OT: Health Care With Or Without Insurance

[Guest guest]

Howdy Cindy,

 

> I gotta chime in on this one too...

 

Glad you did.

 

> I know the health care institutions and health care professionals aren't

" supposed " to base their care of you based on whether or not you can pay or

whether or not you have insurance, but they

> certainly do.

 

This is double edge sword. They are sworn to do their duty to a point ..

but they are not able or expected to provide Pro Bono services beyond other

points. Our County Hospital will not refuse anyone at the Emergency Room

and they would not make sure you had insurance before you were rushed to the

operating room following a traffic accident .. but they are often not

paid. In fact, some walk ins without insurance don't pay .. and some of

them are dead beats. Without insurance the services are provided and then

you are directed to the cashier but if you then say " Bill Me .. I have no

money on me or whatever " they have no choice but to do that .. they can't

have you arrested and they can't take back the services provided. Each

quarter the Paris Newspaper reports the financial status of the hospital ..

in all cases since I moved here in Summer 2007, the write off for nonpayment

has been in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Of course, those with

insurance and those who do pay out of pocket are making up some of those

losses.

 

> I've lived without medical insurance for a long time because I simply

can't afford it. I have had doctors tell me several times that " if you had

insurance, we'd probably do such and such, but since

> you're self pay we'll spare that expense " . Does that mean they are

performing unnecessary procedures on the insured, or does it mean they are

not giving me the care I should have because they

> think I won't or can't pay for it?

 

We can't know for sure but I believe that its probably 95% sparing you the

expense of an unnecessary Defensive or Lucrative Medical procedure or

test. Defensive due to efforts to avoid lawsuits and Lucrative due to

necessary efforts to recoup some of the losses that are written off. The

other 5% is probably due to personal greed .. depending on how much that

doctor gets from tests s/he orders. Example .. I went in for arthritis and

the next day they gave me an MRI .. couple of months later they wanted to do

a second MRI but I refused it because .. even though I would have paid

nothing .. I knew it was frivolous. MRI tests are NOT cheap!

 

> I mean, these tests and procedures are either necessary or they're not,

right? So which is it?

 

Generally .. or maybe almost always .. NOT necessary!

 

> Also, during my uninsured years I have had 2 major surgeries (hysterectomy

and gall bladder) which I paid for out of my own pocket completely. It was

still cheaper than insurance.

 

This is the norm in far more cases than some folks might realize. And ..

its why many folks will not purchase the mandatory insurance under the Bill

... they will pay the fine.

 

> So, while the government may be able to force me to get health insurance,

(clipped)

 

We will see if that remains to be the case.

 

> I resent the implication that the reason for it is to prevent others from

having to pay for my healthcare, because that is not the case. I pay for it,

I just chose not to overpay for insurance.

 

Cindy .. I am in your court .. and I do not think that the intent behind

this Bill is to ensure that folks have Health Insurance. In my opinion, it

would be naive to accept that any elected official would do anything that

they did not believe was in their own best interest. Ideologues must

fulfill their destinies and those who are driven by ideology are too often

Control Freaks. There are those who say that the Priorities of this

Administration have been incorrect from the Git Go .. and the goals of the

Administration were devious. I agree with the first statement. The

economy and jobs should have been #1. I disagree with the second statement

because the president made it clear what his goals were during the campaign

... folks just had their heads in the wrong place then and because they were

fed up with many of the dealings of the previous administration, plus the

fact that we were in the midst of economic collapse, plus the fact that a

charismatic was running against a heroic but boring personality who chose

the wrong running mate, plus the fact that the youth of America were for the

first time able to be heard and spread their wings, plus the fact that they

were ready for Hope and Change .. they didn't listen well to what he was

saying .. or they did not understand the depth of his commitment. This

Health Care Bill in fact defined a Presidency .. if it had failed it would

have been said that he had accomplished nothing during more than 1/4 of his

presidency. But it was passed .. in a questionable manner it passed but it

was passed .. and it still will define his Presidency. It remains to see

what that definition will be but we can bet our bottom dollar that WHILE the

next two things are being crammed down our throats .. government control of

financial institutions and then a bill to legalize undocumented (read that

as illegal) immigrants .. we will also see some Populist Bills being passed

... bills that are designed to put a Cherry and some Candy Hearts on top of a

cake that is otherwise not palatable.

 

> my 2 cents worth

 

Two cents well spent I think. Wish our government thought this way when

they spend our money.

 

> Cindy Atkins

 

Y'all have a good one .. and keep smiling. :-)

 

Butch ... http://www.AV-AT.com <http://www.av-at.com/>

 

PS: Again .. it is not just the cost of Health Care that has become

unsustainable .. the cost of government has become unsustainable .. and more

on that in time.