Posted by
saxon1014 on Sunday, August 16, 2009 9:00:00 AM
irst off, the eavesdropping issue, I think you missed the point, if the man had gotten twice as many pills (of the same meds I'm assuming) before for the flat $10 copay, he should get the same number again. If not, go back to the doc who wrote the Rx and get that fixed. I too would be ticked if I got half the amount of anything for the price of 'full'. Secondly, in most situations we HAVE paid for the 'care'. With my husband's insurance, they take out HUNDREDS of dollars every two weeks to cover costs...all costs. I asked the other day at my docs how much a 'regular dr. visit' was, surprise, she quoted two different prices. For those with insurance it was TWICE what 'cash patients' pay. Yeah. So, since we have insurance, they bill our insurance double the price, yet I still have to pay $20 'co-pay', and then 20% of the office call. It averages out to about $37 a visit (that's just for things like the runny nose, med refill check in *no more just calling in Rx, they want to see you for refills*). So, I basically pay the same amount 'out of pocket' as a 'cash patient', yet they are taking HUNDREDS out of our check...even on those months that NO ONE goes to the doc? Now, I agree, the amount my husband pays is a 'matched' amount the employer pays...without the company's share, we could not afford health care either. You mentioned 'cobra', did you fail to remember that when your employee was working for you that YOU paid half of his insurance costs, but now, he'd have to pay ALL of it? Few people can afford that. Don't make it sound as if he were foolish or selfish or wanting a handout...without the 'benefit' of group insurance, people can't usually afford to pay for their own ins. My youngest will remain a full time student until she's 23 or married or has a job with health benefits...why? We can't afford to do the 'cobra' thing either. We tried it with the other two kids who wanted to either go into Missionary work full time, or do work/school (without being full time students, they were dropped from our plan at age 19). We could not afford the extra $400 per month that was asked for, when they'd been under the 'family plan' (my husband's 'share' did not drop when the kids left the plan).
I agree some changes need to be made. I don't think Obama has the right answers...but don't be mistaken that people think it's not worth it, they just can't afford it. We can't 'pay cash' at our docs, since we are enrolled in a PPO with the medical group through my husband's work. That isn't right. I do agree with the idea of 'hospitalization' or 'surgery' insurance. The few times over the years we've needed surgeries (from the 3 C-sections, to me and my daughter needing our gall bladders out, to my degernative discs in my neck), the insurance money we've 'pitched in' have come in handy. Yes, now we have a co-pay, and the routine 'doctor's office visits' don't go toward that, but since just the hardware they put in my neck came to $17,000...I guess we are getting our money's worth.