#499905 - 03/18/1004:27 PMRe: "It's a slippery slope to Universal Health Ca
[Re: MacBozo]
garyW
mid-century modern
Registered: 04/19/02
Posts: 8329
It's there for the emergency (except if it's at an urgent care center). Who knows, it's really a crapshoot to hope my expensive policy will actually keep me well. If I was diagnosed tomorrow with cancer I'm certain they'd find a way to deny me because I didn't report that I'd eaten paste in the second grade.
Preventative care seems to a big problem for them to cover.
I recently found a really great doctor ( I hope he continues to accept my insurance provider). I thought turning 50 I want to get a complete workup. Co-pay for the office visit and follow up were $40. That's a good thing.
Lab work - blood, cholesterol, prostate screening and all that ... $80. out of pocket. That's good too. I mentioned the colonoscopy ... I'm going to wait on that.
Opthalomagist visit to check my vision and eye health ... no coverage on my policy. Last year I had my hearing checked ... no coverage.
Glad it's just for the sake of a check-up Me & Mr.B can relate stories that could curl yer hair.
ANYWAY:
That's a Key Issue promised in the Obama Bill: Preventative Care and Screening.. It's cost effective to catch & treat maladies sooner than later to keep people healthy & productive, rather than making you sick then getting rich off treating you to death.**
#499943 - 03/19/1001:55 AMRe: "It's a slippery slope to Universal Health Ca
[Re: garyW]
MikeSellers
I'm not into titles
Registered: 05/11/02
Posts: 3738
Loc: Atlanta, GA
Originally Posted By: garyW
. . . it's really a crapshoot to hope my expensive policy will actually keep me well. If I was diagnosed tomorrow with cancer I'm certain they'd find a way to deny me because I didn't report that I'd eaten paste in the second grade.
Yep, we're applying for new insurance now and the form is worded so that they will always have an out if you have a serious claim to make.
"Has any applicant consulted with or received treatment from any doctor or other health care provider for any other condition or symptom(s) not listed on this application?"
That's so broad, if I received an aspirin from a school nurse in the third grade, it would qualify. My wife and I are scratching our heads, trying to list anything that could be used against us if we don't disclose it. We're both over 50 years old. There's no way we can remember every godd@m thing we've ever been treated for.
I'm convinced that the best advice to come out of Congress in the last 30 years was Alan Grayson's Republican-mocking "Just don’t get sick. … If you do get sick . . . die quickly." Seriously, think about that. It's great advice. Not only does it not cost anything, if you follow it, you'll actually save your family money. When's the last time Congress did something like that?
Why do we pay such high prices, supposedly to finance those R&D costs, and the rest of the world has much lower prices for the same products/drugs?
Good question. That's exactly what I'm talking about. The machine is broken, but throwing more of our money at it isn't going to fix it. All the health care bill is going to be is enriching the rich even more.
Want change? Fix what's broke, don't enable it even more by tossing more money at it.
The machine is broken, but mandating that I have to help throw more money at it isn't going to fix it that, either. It will seriously piss me and a whole bunch of other people off. Those of us who literally do not have room in what passes for our personal budgets to cough up a couple of hundred dollars extra a month to buy something we would never, ever have wasted money on ~ Because it's nothing more than a f'n crap shoot, and the house always wins. Always. Substitute "insurance companies that have already sucked you f'n dry for years with no real return" for "the house." There. That's more accurate.
We are ~ So. Screwed.
_________________________ I always deserve it. Really.