It is amazing that America has prospered so brilliantly all of these years. Our government seems to be like Mr. Magoo, totally unaware of where they are or where they are going, yet somehow managing to avoid disaster.
I have stayed out of this healthcare debate, but I thought I would share the following story with you since it is entirely factual, with no opinions involved.
Last week, like many Americans, I received a letter from my insurance carrier (Blue Cross in my case) saying that my existing plan has been cancelled because it does not conform to the requirements of the Affordable Health Care Act. "For my convenience," they chose a new and presumably compliant plan that I would automatically transition to.
First of all, that seems to have been for their convenience, not mine. If it were for my convenience, they would have sent me a flyer with several options for me to read over, allowing me to choose the one I want by e-mail or through my account on their website. I spent two hours on the phone, transferred to six different people, before I finally found someone who could prevent that transition from happening automatically. Talk about convenience!
(One cannot cancel a policy by e-mail or on the website. One can, however, do so by fax. I didn't make that up. Fax. And presumably by sending a message through the trusty couriers of the Pony Express.)
More important by far is the fact that the premium of this new and highly convenient plan is two and a half times as much as I currently pay!
I could afford my old plan, but the overwhelming irony of the situation is that the Affordable Health Care Act actually made my health care unaffordable.
Oh, Magoo! You've done it again.
Reader comment:
Sounds like Blue Cross is scamming you, as they're doing elsewhere. Government is working fine: private industry and capitalism is attempting to rape you. See a similar Blue Cross story here.
Monday, November 11, 2013
Oregon Health Care Exchange Has Yet To Enroll A Single Person
Oregon Health Care Exchange Has Yet To Enroll A Single Person
Sounds like Blue Cross is scamming you, as they're doing elsewhere. Government is working fine: private industry and capitalism is attempting to rape you. See:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/11/05/insurance-companies-obamacare-scam/
Based upon decades of experience and observation, I've come to the conclusion that our various levels of government aren't nearly as inept as they sometimes appear to be. Quite the contrary, the politicians and bureaucrats often intentionally incubate problems from which only they can save us at some later date, thus perpetually ensuring their own necessity.
ReplyDeleteBear in mind, the AddictingInfo site linked above is a partisan leftwing site, desperate to find any way to pin the easily predictable collapse of this mindbogglingly idiotic legislation on anyone other than the people responsible for it: Obama, Reid and Pelosi. Look at the comments section and see how many of their followers attempt to blame Obamacare's failures on the eeeeevil Republicans and their backers at the insurance companies. I have to write news for radio, and I've been following this misbegotten piece of garbage in detail since before day one. Insurance companies were in the room when Senate Democrats were writing this abomination, the same room Republicans were literally locked out of. And who are these alleged right-wing Simon Legrees who run the insurance companies? Tea Party members like the biggest insurance stock holder in America, Warren Buffett?
ReplyDeleteThis was never about making insurance more widespread and affordable, it was about expanding government power. All the stated goals of the Obamacare pushers could've been accomplished by allowing insurers to compete across state lines (private industry would have quickly created an E-sure type website that actually worked) and providing a direct subsidy for the uninsurable at far less cost. But that wouldn't have resulted in the creation of a massive DC-based health care bureaucracy.
There's no doubt that some insurance companies try to convince policy holders to buy more insurance than they need. They always have. It's called "the insurance business." For Obama to blame insurance companies for the cost of useless "benefits" that are now mandated by Obamacare is ludicrous. And maybe some people can find a better deal on the exchanges. But most won't (unless you get one of those lovely subsidies from the taxpayers, in which case you can brag that you're now a ward of the state. Congratulations!) The assumption that the coverage you have now is junk and what the government is forcing you to buy is "gold, Jerry, gold!" is insulting. A "benefit" that you don't need or use is not a "benefit," by any definition of the word.
I'm not a moron who needs Kathleen Sebelius to decide what benefits I need. I know how much insurance I need and can afford, and prefer to have catastrophic coverage only. Everyone who is reasonably healthy should. Why the hell should I pay $400 a month more to get coverage for a $100 doctor visit that I make, at most, once every few years?
The biggest problem with insurance is that too many people EXPECT it to cover everything, which it was never meant to do. Want to save money, eliminate fraud and drastically lower the cost of health care? Buy enough insurance to cover you if you get cancer or are hit by a bus, then pay for your check-ups and gonorrhea shots out of your own pocket.
BTW, I also have independent BCBS coverage. I currently pay an exorbitant $1,000 a month for $5000 deductible coverage for my wife and me. My options from BCBS: Keep the same policy for one more year; switch to a crappy HMO policy with fewer options and a $6,000 deductible for $40 a month MORE; or switch to a PPO policy similar to what I have now, only with a $6,000 deductible, for $300 a month more.
I buy my insurance through an independent agent who works for me, not the insurance companies. He has access to all available policies in the state and has checked them for me. His verdict: there is NOTHING better or cheaper available. Stick with my current policy as long as I can in hopes that enough Democrats come to their senses and gut this pig before the next election.
Your initial assumption that the government is run by self-serving, power-hungry hacks without the slightest experience or knowledge of how to run anything other than their mouths was correct. Don't let anyone argue you out of it.
It is interesting that the linked article and those who commented on it completely glossed over the fact that the "affordable" policy the magazine found for the woman in question still cost over three times as much as the policy she already had. It was only indirectly addressed via the statement that the original policy was "junk," implying she really comes out ahead by paying the tripled-and-then-some rate for a more useful plan (that's "junk" and "useful" as defined by someone other than person actually paying for & using the policy, of course).
ReplyDeleteThing is, if we're going to apply that logic to other facets of life, anyone currently driving a Chevy Cruze should by law be forced to upgrade to a Volvo SUV. So what if they can't afford the Volvo? They'd be safer in it, so they should have to get one!