I don’t have anything to add to your statement. I just want to thank you for illustrating a valid point.
I can’t belive I’m going to do this, but here it goes.
It appears that Brandon didn’t have insurance until he made up his mind that he needed medical assistance? Humana isn’t doing the screwing, it is Brandon that is screwing the system and the folks that have already paid into the system.
Not only is the ACA doing away with the pre existing nightmare, but it is also ensuring that everyone contributes to the pool.
So this argument is really about the cost of health care in general- two parties that want to pay in as little as possible, and two parties that want to earn as much as possible. The “frack Humana” rhetoric is fun and exciting, but it kind of diverges from the real problem.
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A good first start would be to take the concept of for-profit “industry” out of the equation. If ever a problem calls for a true nonprofit solution it’s got to be the American healthcare racket.
…And that’s what it is. A racket. It really is time to consider some RICO remedies.
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Humana is simply the current poster boy for a system that’s failing everyone except the profiteers. Not a good prescription for effective healthcare in general. The point is that there shouldn’t even be a gap that can bankrupt families or individuals…under any conditions. But this is what for-profit healthcare financing has wrought. It richly deserves the worldwide scorn and condemnation it gets.
That being so, I’m quite comfortable in saying “frack Humana!” for being an active participant in the racket.
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The second paragraph of the linked item, Brandon explains that he had gotten insurance before the onset of symptoms.
I’ve been lucky enough that in that time I’d never come down with anything worse than the occasional cold. Even still, I was really proud of myself for doing the correct, adult thing and getting my own health insurance last year, and apparently in the nick of time: after a few confusing, stressful months – which I laid out in much greater detail over here – I was diagnosed with cancer & more or less immediately taken into surgery … I didn’t lie when I first saw the doctors – why would you? – and let them know that I’d had some incidences of stomachaches before, but none so serious that I’d been compelled to see a doctor about it until this past summer.
That time you had too much coffee/booze/stress and it made you throw up and you mentioned it in passing to the doctor the day you were diagnosed with cancer years later? Preexisting condition, bucko.
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They were also incentivizing people to lie about their medical history on their applications, which would probably have been costing Humana a lot more in the long run. I guess when your performance is judged quarterly it makes sense.
Edit: Oh, and that extends to lying to the doctor, for fear that the information would get back to Humana. “No, it just started this week, doc…” Which obviously compromises effective treatment.
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Good point. And no-one will talk to the docs from now on. Just clam up, say “summat’s up doc”, and an examination will reveal all.
“Did you ever feel like you might be having feelings that there was a pattern or curiousness about the symptoms”
“Shaddup, doc, and fix the problem - insurance is paying”.
It’s got to call into question where the loyalties of the medical profession lie.
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It isn’t failing for the health care executives or congressmen, though
Because they’re well-known for their strictly ethical behavior.
I believe rider meant that an effective ACA would now cover Boyer such that he wouldn’t be on the hook for all that money, regardless of when the bills were rung up. Sort of a debt amnesty.
Well, they may have a bad rap. But believe it or not most lawyers don’t want to get disbarred. How many professions are there where if you violate an ethical rule, short of committing a crime, you may just not get to practice that profession anymore? Done. Find something else to do with your life. There are a few, but not many.
Are you certain you’re not merely making an argument that sounds good without any real knowledge of the subject?
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People only talk about the insurance companies being the bad guys. The fact of the matter is the vast majority of health care costs are increases in what hospitals and doctors charge. The majority of hospitals are non-profit already. They simply pay themselves all the profit they make every year or expand their hospitals.
It is doctors and hospitals more than anyone else that are against single payer in this country.
My mistake, I didn’t read that link.
No it’s not the numbers are coming in and they are terrible. Only 10% eligible for the ACA have signed up. $50 a month for a $6000 deductible plus copays is not getting anyone to sign up.
It’s falling far short of this pipe dream of everyone signing and the talking points about “I don’t want to have pay your ER bills” didn’t fool anyone.
Yes and this is the real problem that the healthcare act missed. It didn’t make healthcare affordable it made private for profit insurance kind of affordable but a really bad deal when you crunch the numbers.
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Point taken…but…I know a couple of docs quite well and they are very much FOR a single-payer system. Not a statistically valid sample, of course. Even so, it’s anecdotal. That’s how screwed up things are.
The entire health insurance industry is an unnecessary parasite that value adds NOTHING to actual health care. Every dollar of overhead costs and profits paid to health insurers is utterly wasted.
I’m not saying the hospitals, drug companies and doctors don’t also share the blame, but at least they serve a useful if overpriced purpose.
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Speaking from Canada here, but you know what happens if I get X disease? I get treatment and it doesn’t cost anything more than our regular monthly premium (which is about C$130 for the family, half paid by my employer). And 7 of the 10 provinces have no premium at all.
There are some minor issues with wait times for elective surgery. Annoying, though I have never had to wait for much in my experience. And none of us has any doubt we will get treatment when we need it.
You keep on with your massive transfer of wealth from poor to rich, it seems to be going swimmingly.
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True but the fact that the parasites that run the insurance companies still feed at the public trough rather than being thrown in the trash skip of history IS a problem with the ACA.
Blame Joe Lieberman for that one. He killed the public option to preserve his lobbying fees in private practice. I make it a habit never to trust the conspicuously religious, they screw you over every time.
Umm the most likely outcome here would be Brandon declares bankruptcy and the hospital is stiffed on their bill.
