health insurance

[Jeannie Grassi]

Hi Susan,
I hope you are enjoying the holidays.  

Catastrophic health insurance is for just that....catastrophes!  When my
partner was in that horrible accident two years ago, it was her health
insurance (not auto insurance) that covered the costs.  An accident
occurring in the blink of an eye came to over half a million dollars in
hospital/medical expenses.  And after the bills are paid....the insurance
company also gets a percentage back on what they paid out. (Sort of like
interest on their money.)  It is the most criminal racket going on in this
country, but it happens every day.  You never know when you'll need it.
Without a lawyer negotiating some of the bills, she would have been liable
for much of it out of her own pocket.  The industry preys on our fears and
paranoia, but when you go through something like that, you realize that you
can't survive (financially) without it.  

Jeannie


-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces@ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces@ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Susan Kline
Sent: Friday, December 23, 2005 10:22 AM
To: Pianotech
Subject: RE: health insurance

At 07:47 AM 12/23/2005 -0600, John wrote:
>Susan, we're doing what you suggest. Eating around 90% organic/natural
>foods, trying to get exercise, etc., saying "no" to prescription meds. It
>makes some sense to me to try to cover major medical needs, especially
since
>I have two little ones for whom to provide. If it were just me, I probably
>wouldn't have insurance and would be saving up money every month to be
>self-insured (I'm 35 and in good health as far as I know).

John, it's true that having children changes the situation tremendously.
It's also true that, given certain medical situations, I'd be right
there getting treatment -- dental abscess, if I were in an auto accident,
if I thought I was having a stroke (blood thinners urgently needed within an
hour ...), appendicitis, etc. I have a mental list of medical treatments
which I think are good, and work, such as cataract surgery, hip replacement,
appendix operations, bone-setting after fractures, etc. Hopefully, I
won't need them, but if I do, I'm prepared to pay for them out of pocket.

There are others I think are dubious and too expensive, like the treatments
people bankrupt the system with, trying to postpone the inevitable in the
last six weeks of life.

And there are some I wouldn't touch with a pole, which I don't think
ANYONE should be subjected to.

I've thought about catastrophic health insurance, and I've decided it's
over-advertised, and for me (single, no dependents, aged 59) not a good
value.

First, it doesn't insure your health -- all it does is pay your medical
bills if your health catastrophically fails. And it only pays them
up to a certain limit, once. At least, that is my impression. After that,
you become uninsurable, or your premiums rise so high that you might
as well be uninsured.

So, what are you allowing yourself to be manipulated and impoverished
and frightened in order to gain? A temporary feeling of security, which
either is unneeded, or is needed, but later turns out to be at least
partly hollow and over-rated?

A lot of this money goes not to doctors but to the insurance infrastructure,
the litigation costs, and the ass-covering over-testing trying (and failing)
to protect the hospitals and doctors from malpractice suits. Law, insurance,
and medicine -- a disastrous combination.

I may live to regret my decision not to be taken to the cleaners to
buy a service I never wanted in the first place -- surgery, lab tests,
more lab tests, and dubious wildly overpriced medications -- but for
now, I prefer to tough it out and tell them all to go peddle their papers.

Susan 

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