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[QUOTE=Chubminnow;496479]You might be onto something there...surely it would lower insurance costs if insurance did not cover routine check ups, wouldn't it? Seems like it should.[/QUOTE]
NO, it would not. The reason routine check-ups are covered is that it's been proven that people who get them regularly have lower health care costs overall, which equates to lower payouts by the health insurance companies. As everyone knows, it all comes down to the $$, and the companies have figured out that paying for checkups saves them $$ in the long run. Lower costs = lower premiums. So, paradoxical as it may sound, the fact that your insurance company pays for routine checkups makes your health insurance cheaper in the long run.
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[QUOTE=DJD;496480]I'm with you on alot of this. First off, I don't understand Obamacare and I believe noone does 100%. The fact that we are getting more gubment intrusion scares me and it should anyone who has watched other programs get saved, formulated, revised or controlled. Anyone in business knows that to have quality there has to be a vested interest in the process by the workers or one helluva leader. Again that scares me because some of the reports we hear claim millions more patients will flood the system and the gubment will help dictate what is covered, what insurance you have and then the stories of the millions who will get coverage for free. Ever get around a gubment worker or system that is overwhelmed? They can go home at closing time and start back the next morning without alot of fear for their job. Or fear that they might fail and go out of business....they are just making a check!
Ever go to the Mall and have some young person who could care less help you find something? Maybe exchange some goods....Kinda aggravating huh? Take the other person who is excited or cares about what they do and you feel much better because you received good service. That how I see this new "change" coming with healthcare. I'm not saying Doctors are going to be this way....my concern is the supporting staff, gubment insurance and so on. To me, I would rather have quality over quantity when it comes to my healthcare.
How much of that it true? I don't know. If you think that we as tax paying folks won't bear any additional cost to help fund this your crazy. That scare me as well. Whats going to happen in 5-10 years when a large portion of this program that sounded like Nirvana to many actually has budget issues? The law makers mis-read the actual budget needs and now need more money to stay afloat. Sound familiar? Once the gubment gets into a system its like a virus. They get so ingrained with people, resources, more laws and dependency that you can't stop it. So if they need more money they just take it and sadly people rejoice in taxing others because they think it's fair. Well wait and see how it feels when they target you for healthcare cost on things not associated with Healthcare. Maybe selling a car, a new standard on who is deemed Rich, buying goods or whatever. It's all about control folks.
So the Healthcare was so bad we had to fix it huh? Actually, in my opinion, it was the Healthcare costs that were out of control. Frivolous lawsuits, insurance costs, drug companies and medical device cost are probably out of control (i'm guessing that from experience, no proof) and yet they did what for that? Anyone know? Seems to me they took the opportunity to just SELL the american people on a better way to do business when in fact it could be worse in the long run.
It scares the piss out of me when we see the kind of people in charge and the way they have done business. We all know that obama is trying to build a legacy for himself and the Dems was/in power like Pelosi wanted to be in on it. The people were not a consideration. Kinda funny how nothing major takes place until after the upcoming elections.....It was purely political. JMO[/QUOTE]
Agree and Disagree
The cost of healthcare is stagering, this is contributing to insurance costs. Insurance coverage for most in the US is in the neighborhood of 50%+/-. Those without insurance recieve treatment then declare banckruptcy or simply do not pay. Health providers pass the losses onto those that pay (with insurance) increasing the cost of health care and insurance.
So round and around we go.
Now we also mentioned "frivolous lawsuits". The 99% of suits are based on real and SEVERE injuries. Doctors, hospitals and medical clinics are already shielded from liability through coprporation laws. Why should they be exempt from further liabilty over everybody else?
I think that the more people that use health care start paying for health care may spread the cost to each person.
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[QUOTE=RoadToad;496503]So, paradoxical as it may sound, the fact that your insurance company pays for routine checkups makes your health insurance cheaper in the long run.[/QUOTE]
Again. People are still thinking of health insurance and health care as the same things. They are not.
It's not the fact that the company PAYS for routine check-ups, but rather the fact that you actually GO GET the check-ups that lowers people's health care costs.
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[QUOTE=know1;496537]Again. People are still thinking of health insurance and health care as the same things. They are not.
It's not the fact that the company PAYS for routine check-ups, but rather the fact that you actually GO GET the check-ups that lowers people's health care costs.[/QUOTE]
You're ignoring the proven fact that people whose insurance pays for routine checkups GO GET the checkups much more regularly than those without insurance to pay for them, and as a result, end up with lower health care costs over the course of their lifetime, which means the health insurance company can make more money off of them, which is exactly WHY the health insurance companies started paying for them in the first place.
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[QUOTE=RoadToad;496503]NO, it would not. The reason routine check-ups are covered is that it's been proven that people who get them regularly have lower health care costs overall, which equates to lower payouts by the health insurance companies. As everyone knows, it all comes down to the $$, and the companies have figured out that paying for checkups saves them $$ in the long run. Lower costs = lower premiums. So, paradoxical as it may sound, the fact that your insurance company pays for routine checkups makes your health insurance cheaper in the long run.[/QUOTE]
There is merit to this statement. Issues get caught before they become catastrophic...lower costs in the long run...insurance companies make more money off you because they pay out less in claims. My health plan now covers a lot of preventative screenings and meds at 100%. It also lowers your premium if you are a smoker and quit...or if you're a fatty and you lose weight...or if you wear a pedometer that they give you and register x amount of steps a week. Wellness. Not because they give a rats about you, but because a well person equates to profit for the insurance company. They are at our office all the time with little "ditch the cigs" and "toss the twinkles" campaigns now.
As for doctors charging 20K for something and negotiating down to 8K...that's just the game. When you list a boat for sale on Craigslist, you don't list bottom dollar to start do you? A doctor's expertise is a service in demand. If you don't like what they charge, go to Med School and learn how to do your own quadruple bypass. LOL. That said, the prices are ludicrous. My wife was billed almost $500 last month to simply draw blood and run a screen...I mean, good lord.
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[QUOTE=MrSplitshot;496666]
As for doctors charging 20K for something and negotiating down to 8K...that's just the game. When you list a boat for sale on Craigslist, you don't list bottom dollar to start do you? A doctor's expertise is a service in demand. If you don't like what they charge, go to Med School and learn how to do your own quadruple bypass. LOL. That said, the prices are ludicrous. My wife was billed almost $500 last month to simply draw blood and run a screen...I mean, good lord.[/QUOTE]
I don't think that's the same thing.
The doctor knows they are going to take $8K when you walk in there so why do they list the cost as $20K?
I think the answer is that it's all part of the scam to make people think they need health insurance.
I think I saw a story that in the next couple of years, the annual cost of insurance premiums for a family of 4 would be in the range of $28K per year. At what point will people realize something radically different needs to be done? Or are we just going to keep relying on insurance more and more?
