisty 89.) Is all of this going to be expensive? You betcha, but years and years of "R&D" went into making minimally invasive cancer surgery a practical reality, along with the resulting shorter recovery time with fewer complications. And Medicare isn't batting an eye at covering the charges because they will be considered "usual, customary and reasonable."
ETA: I wandered off and forgot my point, which is this: Because of the advances in health care, my daughter will (hopefully) be able to keep her grandmother in her life for a few more good years. I never knew my own grandfather (who coincidentally was an old-fashioned country doctor)... he died of a strep infection long before I was born and before penicillin was "invented."
Health care has indeed come a long way... Is that a good thing? or a bad thing? And are we surprised that it doesn't come cheaply? 
Edited by MattsKat (08/12/08 08:56 PM)
_________________________
Those who can laugh at themselves shall never cease to be amused.
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#107310 - 08/13/08 11:21 AM
Re: Insurance whine
[Re: MattsKat]
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Wordcraftr
Junior Member
Registered: 02/11/08
Posts: 80
Loc: Midwest coast
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There is always a price.
We blame the working poor for using the ER as a PCP. What would you do if your child spiked a fever in the middle of the night and you didn't have a family doctor or health insurance because you made minimum wage and your employer couldn't or wouldn't offer you health insurance?
You take only Tylenol for pain and eschew trans fats. You exercise regularly. Despite that, one day you begin to get mysterious symptoms that require a work-up. Maybe it's cancer. Maybe it's heart disease. How many tests should the doctor run? After all, he or she has to produce documentation that everything possible was done to diagnose and treat your illness, and he or she must do these to stave off the ever-looming prospect of litigation. You may or may not get a definitive diagnosis. But you certainly will have tests and tests and more tests. The meter ticks relentlessly. That is, if you have health insurance.
You lose your job that had excellent health care coverage. No biggie. You're strong and healthy. But before you find another one your appendix bursts. Can't stay at home for that one. So now you're saddled with emergency surgery and a long recovery and enormous debt. While you're recovering you sign some paperwork that results in the hospital turning your debt over to a collection agency that demands exorbitant monthly payments you can't pay because you're out of a job. Oh, and charges you usurious interest rates. There goes your credit. Or your car. Or your house.
Universal health care. How much are we willing to pay so that everyone, not just the so-called "deserving," but everyone, can get the care they need?
_________________________
Gravity. It's not Just a good idea. It's the
Law.
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#108619 - 08/23/08 12:37 AM
Re: Insurance whine
[Re: Wordcraftr]
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Amy1992
New Member
Registered: 08/17/08
Posts: 7
Loc: Omaha, NE
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I know without a doubt (though I can't prove it) that I was let go from a job for health insurance cost reasons. I was working in a urology office and there were only 12 of us on the health insurance policy there and my husband and I were among the insured on that policy. My husband has Crohn's disease so had the usual med costs and doctor visits associated with that. He also had an accident where he broke both of his wrists and required pinning in one and all of the meds and doctor visits to go with that.
We got a new office manager in the fall of that year. She came around to each of the women of childbearing age in the office and asked us how many children we were planning on in the future and how soon as they doctors were considering dropping the maternity rider on the insurance policy. (Yes, I believe this was HIGHLY illegal to do but she did it anyway). My husband and I did not have any children at that point and I gave her my honest answer, that yes, we wanted to have at least one child and were planning it for the next year or two.
Annual reviews are done in November. I got a stellar evaluation, "You're the best transcriptionist we have never had! Your turnaround time is fantastic, etc." and a got a big fat raise to go with that.
January 1 rolls around. I find out I'm pregnant (yeah!!!) and I go into work on January 2 and am fired. I was given no reason whatsoever, just told "it's not working out."
How can I go from "the best we've ever had" to "it's not working out" in two months? Simple economics, that's how. I was costing them too much in insurance premiums with my husband with a chronic illness and my future pregnancy. 
Edited by Amy1992 (08/23/08 12:38 AM)
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#108647 - 08/23/08 11:40 AM
Re: Insurance whine
[Re: Amy1992]
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Piglet
Member
Registered: 01/22/08
Posts: 931
Loc: Cromwell, CT
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The United States has a for-profit healthcare system. The top six health insurers grossed over $11 billion dollar profit in 2006. With our healthcare being profit driven, our costs will never go down. It has nothing to do with cutting edge medicine. Some of the most cutting edge medicine comes from foreign countries, specifically France. The cost of new breakthroughs of medicine are usually through grants and/or nonprofit organizations, excluding big pharma of course.
Until we stop the for-profit model, or it destroys itself, we are stuck with the ever rising costs that most cannot afford. Not just insurance cost but healthcare cost in general. I have heard it stated that within five to ten years at the rate the cost of healthcare is rising, the gap of uninsured will reach 50% of the population.
So no matter what your political affiliation, this is an issue that needs to be addressed pronto.
_________________________
Unapologetically me.
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#108955 - 08/25/08 03:46 PM
Re: Insurance whine
[Re: Piglet]
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haggis
Member
Registered: 04/29/04
Posts: 2858
Loc: Left Coast, FL
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Apparently, the insurance industry is attempting to put on a friendly face by staging a "listening tour." Anyone who wants to bitch about specifics and demand an answer (not guaranteeing they'll answer, I suspect) can spout here.
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#109000 - 08/25/08 06:42 PM
Re: Insurance whine
[Re: haggis]
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sheepshearinglady
Member
Registered: 03/26/04
Posts: 218
Loc: Nebraska
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I doubt it will do any good, but I did send a letter through the link you posted. Thanks.
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#109025 - 08/25/08 08:16 PM
Re: Insurance whine
[Re: haggis]
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whorn
Member
Registered: 01/17/08
Posts: 869
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Apparently, the insurance industry is attempting to put on a friendly face by staging a "listening tour." Anyone who wants to bitch about specifics and demand an answer (not guaranteeing they'll answer, I suspect) can spout here.
Yeah, they are on a listening tour. They are listening to their goosesteps (and huge profits) being drummed out by the sound of 190 million voters who are finally saying enough is enough.
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