Welcome to Healthcare Soundoff (4/10/2007)
Healthcare consumers, business owners, the uninsured- really all of us need to speak with one voice about the disintegration of the health care system. Healthcare Soundoff is that voice. Healthcare Soundoff is your forum. It is our belief that nothing will happen to improve the financing and delivery of health care in the United States until we speak with a louder and unified voice. None of the players, insurance companies, HMOs, physicians, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, or politicians has any incentive or reason to support change. They are all successful and making money operating in the current system. So why change!
Healthcare Soundoff will post daily and respond to the issues in real time. We want to hear your stories. We want to be the central forum for small business people having a difficult time finding affordable health insurance, benefit managers who can’t answer all the questions, uninsured people who are facing financial hardships, and anybody with a point of view of expertise that will help the rest of us. On any given issue your stories will teach our readers more about how they might be able to avoid the problems the healthcare system creates for us than any narrative we relate.
We are outraged. We know that it costs the average family of four $14,500 to obtain health insurance in the United States today. We know that over $5,500 of that is out of your pocket with $3,000 going for insurance premiums and $2,500 being paid for actual medical services. 50 million of you cannot afford any health insurance so any expense comes right out of your pocket. 50% of all bankruptcies are caused by medical bills.
We are ready to relate your outrage and frustration. But through your stories we are hoping to piece together the clues that will begin to lead to solutions we can present forcefully and possibly influence change.
Last week we were told a story that typifies the problems health insurance poses for all of us. A small business owner received a notice from his health insurer that the renewal cost of his health insurance was increasing 20%. This was a cost he couldn’t absorb so he had his financial officer search the web for alternatives. They looked at 5 alternatives and chose the least expensive with similar coverage to his previous insurance. Guess what? The alternative he chose was the same insurance company he currently had coverage from and the cost was a 14% decrease from what he was paying currently. But this same insurance company tried to stick him with a 20% increase for no other reason than they thought they could get away with it. Although the story has a good ending, the lesson is obvious. When it comes to your money and health care your health insurer doesn’t care a bit about you or your business. They will try to skewer you if they can.
Tell us your story.
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