Posted on 12/28/2005 12:43:50 AM PST by SDGOP
An unprecedented spike in filings before reform took effect in fall 2005 is chewing into lenders' bottom lines, and the subsequent lull is showing signs of being short-lived. Bankruptcy attorneys say their caseloads are starting to pick up, and credit counseling agencies -- which provide now-mandatory sessions for consumers who want to file -- say they're seeing significantly more people than they initially predicted.
All this is raising questions about whether lenders will profit as much from the new bill as they hoped.Credit card interest out of control? Find a lower rate.
It wasn't supposed to be this way. The new law contains a “means test” that was supposed to steer higher-income filers toward repayment plans. Lenders expected a rush of consumers trying to beat the bankruptcy deadline, but nothing like the surge that actually occurred. More than 500,000 bankruptcy cases were filed in the two weeks before the law took effect, compared with a normal weekly volume of 30,000 to 35,000. So far this year more than 2 million cases have been filed, 49% more than the same period last year and eclipsing all previous records.
(Excerpt) Read more at moneycentral.msn.com ...
Your talking to one of the above providers.
boutique or HMO?
Besides Tony Soprano doesn't juice the users any worse.
The danger is the abuse and costs this type of system would develop.
Of course if you claim to only speak Spainish, we have an excellent system now!
You should contact the State Insurance regulator about the screw job you received. It may be able to help get your money back. Publicize its failure too.
Compared to the costs we have now? Or Medicare fraud and abuse? Medicare is socialized medicine for the elderly.
I don’t think it can get any worse than what we’ve got now - potential bankruptcy for folks with catastrophic illness. The Europeans spend less per person with their system than we do.
The real problem we have is the astronomical expense. If we can get that down, then discussion of a socialized system becomes moot.
Describes my current apparel perfectly. In fact, just finished re-ironing a patch (we are Thrifty with a capital T).
Yes, call it boutique medicine or what you like, but for those of us not carryin medical insurance and needing to see a doctor they are a blessing. All cash payments mean lower prices for the patient in many cases. At least that has been my experience and doctors who take the time to listen to you. In my case the ER doctor diagnosed me with TIA, ordered several CAT scans (one, if I had been coherent would've refused it was of my abdomen for a benign fibroid tumor)blood work, started IV's etc. Top if off, if it had been a stroke...never gave me the meds to stop a stroke. Later the catastrophic insurance I was carrying refused to pay. Chaching to a $5000 bill!
Follow it all up with my Cash accepting doctor who listens to the story of that night...it was not a TIA. It turned out to be a nocturnal seizure. Why was I unable to control the ER tests...I was postictal and the ER doc. missed it...big time. DX is I am part of the 20% of the epileptic population that suffers with nocturnal epilepsy. Ding! Ding! To the doctor for under $500 bucks for making the right diagnosis. Help me revamp my nutrition to support and calm the brain. That my friend decreased the amount of meds. needed to control the nocturnal seizures. And has resulted in me being able to keep my license, thereby remain working for income.
The point is somewhere there is a huge flaw in the system. Be it the hospital or insurance or bankruptcy, but something needs to give for those of us stuck in the middle right now. Who were all those specialist that night in the ER? Thank God for a few good doctors who say the *blank* with the insurance companies, charge reasonable rates, and know their patients. Yes, two teirs of medicine are developing. Boutique or HMO? So far, I'll take my boutique doctor who has the time to take care of me.
Naw. Just people trying to milk the system while they still have a chance.
That is why firefighting services are publicly owned. Market would not work so well since setting the price at the time of fire would put one side at serious disadvantage. When you need urgent operation bargaining and shopping for lower price is not practical either.
Boutique medicine (also called "concierge care") is much more expensive than insurance. Retainer rates run from $1,500 to $2,500 a month and up, not including special services.
I heard when he found out he had a cow.
Ha!
But he eventually took the bull by the horns.
In addition the existence of health insurance, most especially government sponsored health insurance has allowed hospitals and medical professionals to increase charges far beyond what would have evolved in a market where the consumer was directly paying the expenses; and allows them to cross-subidize some patients at the expense of others.
When an uninsured patient enters the system, without a third-party picking up all or most of the tab, and without having that third party negotiate discounted rates, he is going to be financially eaten alive.
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