aproved
Michael J Wise
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From: da...@hotmail.com (jt)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.hawaii
Subject: Re: Medical coverage in Hawaii?
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Kaiser starts a bargain HMO option next month called something
like "personal advantage $20" with lower monthly costs but higher
costs per visit. The yearly costs are capped at $1500(?) for
the worst case. It still costs quite a bit per month.
These programs have gotten expensive recently due to dumb laws
that enforce HMO's must cover this and that, usually silly
politically-correct extravagances that most won't want to pay
for. Last year Kaiser was sending out notices for mandatory
coverage increases, then skyrocketed the rates for this year.
The final blow in making these plans unafordable will be the
so called patients bill of rights laws now being considered.
If only medical plans could be negotiated between consumer
and provider in a free market without meddling of gov't. For
now all you can do is inform your Democratic representatives
not to do us any favors with more such laws.
mel
> The final blow in making these plans unafordable will be the
> so called patients bill of rights laws now being considered.
> If only medical plans could be negotiated between consumer
> and provider in a free market without meddling of gov't. For
> now all you can do is inform your Democratic representatives
> not to do us any favors with more such laws.
Not to mention that since this is an election year, voters may want to
choose candidates who are not Democrats and who don't subscribe to the
policy of socialized health care and mandatory health care coverage
imposed on businesses.
Alvin E. Toda
On 20 Jun 2002, Michael J Wise wrote:
> Kaiser starts a bargain HMO option next month called
> something like "personal advantage $20" with lower
> monthly costs but higher costs per visit. The yearly
> costs are capped at $1500(?) for the worst case. It
> still costs quite a bit per month.
>
> These programs have gotten expensive recently due to
> dumb laws that enforce HMO's must cover this and
> that, usually silly politically-correct extravagances
> that most won't want to pay for. Last year Kaiser
> was sending out notices for mandatory coverage
> increases, then skyrocketed the rates for this year.
>
> The final blow in making these plans unafordable will
> be the so called patients bill of rights laws now
> being considered. If only medical plans could be
> negotiated between consumer and provider in a free
> market without meddling of gov't. For now all you
> can do is inform your Democratic representatives not
> to do us any favors with more such laws.
Actually, the Kaiser plan is cheap compared to my cobra
from Aetna about 8 years ago. It cost about $240 per
month-- about $2500 per year.
I think the comments on plans now is that they are not
for the sick. By that I mean, they try to exclude
pre-existing conditions, etc. Most people that pay for
them are quite healthy.
You can try to blame politics for it. But high costs
are also occurring in Republican jurisdictions outside
of Hawaii. I think the Republicans are finally getting
the message too-- and may finally try to do something
about it.
The shabby treatment the real sick get from some of
these cheap plans merits a patients bill of rights.
Most people choose plans on the basis of how much it
costs them while they are well. They forget that when
they will get really sick, they don't have the time to
switch to a plan with better coverage.
If we want to lower medical cost then we will need to
ration care based on medical need rather than on
ability to pay. Physicians are said to order far too
many unnecessary medical procedures to CYA and because
the patient's insurance will cover it.
Rather than politics, there seems to be problems with
the way our medical care system is structured.
--alvin