Archive: Opinions

I am wondering whether someone can explain how the Affordable Care Act is actually helping people.  I spoke to someone today who told me that after signing up her husband learned he had not signed up for the plan he had intended, and nobody would help him.  As a result this couple pays more than they did before the Affordable Care Act.  In my family's case our monthly payments were reduced, but our out of pocket expenses were raised.  The end result is six of one, half dozen of the other.

A doctor recently told me that insurance companies have become so expensive and hard to deal with that the time is near when health care professionals will stop accepting insurance, even for Medicare customers.  And insurance people have told me that the plans available to us in Central New York have low administrative costs and, therefore are more affordable than they might be elsewhere, and further that there needs to be reform in the health care sector.

A few months ago member of my family was bitten by a dog and spent just under an hour in an emergency room.  My bill was just over $1700, which I was entirely responsible for -- my policy paid $66.  The bill wasn't particularly itemized, but it did say that $400 and some was for medication.  I have to wonder how much medication they pumped into a healthy 19 year old in less than one hour.  And that must have been some fabulous medication!

Health care has gotten way too complicated.  The dance the doctors are forced to do with the insurance companies certainly raises costs.  The insurance companies nixing treatments doctors want has gotten out of control.  The cost of one Tylenol pill in the hospital would be laughable if it weren't actually what they charge.

Now I understand that ordering a glass of wine in a restaurant is going to cost a lot more than buying a bottle at the liquor store.  But seriously, if I am going to pay that much for a single Acetaminophen pill I think I should get a bottle of wine with it!

When the Affordable Care Act was about to go into effect I spoke to an insurance guy about the various options available.  This guy knows his stuff and he speaks in plain English so even I can understand the policies when he explains them.  But I didn't see anything about them that would make it accurate to use the word 'affordable'.

Or maybe I couldn't understand them.  It is like comparing apples and crocodiles.  You pay x more for a plan but you end up paying more, or less, or sometimes less and then more, or more than the greatest love the world has known... more or less... less is more...

I have always thought we shouldn't even use insurance for routine doctor visits, and that it should just be for catastrophically expensive medical treatments like having your brain replaced or your gall bladder removed.  But people can't afford regular visits any more either.  I do think it would discourage many people from bringing every little ache or pain to the doctor (a good thing) but it would also discourage some from regular checkups or going when something is actually wrong, but less than a kidney stone.

The bottom line is that health care is never going to be affordable.  Anyone who says so -- it's just an Act.

I wish someone could explain all this in simple terms, and maybe someone else could come up with a solution.  Then again, how many years have they been talking about simplifying tax forms?  That's enough to make you sick and need a doctor.

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