Insurance is meant to cover the unusual.
Your term life insurance, the insurance company takes some basic facts, your age and general health, figures the amount of people who will die in your category with the year and makes your premium accordingly. For example on a $100K policy if one out of 100,000 thousand die at age 35, they could charge you a dollar (plus cost, profits, etc.) If at age 55 one out of hundred die, they would need to charge $1000 (plus...). If at 99, where 99,999 out of a hundred thousand die, they would charge over $100,000 (because of costs, etc.)
When you buy car insurance, you pay an amount that takes in account accident potential (age, driving experience, where you live), theft and storm damage potential, and damage to others (medical bills, property damage). But your car insurance doesn't cover things oil changes, the gas you but in your car, washing and waxing your car, maintenance, new tires, etc.
Medical Insurance should be the same way, it should pay for the unusual, not the ordinary. Today most people don't pay for anything or pay a small co-pay or 20% of the bill. If you go to the doctor most of the cost is covered by the insurance company, so people have no incentive to do price shopping, even if they could.
What they need to do is have a doctors/hospitals have a standard price list that can be compared.
Some people think that the medical system can not be abused, who would go to hospital for cancer treatment if they didn't have cancer. see http://www.statesman.com/news/content/news/stories/local/04/01/0401er.html
Some would abuse the system to get attention, maybe a bed for the night or some food and drugs. If you know you can get an operation for free maybe you don't make life-style changes: drink less alcohol, quit smoking, exercise, etc. Maybe you get viagra for recreation use. Maybe when you get a headache, instead of taking two aspirins and go to bed, you go to emergency room for a CAT scan. Instead of buying a walker, you get the motorized scooter. Instead of taking the recondition pace-maker you demand only the latest and greatest.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
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10 comments:
After watching the following video by Will Ferrel
http://pol.moveon.org/insurance_execs/?id=17290-4861769-WMOJG5x&t=2&reloaded=1
I've finally seen the light, Joe, you are right the real victims here are not the poor but the health insurance executives, we need to do everything we can to protect their profits.
Funny, but they get the facts wrong. 80% dont want public option.
The purpose of capitalism is to make a profit. And what people do with their money should be up to them. Those actors have a lot of money, why dont they start an insurance company?
No it easy to say you are "bad" man or company, but hard to do something about it. Why don't they start a fund that pays for everything the insurance company denies? They don't want to do it? Who could have imagined? But they want to force you to pay more in taxes and get less for your money? Now the maybe they wouldn't miss a few extra thousand from all their millions, but to the person starting out who would rather go on a few dates, maybe see a movie, or have a few drinks, those extra thousands mean the difference between enjoying life and misery.
BTW, any child taken to the emergency room will get medical care whether or not the parents can pay.
Just like Obama, they tells lies that have nothing to do with health care reform.
What makes you think 80% don't want public option, everyone I know in America, including everyone, except you, in our family, (politically centre right) want it?
Here is the truth from the horse's mouth
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/7/16/former_insurance_exec_wendell_porter
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/7/16/former_insurance_exec_wendell_porter
as for the young person wanting to go on a date he or she would have more money with public option not less...what you say makes no sense...the whole idea of a public option is to bring costs down through competition, ...again in France which has single payer...everyone is covered with excellent coverage (as good as the most expensive private plans in the US, that cost 5000+ ,if not better since there are no preconditions) and it costs a family of 4 less than 200 a year for basic coverage and less than 500 a year if you want supplemental insurance to see more expensive doctors, and less than 1200 if you want some cosmetic surgery advantages...yet basic care which is like top plans in US is less than 200 for family of 4...or a single a single young person too, it has worked like this for over 30 years in France and the gov't is not bankrupt...does this not tell you something about the brainwashing the insurance industry is doing on your brain?
If what you say is true concerning emergency room in US, which is not true by the way, then how do you explain this story
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/9/9/we_need_a_better_change_in
here's link again
http://www.democracynow.org/2009/9/9/we_need_a_better_change_in
link cut in two
http://www.democracynow.org
/2009/9/9/we_need_a_better_change_in
(1) The young person currently doesn't have to have health insurance, Obama's plan will force him to buy it or pay a fine, either way, thousand of dollars out of his pocket that he could have used elsewhere.
(2) The majority of young people who are not getting pregnant do not need health care insurance.
(3) Current polls have the majority against the health care bills currently in congress.
(4) There are problems in the system, but you don't turn the system upside-down for a few instances. Just as you wouldn't fire the whole police department because of a few crooked cops. You make laws to fix the problems.
Here is an example of what goes wrong in Canada:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWxcv0Dummk
Wow you believe that video? She is telling you bold faced lies to your face and you believe her, this video reminds me of the "smoking is good for you" ads of the 50s!
First you got your facts wrong, Obama's plan will cost the young person nothing, nobody is forced to do anything
second all people need health care especially the young, especially today with all these new diseases coming through global warming and pollution and processed food and tainted water
what polls? Fox polls?
the system is broke because we have a middle man, the insurance industry, in the middle that we don't need, that middle man takes a trillion per year out of our health care system that would be much better spent on covering everybody and less expensively like they do in France and Canada. I know Canadians and every single one of them love their system and can't fathom how we can continue to accept ours.
I guess you don't keep up with the news. Obama, and the propose laws, force people to buy insurance or pay a fine (currently up to 13% of income).
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