Government run health care

[pomtzu]

Co-pay is the amount you pay to see the doctor - or for a prescription. The insurance pays the balance. Often the insurer has negoitated a rate less than that someone would pay who does not have insurance.

Silly girl, ES! Didn't you read my previous post about what my primary care doc charges me, a Medicare patient, and what he charges a cash paying patient?

He charges me $122 and Medicare pays $71 of that - which leaves me holding the bag for $51. The cash paying patient pays $50 for the same thing - so I'm paying $1 more than Mr Cash-In-Hand. What's wrong with that picture? Uncle Sam is generously handing over $71 to doc - and for what - submitting a claim???

So in order for me to be able to afford to go to the doctor, I have to pay out another monthly premium for a supplemental policy which will pay that $51 I still owe, which in turn allows me to eat and pay the other bills. And that's just one small example - multiply that for other doctors, x-rays, lab work, procedures, hospitals, etc, etc, etc. Like I said before, a relatively minor illness or procedure has the potential to wipe you out. The majority of folks don't have a 6-figure nest egg to draw from! Lucky Pucky!!!



OK Lizbud - what don't I like??? The above says it to some degree. Add what Grace said about the $96.40 that comes out of every SS check before you even see it, in spite of the fact that we've already paid during our time in the workforce, the fact that I have to pay out another $120 each month in premiums for my supplemental policy so that I can survive and know that I can get medical care when I need it, unlike many others who can't afford to do so if they only have Medicare. Oh - I could get out the Medicare publication and list plenty of other things that I don't like - but why beat a dead horse?


Will it ever get better? Maybe someday, but I know I'll never be around to talk about it.

[Edwina's Secretary]

Silly girl, ES! Didn't you read my previous post about what my primary care doc charges me, a Medicare patient, and what he charges a cash paying patient?

I am not exactly what was silly. I was defining the terms. What you describe is the co-pay. What you pay each month for the coverage is the co-insurance.

For example - yesterday I attended a meeting of a volunteer group to which I belong. The woman next to me - retired after 32 years of teaching - is not yet eligible for medicare - nor is her husband who also retired from teaching. They are in good health - she had just completed a 110 mile bicycle trip.

Medical insurance is available to her as a retiree. The co-insurance (what she must pay each month to continue the insurance ) is $2,200 each month.

Not surprisingly - she cannot afford $26,400 a year just to have insurance. I did not ask her what her co-pays would be or her deductible. I would assume fairly good coverage for that price.

So she and her husband - I would guess age 60 or so...have no medical insurance. And it is all she can think about and worries constantly.

But back to your statement. Every medical bill I have ever received shows the "rack rate" the lower rate my insurer has negoitated and my deductible and co-pay. I am not on medicare so I do not know how it operates but I do know how many private insurers operate.

By "cash in hand" do you mean the uninsured or those on private insurance?

One other myth is that those who do not have insurance and pay off their medical bills over time are "paying their own way." What malarkey! The hospital must pay their employees and vendors when due. They cannot tell their employees (nor can the vendors tell their employees) "I will pay you when Johnny pays his bills." So who covers the cost of the money the hospital must have ....yup...those who are insured.

You would think they would at least thank us!

[pomtzu]

ES - I know the difference between a deductible and a co-pay. Unfortunately, I have had to deal with medical insurance claims and issues, way too much in my lifetime! And when I say "cash-in-hand", I'm referring to the uninsured, whether it be by choice or circumstance.

My beef comes with the government - and what they "allow" providers to charge. That $71 dollars that is given to my doctor because he's "allowed" to charge me what he does, could well be giving folks like you mentioned, some kind of medical assistance. Instead it's paying for that big fancy suite of offices doc just built, with a beautiful, huge salt water aquarium on one whole wall, fancy furniture in reception and a monstrous flat panel t.v. screen on another wall that would rival the downtown cinema! Does that make him a better doctor than old doc who rents a small house in a residential part of town, and has been there for 30 or 40 years, with the worn furniture and cluttered atmosphere, and magazines on the table that seem like they have been there as long as he's been in practice??? I don't think so, and judging from the amount of cars always parked by his office, not many of his patients think so either.

So as long as Uncle Sam keeps lining the pockets of these providers, the system will never be fair or equitable, and there will be people like me who complain about it, but have to take what gets dished out, and other who are deserving of assistance, but just don't "qualify".

[Edwina's Secretary]

I agree with you Pomtzu...I stopped going to a dentist because I resented paying for the granite countertops, flat screen tv and all the other fancy stuff. And I felt I was being "marketed to" every time I went there.

[cassiesmom]

I agree with you Pomtzu...I stopped going to a dentist because I resented paying for the granite countertops, flat screen tv and all the other fancy stuff. And I felt I was being "marketed to" every time I went there.

I went to one of those! I found his name on a sedation dentistry Web site. I didn't get the work I needed - instead, I got a major marketing pitch for a fortune's worth of cosmetic work, and a sales pitch for nutraceuticals to give me a healthier mouth. It's going to take a heck of a lot more than nutraceuticals to make my mouth healthy again, because I avoided the dentist for a lot of years. Boo on the flat-screen with direct TV.

Yesterday I attended a meeting of a volunteer group to which I belong. The woman next to me - retired after 32 years of teaching - is not yet eligible for medicare - nor is her husband who also retired from teaching. They are in good health - she had just completed a 110 mile bicycle trip. Medical insurance is available to her as a retiree. The co-insurance (what she must pay each month to continue the insurance) is $2,200 each month.

This makes me steaming mad. That is not right. There has to be a better way for people to get the health insurance they need.

[momoffuzzyfaces]

To make things even more fun, we on Social Security won't be getting even a tiny cost of living raise for the next two years, but we have the honor of paying higher Medicare premiums.

What really makes me mad is Congress will get their big fat yearly raise, they can spend billions for the banks, auto industry, and big businesses AND probably mess all our lives up with the new health care they will force us to have. But give us a teeeny raise? no way!


And if that wasn't bad enough, they want to tax junk food, one of our only remaining affordable comforts. Who will determine what is a junk food? Will we have a junk food tzar? If they tax cookies will they also tax the flour, sugar, and other ingredients so we can't even make them ourselves? Inquiring mind needs to know. I need a cookie!

[pomtzu]

To make things even more fun, we on Social Security won't be getting even a tiny cost of living raise for the next two years, but we have the honor of paying higher Medicare premiums.

I heard that there will be no increase in Medicare premiums in 2010 since there will be no cost of living raise for SS. Where did you hear that there will be an increase? Geeze - I certainly hope not!