Having just come through the Pandemic, more and more people are concerned with healthcare. It’s always been a political issue. You hear it every election that healthcare is unaffordable and how people need insurance. In the recent weeks I have become aware of a couple of things. Illnesses are rampant and health insurance sucks.
In the last month my wife and daughter have been fighting respiratory viruses that seem to last forever. Their symptomology requires them to go to the Urgent Care Clinics because their own doctors are reluctant to see sick patients that can’t wait 4 to 6 weeks for an appointment. These centers have websites that list what insurance that they accept. The problem is that they change their minds without changing their website and you don’t find out for several weeks.
I don’t usually have much need for a doctor but recently I had fallen off of my bike and broken my arm at the elbow. I went to the local ER and spent 6 fun-filled hours around the sickest humans on the planet. Since the incident happened in the last 60 days, I am bracing myself for the financial dust to settle for this visit. My wife and my daughter had the identical problem and they tried to charge $600 and $400 respectively to them personally because their insurance decided that they Urgent Care was out of network. I can just imagine the cost of a real broken arm with, as of this moment, 3 X-rays and office follow up.
In the book The Rainmaker by John Grisham, a story is told of an insurance company who had a policy of denying every claim that came in on every policy. In court they claim that their responsibility is to their shareholders. Therein lies the problem. Health Insurance is there to perpetuate the Health Insurance company. The government cannot and should not make it their business to make sure that everyone can afford health insurance.
Our health should be our responsibility. We should have a way of paying for our own healthcare and also be protected from catastrophic costs associated with healthcare. Since I am retired and covered by insurance in the retirement system, I shouldn’t have to worry about the costs of health insurance premiums…only getting the company to pay on the claim. Still I am curious.
Since I am retired and my wife isn’t, I still go in and do substitute teaching so I have some humans to talk to during the day. I have done it so much that the school district is being forced to offer me health insurance at a cost. They have offered the Bronze plan for $595 a month. Mind you, this is a group policy. It is with the same Insurance Company that my wife has and I am listed as a spouse for coverage as well. Still, I would have to work four full days just to get that cost covered and Bronze will still require me to pay far more out of pocket than what I want when hearing the word insurance.
There is a solution. No networks. No denials. Affordable, comprehensive, inclusive, accessible healthcare is within reach. The steps are easy and I go over them in detail on my webinars. See the schedule at the top of the website.