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Health insurance is broken because the people who pay the bills (the insurance companies) are not the people receiving the services (patients). If patients wer

Health insurance is broken because the people who pay the bills (the insurance companies) are not the people receiving the services (patients). If patients were actually paying the bills, they would be much more price-conscious and you would see price competition on that stupid-expensive MRI (for evidence, look at how much cheaper LASIK surgery has become and how much better it has become, yet insurance does not cover it). Doctors, on the other hand, are far more concerned about making sure the people paying the bills are taken care of. The proof that you aren't the customer is the 90 minute wait that is expected when you see a doctor. What other industry would force their customer to wait that long after making an appointment? But, since you are not the customer, that's OK, isn't it. Having had a gastric bypass, I will never be able to get insurance outside of a group plan. My wife can't get coverage for other reasons. One of my four kids can't get coverage, either. I'm 9 months into my COBRA for the start-up I'm working on. If we don't have a group plan in the next 6 months, I will have to bail on the company. And our government can't even bother to have a real dialog on the subject. Pisses me off.

cookiecaper 16y ago
Heh, I paid almost $1000/mo for COBRA coverage for six months last year. I think that the only plausible thing to do in that situation is to flee to Canada, or figure out how to consistently receive medical care without paying for it. Unless you're bringing in the cash hand over fist, it's just not a feasible proposition for an entrepreneurially-minded patriarch with multiple uninsurable family members to stay in the US. Your options are basically to totally ruin your credit constantly and eventually be banned from all nearby medical facilities or pay $15k+ each year for medicine. It's plausible (though not very likely with four kids) that there may be a couple of relatively quiet years medically, and then you can only hope that you don't end up paying more than $10k in bills that year. With every X-ray, mammogram, MRI, or other routine imaging procedure costing $500+, and a fifteen minute appointment costing $100-$200, it really adds up. For a multi-millionaire it's doable, but pretty difficult for anyone else.

cookiecaper 16y ago

Heh, I paid almost $1000/mo for COBRA coverage for six months last year. I think that the only plausible thing to do in that situation is to flee to Canada, or figure out how to consistently receive medical care without paying for it. Unless you're bringing in the cash hand over fist, it's just not a feasible proposition for an entrepreneurially-minded patriarch with multiple uninsurable family members to stay in the US. Your options are basically to totally ruin your credit constantly and eventually be banned from all nearby medical facilities or pay $15k+ each year for medicine. It's plausible (though not very likely with four kids) that there may be a couple of relatively quiet years medically, and then you can only hope that you don't end up paying more than $10k in bills that year. With every X-ray, mammogram, MRI, or other routine imaging procedure costing $500+, and a fifteen minute appointment costing $100-$200, it really adds up. For a multi-millionaire it's doable, but pretty difficult for anyone else.