Will They Ever Do Anything About Healthcare?

You most likely won't be surprised by this, but I am on the side of repealing the hell out of Obamacare. As a non-fan of the government, I enjoy watching the government get out of things that they don't belong in, and I believe the government has no place in healthcare. 

Now, I know a lot of people are crying rivers about 700 billion people or something being killed immediately if Obamacare is done away with. All these people are going to lose their insurance - insurance they were forced to buy, mind you, and may not have wanted - and babies and elderly people will liter the streets with their dead bodies riddled with diseases we haven't seen in decades. Or something. If the media hasn't gotten that extreme, give it time, it's coming. 

Look. I know there are stories on both sides of how Obamacare has helped someone and how Obamacare has caused grief. I know a lot of people are screaming for single payer as well, which would be devastating to countries that already have it because they'll no longer have anywhere to go for medical treatment. 

I'm on Obamacare. I held out as long as I could, but this year I had to purchase a plan. So let me tell you my story. 

First of all, I had one insurance company to choose from. There was a bunch of plans, none of them affordable. I am self employed, and on a strict budget. Having to dish out this sort of money monthly is really hurting me badly. I didn't qualify for any subsidies even though my income is fairly low. So I am on a very low level insurance plan from the one company that offered any, and I am paying through the nose for it. 

Not too long ago, I had to go to the gynecologist. So I logged in to the website for my insurance plan and did a search for doctors. I was pleasantly surprised to see many pages pop up full of all kinds of gynecologists. I spent some time going through them all, thinking, hey, this isn't so bad! I decided on one. Picking a gynecologist isn't easy. This is some sensitive material we're working with, and I want to make sure I get someone who understands that this isn't an assembly line and I have trust issues. I found her. She was a middle aged woman who graduated from good schools and had been doing this for a long time. Her reviews online were stellar. I was sold and went to book the appointment. Only... I was told it was out of network. 

The website showed me all doctors who accepted this company... not just my plan. I had to jump through hoops to get it down to just my plan. When I did... those pages and pages of doctors disappeared. I was left... with one doctor. My jaw hit the ground. I went ahead and booked the appointment anyway. When I went to the appointment, I quickly realized this woman was trying desperately to milk my insurance. She wanted to run all these tests for various illnesses that a gynecologist doesn't normally test for! This was a gynecology office, and I had to remind her I was there for gynecology only. She finally agreed. Only gynecology. We weren't going to do the literally nine tests she wanted to do on me for things I was not showing symptoms for. Suddenly, I probably had cancer and needed a biopsy! 

No, really. She told me I probably had uterine cancer and needed a biopsy. Her reasoning? I skipped a period. I am not even kidding, I wish I was. She gave me the hard sell, and I hate to admit it, but by the time I left her office that day I was convinced I was going to die. I had the biopsy. The tests came back negative. 

A month later I got a letter from my insurance company stating that the biopsy wasn't covered. My initial preventive tests were covered. But not the biopsy. And not the prescription I had been given, either. I'm glad I put my foot down about the other tests, because none of those would have been covered, either. 

More recently... yesterday! I went to the CVS Minute Clinic yesterday because I have an ear infection. My insurance covered the Minute Clinic. No problem! At least for now... they took a co-pay, I'll find out in a month or two if they decide to decline it. I was given a prescription for ear drops because my ear canal is actually badly infected. I had the prescription filled, only to find out my insurance wouldn't cover it. That was $60 I didn't have, but I couldn't afford to decline the ear drops. I have a history with ear infections, and without treatment they can cause temporary deafness. The last time I went deaf was eight years ago and it lasted about a week after being given three prescriptions. 

So I am paying a butt ton of money for my insurance right now, and it covers almost nothing. I have had about 80% of my claims denied. So there goes all that money for insurance, and I'm still paying for my care out of pocket most of the time. Yeah, real affordable. 

What do I support, you ask?

I support healthcare savings accounts.

I also support concierge services.  Some of these services can be as low as $50 a month (and they make deals with drug companies to get cheaper prescriptions, too). That would be a dramatic reduction of what most people are currently paying for insurance. If they could tweak the system to be concierge for a hospital line (covering a hospital and associated doctors), it would be workable. Obviously, it would need tweaking to assist with paying for large medical issues like major surgeries. But it should include a price list for services so you know going in. It should also prevent things like paying $30 for a bandaid. I'm thinking along the lines of $100 a month covers all, plus an additional cost for major surgeries and illness, which would be presented on a menu of services before you agreed to anything. Combine healthcare savings accounts and this program, and you could bring forward an actual affordable alternative for people that doesn't include the government. It would also create competition between hospitals, and hopefully drive down some of the outrageous costs. Your care would be your choice, it would eliminate unnecessary tests, etc. A program like medicaid and medicare could still exist to assist low income families, although it would need to be tweaked to fit the concierge way.   

It's doable, and could be streamlined with the assistance of the doctors who are setting these up around the country. 

Get government out of as much as possible. It will bring some life back into this country, and maybe give us a taste of actual freedom. 

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