One born every minute.
Health insurance is designed to make you a loser; poorer while making a
CEO much, much, much richer. It is
flawed and geared to exacerbate the condition and flesh out its longevity by
preying on those who are the most neurotic and have the lowest thresholds of
pain. Sure it is a gamble (possibly a
greater gamble than any casino has seen) to not have it. The only carriers who may possibly beat “the
house” are hypochondriacs or the chronically ill. For a single person to have insurance, cheap
insurance; basic coverage which still carries a deductible the cost would be at
least 2,000 dollars a year. If this
person goes in for an annual physical with no insurance it could cost 300
dollars.
The big kahuna
Long gone are the days when a hospital would admit you for a
broken leg. They set it, you hobble home
and return for subsequent visits for casting and X-rays, all of which will
appear on an itemized bill. I had and
appendectomy in the 80’s and I remember being in the hospital for at least a
week. I did my therapy during that stay
to increase my lung volume. A typical
night in a hospital could cost from 3-5 thousand dollars. If this were the case, the insured may
possibly win one. The cost would likely
cover any deductible. So, say you had to
pay 3,000 for a bill from a night at the hospital, plus the 170 dollars a month
for the basic plan. That’s 2,040 dollars
you’ve paid out over a year. If the
insurance covers the hospital bill entirely, you might actually be able to say
you bucked the system for 960 dollars, in theory.
Repeat pretenders
I used to work in medical records. The chart, or online record, for a 50 year
old person might include as many as 2 Dr. visits per week. That’s
a conservative estimate of 2,040 visits in a lifetime. Often this person has been seen for a chronic
illness beginning in their youth and escalating in older age to multiple visits
to the ER. The bulk of the visits are
during years in which the person can still be covered on their parents’
plan. When someone is this sick, either
mentally or physically (or both) they might be able to give the HMO’s a run for
“their” money. Many times I would read
notes of infants’ visits that might have a diagnosis of “fussy baby.” The worried mother, possibly unprepared and
scared, weaknesses the HMO would subtly work to their advantage, could bring
her child in every week for the first 10 years of its life. Pediatricians must make a bundle.
A necessity?
Or is it a luxury? Is
it profitable or a liability. It is
certainly profitable, although most often not to you. Not having it could be a big liability and
having it will almost always be one.
Don’t go to the doctor so they can pick up your hat. A sprain is a sprain and you should not pay
even a 10 dollar co-pay to find out it is one and you should rest it. Do you think Charles Ingalls summoned Doc
Baker every time his mule kicked him in the shin? I’m not talking about blood in your
stool. There something could be wrong
that would require invasive surgery incurring costs that could provide you with
a shot at recouping your losses of monthly premiums and out-of-pocket costs.
Remember when you were young and insurance was the farthest
thing from your mind? Say you dad was a
lawyer and had excellent health insurance.
The doctor would hastily give your mother a referral for a follow-up visit
while you flew across the room on that little black stool. She’d bring it out and the nurse would
cheerfully make another appointment.
Just remember what your doctor gave you at the end of those visits.
