Posted on 04/03/2009 4:59:41 PM PDT by Lorianne
Romney haters ping!
The Blues vary a lot from state to state. In Maryland, CareFirst - the Maryland affiliate of Blue Cross/Blue Shield - does a much better job than any of the other health insurance providers that I've worked with or my brokers have worked with for small group health health insurance.
Some of the other insurers here include MAMSI (Optimum Choice), which was bought by United HealthCare, Aetna, Coventry, and a few others. I have direct experience with some of these, and have been warned away concerning others from my brokers, because the others are even worse.
There are companies that offer insurance that provide better coverage and are easier to work with, less bureaucratic, etc. But these are policies for folks who are very well-off. I believe that Guardian still offers policies in Maryland. Absolutely first-rate insurance. But the last time I checked a couple of years ago, they cost over $30,000 per year for a family policy.
But without getting into these very high-priced policies, in Maryland, CareFirst is about as good as it ordinarily gets.
sitetest
Costs have been going up dramatically the last few years. In order to keep affording insurance for our staff, we've gone to a high-deductible with health savings accounts to help pay for part of the deductible.
sitetest
They suck here in Texas and have always sucked.
“What better time to do it then in a time of crisis,” he said.
That sentence says it all.
You would be required to have it just like you are required to have liability coverage for your car,” he said.
Moron. What if I don’t choose to own an auto? - Do I still need to buy auto insurance?
“Great. My firm contracts with Carefirst, and just got a notice that our rates are going up over 20% for this year. This is the reason why.”
The double-digit increases are also why we are headed for socialized medicine. This issue turns even staunch conservatives liberal - when they are faced with paying the full cost of medical care/insurance.
If Obama games the issue well enough, this will be what gives him a chance at re-election when by all rights, he should have no chance at all.
The Full Cost of medical care would go down if there was any incentive to reduce costs in the medical field. Since the deep pockets of health insurance companies, Medicare, Medicaid, S-CHIP, and so on pay for so much of our health care, and use of health insurance is encouraged by government policy, the costs get astronomical.
Imagine if we had comprehensive food insurance: Bread: 15 dollars a loaf! Apples: 10 dollars a pound! Milk: 20 dollars a gallon!
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