Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: grania
Obama care is going in the wrong direction. Those public workers could get health insurance if (1) it had a deductible of $2000 or so and (2) it was only for catastrophic illness and (3) they had to pay 25% of the cost. There's no reason for anyone to have more insurance than that...

There is one other factor--what I've called "club pricing." The deductible shouldn't be eaten up by outrageous, cost-shifted overpricing. If the catastrophic insurance you buy also gets you a much-better than list price, I'm in agreement with you.

It is a shame that the cash market for medical tests, supplies, and services is so distorted that no one knows what anything really costs.

8 posted on 08/26/2013 7:55:56 AM PDT by Pearls Before Swine
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies ]


To: Pearls Before Swine
...the cash market for medical...

I see it with dental. I don't have dental insurance. It's amazing when one makes a financial decision. Example a root canal plus a crown with "50% chance of success" (translation...we don't know if it will save the tooth or not) would've cost about $2000. An extraction cost $400.

People with dental insurance go for the crown-root canal, sometimes with a deductable coming close to the price of an extraction. People without dental insurance will more likely say "get that gold mine out of my mouth".

It's like that with anything that's insured. The desire of the medical profession to make profits has no check if the patient has no financial stake in keeping prices down.

That's why we shouldn't be forced into these crazy policies that cover everything. It'll cause medical costs and availability to spin hopelessly out of control.

Anecdotal....when I had the hospital stay from hell with pneumonia almost four years ago, there were Medicare patients using it as free room and board when they could come up with believable diseases....lovely roomates. (sarcasm)

20 posted on 08/26/2013 10:05:59 AM PDT by grania
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson