This is so funny because it is so true. My first HMO tried to kill me also. At the next enrollment period I switched back to Blue Cross/Blue Shield and I have been there since then. They also seem exactly as you describe them, paying Eisnehower rates for 21st century medicine, losing the forms, etc.
HMOs are for young people and people who never get sick. Unfortunately, as your Latin comment implies, mortality is eventually 100%. We all get old enough and acquire chronic conditions that HMOs make it hard to manage and might even help us along to Mortis.

Dude! You fly coach and complain about high medical costs. It sounds as if you have made a sudden descent into the bowels of the petite bourgeoisie. If so, look into PPO medical plans. Much cheaper than standard copay plans, and more flexible than HMOs. It’s what all us PBs use.

What kind of salute would you like to show?

HMO,s may not be perfect, but they cover the basic health needs of most people. The problem is that we have 50 million that don,t even have HMO care, which is why we lag the rest of the developed countries in access to health care.

Excuse me Mr. Bing. Is this the same WalMart in the documentary:
The High Cost of Low Prices??
Hats off???

Bing! Long time reader, first time blogger (ever, on any site): you got me with the health insurance. I had Kaiser a while back and they were actually pretty darn good. I even got a needed CAT scan from them. Then I became part of the uninsured masses for over a year and boy, is that scary: you hope if you’re injured it’s in the car, at work or at home. Now I have a PPO with Aetna and it’s a whole different beast from Kaiser, although at least I have an insurance company to complain about. They pre-approved me for two needed MRI’s along with a host of blood work and then come back and deny the claims using the old ‘Pre-Existing Condition’ bullet on me. Thankfully, after utilizing my employer’s Broker and submitting paperwork FIVE times to them it’s getting worked out, because at $1500/crack for an MRI, the mortgage gets tough to pay. This is the first step towards effective change in this country’s for-profit health care system: talking about it. Thanks for the venue. Bing-On!

$500 per month for your whole family? That seems like a bargain! We pay $365 per month for my husband alone – and the IS an HMO without any prescription help.

I use a PPO which works out pretty good. My wife has chronic medical issues, so the insurance is important. One important lesson we’ve learned is to never, ever, pay a doctor before the insurance company pays their portion. If you pay the doctor first, it will take years to get the insurance company to reimburse you. On the other hand, if you hold off paying the doctor, the doctor hammers the insurance company for payment. The insurance companies don’t want to get frozen out of a doctor’s practice…since the doctor serves many patients, the doctor has much more bargaining power than a single patient. The insurance company will try to short change the doctor with the Eisenhower payment rate, and the doctor will hammer the insurance company again. Wait at least 6 months after your medical procedure to pay the doctor. By that time, the doctor will have squeezed the blood out of the insurace companies stone heart, and you will be paying only what you need to.

Be appreciative if you have a corporate health plan. I am self employed as is my wife. We haven’t filed a claim in years, pay $710 per month ($355 each) and that is with a $5000 deductible per person. No dental included, that’s all out of pocket. Most people who receive corporate health plans don’t have a clue what the “real world” costs are.

No one should have an HMO if they can possibly avoid it. Having your insurer be the same entity as your healthcare provider is a recipe for having them cut corners at your expense. Your doctor should be an advocate for you, not for an organization that saves money if you just die quickly and quietly.

And then there’s the times when you get a CAT scan you don’t need, because your doctor is terrified of liability, and you still have to sort out the paperwork and pay most of the cost.

I have insurance, but I’ve started paying for more minor things out of pocket. No hassle, no approval required, and often ends up about the same cost to you as filing a claim. Especially if the doctor will give you a discount for cash.

My retired husband, handicapped adult adult son, 4 grandchildren who live under our roof and are supported by us and I receive 100% FREE PPO insurance with no deductibles and only a modest $15 office co-pay. Practically every procedure under the sun and every legal provider is covered. Claims are paid fast and correctly. I say this in contrast to the MAJOR health insurance company that I worked for 30 years which would only cover me at a huge premium of $10K yearly. This premium would have only included my son and I. The coverage was not as good as what my husband has. And they are lousy and late at paying claims. So what’s the point of this missive? When you first start to work, be highly selective for whom you work and make sure you are a union member. This same coverage I so proudly brag about in unavailable to management employees of the same company plus they must pay for the stinky coverage that is available. My family is truly blessed. I wish the same coverage for all Americans. Good health care is right, not a privilege.

I think you miss the point: Nobody cares about us except our own immediate family (if we are lucky) and ourselves. We are all interchangeable cogs, easily replaceable by any decent HR dept in a just few weeks(well, maybe not you, Bing — you are one of a kind). The modern Corporation has a duty to its shareholders to maximize profits by, among other things, minimizing labor costs. Hence the popularity of job offshoring to outer Mongolia and other low wage locals. Hence also the popularity of reducing or eliminating frills such as health insurance. As you yourself said in a previous column, nobody owes anybody anything. So, just be happy you are still above ground and able to complain about the cost of your helath coverage. It is proof you are better off than about 90% of the people alive today.

My last insurance (IBX PPO) was great!… but it ended the day my last job ended back in July. I don’t qualify for my new job’s insurance until I work here for another month. I couldn’t afford COBRA to continue my old insurance, so I decided to hold my breath and hope for a few months…

And then I suffered a knee injury. I had a doctor’s visit and X-rays, and the doc wrote me a prescription for pain medication and physical therapy.

If I’d had insurance, the entire package would have cost me $250. But I don’t. Out of pocket, the physical therapy alone costs well over $1000. I’m on an installment plan to pay for the doctor’s visit and the x-rays, which will take me months to pay off by themselves. Forget the meds, the PT, or the second doctor’s visit I was supposed to go on. Can’t afford ‘em. What if I’d needed surgery? Impossible. Not even if I sold everything I owned.

Ask the millions of Americans without insurance if they really enjoy hoping and praying they and their kids never get hurt or sick… The current health care system is a failure. Pure and simple. Yet people are so freaking scared of national health care or even of expanding national health insurance for children …

Hats off to Wal Mart? Please tell me you’re kidding, Bing. Wal Mart only does things that are in Wal Mart’s best interests.

Yep, Kaiser almost killed me also. They were convinced a brown recluse bite was a mosquito bite that I had scratched until it looked like an oozing sore. That was after I had told them I had been bitten by a spider in the Utah desert. Amazingly, I stayed with them for years after and they repeatedly would refuse to give me any kind of physical or diagnose anything.

I have a PPO and I can tell you that they saved my life when I needed it. I was in a bad accident and spent a month in the ICU and was in and out of various hopsitals for followup work for 6 months. They were great and took care of everything. Now I must say that my wife is a nurse and she made sure things got taken care of but she only had to raise her voice once or twice to get things done.

This is going to sound very out of touch, but does anyone know where I can find some kind of data on what exactly has driven up health care costs over the recent few years? Believe me,I know everything is more expensive, but what exactly are the top few causes? Is it doctor salaries rising (I don’t think so), is it new technology in medicine, is it CEO salaries at the insurance companies…can anyone be more specific than just “health care costs are rising and insurance companies are trying harder to not pay for anything.”

If you can afford to pay a dog walker ANYTHING – especially $100+/week – stop complaining about important stuff like your health insurance!

“So, just be happy you are still above ground and able to complain about the cost of your helath coverage. It is proof you are better off than about 90% of the people alive today.” – Posted By Tatarska, Los Angeles

So true!

I find it preposterous that people actually expect for the government to provide health care for them and their families. It would be nice, but it isn’t realistic. Even if the government gave free heatlth care, people would do no better of a job taking care of their health. Many would continue to eat bad foods, drink alcohol in excess, smoke cigarettes, use drugs, and have unprotected sex. The government has no obligation in protecting people from their own stupidity.

Even if there was health care for every citizen, those who are illegal immigrants, legal residents, permanent residents, or those who came over to go to Disneyland would expect free health care if something happened. People have no idea how much employers spend on health care. They have no idea how much health care costs. All they want is for the doctor to fix them.

If health care was free, there would still be complaints. Those who believed that they did not get the biggest and best treatment would cause trouble for the system. Patients would still try to sue in cases where they or a loved one was injured or died from a medical procedure. The rich would still receive better treatment because they have more money and can go to see doctors and specialists that the government would not pay for.

