It should be understood that they are in cahoots with Obama, to the degree that they hate free markets. They’re just pissed that he wouldn’t stay bought. No sympathy and no honor among thieves.
13 thoughts on “The Insurance Industry”
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Have I told you the story about my heart?
I go to my (3rd) GP and he tells me that he’s “very worried” about my heart. He sends me to get some blood tests and we do the whole cholesterol dance. One day, while he’s chatting away he happens to mention that there’s this “very expensive” test which he wishes he could send me to get because it would show just how damaged my heart is. I ask, “how much is it?” and he just looks at me. He tries to change the subject. I ask, “where would I get this test done?” and he starts acting like I just made up the test and he wasn’t ever talking about it. But I press the issue..
At this point he feels the need to tell me about how people generally react when he suggests they spend some of their own money on their health, instead of relying on Medicare or health insurance. He stresses that the test he would like me to get – it exists again, temporarily – really should be covered by Medicare or at least refundable under health insurance. The problem, you see, is the test is too good, it can completely rule out any danger of heart attack – at least from the buildup of cholesterol – or it can tell you that your heart is in horrible shape. Finally, he runs out of steam and stops talking..
I ask “so, do you know how much it costs and where I can get it or not?” and he says he’ll look it up. Ten minutes clicking on his computer, deep in the bowls of some crappy Made-For-Doctors software, he only manages to come up with the location of the scanning machine. So he picks up the phone and calls the private hospital that has it and asks to be put through to whatever desk it is that has the receptionists that accept patients for it. 10 minutes pass. I’m getting bored of reading the eye chart.
Finally, they come back on the line and very briskly ask him what he wants. I mentions he’s a doctor.. he’s a Doctor.. yes, he is a DOCTOR.. and he’s calling for a PATIENT. They put him on hold again. Finally he must have been transferred or something and they again ask him what he wants. He says the name of the scan. Silence. A minute later he says “yes, yes, how much is it? Yes, I know it isn’t covered.. yes, I know. How much is it? Why? My patient wants to know. Yes, he’ll pay for it. Yes, on the day. Okay, I’ll wait.” He waits. “Really? That much? Okay, how do we book him in? You can? Okay, I’ll put him on.”
I take the phone and they start asking me for the name and date of birth and how I’ll be getting to the hospital on that day and do I have any special needs. Would I like a wheelchair? No really. At that point I said, “No, I don’t want a wheelchair, but I would like to know the price of the scan please.” They tell me I’ll have to ask my doctor. The doctor that just handed me the phone. I say “one minute please”, put my hand over the phone and ask “how much is it?”
He tells me it is $105.
I booked myself in. The scan came back zero. My doctor said he was no longer “worried” about my heart.
This industry is pathetic.
Trent, do you happen to recall the name of this test? From the sound of it, it might be something a member of my family would find very helpful.
Thanks.
Heart Calcium Score scan, or something.
.. and of course they’d only send the results to my Doctor and I wasn’t allowed to have a copy.
Was that here, or Down Under?
Not that it would be unbelievable in either case.
It was in Australia.
No actual link anywhere visible to me.
But if we’re pondering “fixes”, pass something ripping all the bribes out.
Not everything I post has, or needs, a link.
The insurance companies (not all, but most) were indeed bought-and-paid-for supporters of Obamacare. Obamacare’s forcing of bloated policies that everyone would have to buy was a lure they could not resist – expanded profits, plus the government underwriting their bottom line and market shares.
Frankly, I’d be delighted if they, along with everyone else who supported this outrage, gets burned as it goes down in flames.
Welcome to the era of Crony Capitalism.
Since the 80’s corporations have been rent seekingon every area they can get a captive monoply on
Umm, rent seeking was around at the start of the republic.
Crony Capitalism is the only form of capitalism left, except for black markets.
In a sense, cronies are the reason why governments exist.
“Since the 80’s”? Every day really is year zero for Leftists…….
The bloated insurance mandates were a payoff without which the insurance industry would have fought the preexisting condition clause tooth and nail as an existential threat. With the employer mandate delayed a year and the individual mandate not working as hoped, insurance providers are feeling betrayed.
And don’t forget for a moment which party passed this disaster and which was united is saying it was a bad idea.
Again, you have to look at the big picture. People are often corrupted even without incentive. Money is of one common incentive.
The people looking at evil business people (business people are just people which implies evil and corruptible in the range that people are) don’t seem to understand we don’t have to depend on them being not corrupt (depending on them being corrupt is a useful given) but that they are regulated by their customers and competition (govt. regulation brings in their corrupt political partners.)
This is why the separation of politics and business should be of as much if not more of a concern than church and state.
Big government requires big business to in order to finance it’s corruption.
Healthcare is just a subset of this problem.