tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8512362.post8889292752730574702..comments2024-03-10T13:59:19.230-04:00Comments on xpostfactoid: Affordable health insurance vs. affordable health careAndrew Sprunghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17601269968798865106noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8512362.post-79621262660688560052015-07-20T05:13:08.217-04:002015-07-20T05:13:08.217-04:00Your approach to this topic is unique and informat...Your approach to this topic is unique and informative. I am writing an article for our school paper and this post has helped me. Thanks.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.unisonbiomed.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=269&search=Toshiba+PVT-375BT" rel="nofollow">Toshiba PVT-375BT</a> <br /><br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15804633410834982744noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8512362.post-46795662457849070742015-04-02T06:07:47.339-04:002015-04-02T06:07:47.339-04:00This is a very good piece, and I hope I can start ...This is a very good piece, and I hope I can start a discussion on it.<br /><br />Let me offer a couple of observations:<br /><br />1. A lot of Americans have the emotional feeling that "being insured" means you do not have to pay cash when you see a doctor. Anyone like me who grew up under generous Blue Cross plans is offended by co-payments and deductibles.<br /><br />This is not just the poor or the thoughtless. I once had to see a chiropractor when in great pain, and after the second visit he asked me for a check. I never went back. This is from a person who has had actuarial training and read Paul Starr's first books in the 1990's.<br /><br />This sense of entitlement (if you want to call it that) leads many of us to disparage bronze plans.<br /><br /><br />2. There is another problem. I do not think that any insurance company can produce comprehensive low-deductible insurance for a premium of $200 a month (which is about all that a worker can afford if there is no employer assistance.) Medicaid does seem to cost about $250 a month for younger beneficiaries, but that is after drastic and unsustainable cuts in provider fees. Medicare is great but it costs almost $1000 a month for its older beneficiaries.<br /><br />If you ask a private insurer to come up with a plan costing $200 a month, the only way they can do this is with high deductibles. A deductible of $5000 means that about 80%-90% of plan participants will not file a claim during the year. That will leave money to pay the hospital bills of the few persons who do exceed the deductible.<br /><br />Say that you insure 100 persons at $200 a month. That brings in $240,000 a year. This is enough money to pay hospital bills for about 10 or 12 participants -- not even accounting for insurer overhead.<br /><br />2. I have read the summary of the free services that are supposed to be in a bronze plan. They are all screening tests. Once you are actually diagnosed with something, the deductibles kick in....<br /><br />Bob Hertzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09536056115489355307noreply@blogger.com