Modern medicine is not the cure for suffering and death. It is easier to let some people live in pain and even die. I wish for everyone to live a healthy life, but this is not going to happen. We have to be realistic here and stop pretending that every life is precious and must be protectted at all costs. No one else wants to pay the price for others’ troubles.

I work for uncle sam. You are paying for my health insurance, and let me tell you, it is great. I hardly have to pay anything out of pocket, and my premiums are low. It’s too bad that the insurance you pay for is only available to folks like me. It could change you know, I think John Kerry suggested this insurance be availabe to all in 2004

Two things need to change if we’re going to fix health care.
1) Health insurance companies have to be taken out of the mix. I wrote a research paper about 4 years ago and learned that 16-26% of the money that goes into the health care system is eaten up by administrative overhead, thanks primarily to insurance companies. They can go out of business for all I care; they’ve proven to be inefficient, and inefficiency is naturally eliminated in a free market. A system must be created to pay medical professionals more directly.
2) The supply of health care providers must be increased, to help reduce prices. Training of doctors – particularly general practitioners – could be streamlined. Perhaps prospective GP’s could work under private doctors in an internship arrangement. Also, nurses who have attained Master’s degrees should be allowed to provide general exams and health care. These educated nurses are every bit as capable of diagnosing a cold, removing a wart, or treating a minor cut as any doctor. Let’s allow them to be the front line of the health system and expand supply to drive down costs.

Too bad you live in the US of A. If you lived in Canada and paid maybe an additional $6ooo per year in taxes you wouldn’t have to put up with this horse manure.
Imagine that you could get first class, timely treatment at no cost. I know, I know the healthcare lobbyists will tell you ad nauseum that the quality and timing of Canadian healthcare is terrible. If you believe that I have a nice bridge to Brooklyn that I can sell you.
Mike

Every time I read a roll-call of horror stories like this, I get the agita over those neo-whatevers who cry “socialized medicine” every time someone calls for reforms. I’ve had relatives on Medicare and while it’s bureaucratic to be sure, it is nowhere near as psychotic as the private companies to which I have paid many thousands in premiums without ever needing so much as stitches.

Kaiser was always great for my wife and me. Easy to get appointments, doctors knew what they were doing, and the billing was easy, easy, easy!

Recently, we were switched to HealthNet. My wife’s prescription had to be faxed (!!!) to the online pharmacy they wanted us to use, but since the online pharmacy couldn’t seem to set up her account correctly, the doctor had to send it four (!!!) times. When it didn’t work the fourth time, we switched to the pharmacy down the street and pay a few dollars more. We get three+ pieces of bill-like paper after every appointment saying, “This is not a bill.” What a waste.

Globalization, India has superior math skills, tell you health care costs should be falling. Xrays can be shipped to India over telephone lines already in place. A few North Carolinians have traveled to India for major surgery. Kudos to Fortune ‘zine, summer 2003, the Power Issue, for the article on Fierce, Isakowitz (and now Blalock) the K St lobbying firm devoted to the health care industry and keeping …well, you finish the sentence. Which is not the same thing as saying the banks have lost so many ones and zeros there should be no one employed in any bank, anywhere in New Yawk. See? very little has been lost, certianly nothing as tangible as a shirt or loaf of bread.

The wisest decision I ever made was to buy my own excess major medical policy through the ABA. It cost $200 a year then and had a $10,000 deductible. It now costs $1500 a year and still has the same deductible. Even though I have primary insurance through my job I have kept that policy. I know that I could quit tomorrow and still have coverage. That is freedom.

Use Your State’s Insurance Commissioner: My primary insurance company loves to disallow claims. I learned very quickly how to write a letter to my state’s insurance commissioner asking for its help. Each and every time I do, the company decides to quickly pay.

Luckily I live in France. Kiss my a**.

Warren Coger must be an idiot and blind. Can he not see the change happening at WalMart? Warren, please don’t embarass SC with your stupid comments.

Me thinks Tom Donnaly protests too much. Also, resorting to name calling only calls into question his lack of vocabulary and education. It might be more helpful to describe those “changes happening at WalMart” that seem to have him all in a dither.