“The idea of “insurance” has become this bastardized monolith of money for the poor.”
This is the money quote of this post! We’re in our early 70’s now but we remember when our kids were being raised that a visit to the doctor ( the same ones we use today mostly) cost $9.00 out of pocket, no insurance. Insurance was for “unexpected medical stuff” and the doctor billed us and we submitted a claim to the insurance co. It kept the patient in the loop. The problems arose when they decided to decouple the patient from the payment process. Then the insurance companies just allowed the costs to skyrocket without the patient’s knowledge. The “concierge doctor” is coming for those who have the cash to pay for their own medical care ( which is how it should be anyway for anything but out of the ordinary medical expenses). There is something really wrong with a medical care system wherein a hospital visit for 24 hours is a $25,000 venture. Good hotels on the Cote d’Azure deliver more and cost a whole lot less.
It’s obscene, in my opinion. Insurance should be reserved for catastrophe, not for regular visits. I gladly pay my doctors in cash and often walk out just $100 lighter in the wallet. Consider I only see them once a year, and I’m only “out” about $400 all tolled.
The idea of paying a “co-pay,” to me, is silly considering the amount of headache and extra staff the docs have to have to deal with the maze of insurance companies and regulations.
If I’m in a car accident, fall off a ladder while cleaning the gutters, cut off part of my finger while making dinner, get electrocuted fixing the pool pump, or break a finger while hammering up new fence panels, the ambulance ride and/or the fees charged for triage in an ER should be covered by insurance, I believe those are valid reasons to have insurance.
A welfare mother with 10 kids and on every form of public assistance going to the ER for a head cold is NOT a valid reason for use of insurance. Insurance is meant to INSURE against loss not PROVIDE indefinite care, regardless of severity.