Random Thoughts on Healthcare

I just finished watching a debate of the candidates for President of the US. An issue that was brought up many times was, "health care or the lack thereof" for millions of people in the country. It seems every candidate from both national parties has a different answer to the dilemma of adequate, affordable health care for the masses. Some candidates are in favor of some type of socialized medicine; while others are pushing tax breaks for premiums paid by the consumer. Others are offering the idea of subsidies to help with the cost of the premiums. The common thread running through every proffered solution is a reliance on some type of 3rd party payer.

Since 1942, the growth of 3rd party payers, commonly known as "health insurance providers" has grown to unimaginable proportions. Along with that growth has come some good things (risk sharing) and some not so good things (denial of benefits for pre-existing conditions, claim denial, managed care from afar) among a host of other issues.

Who among us has never had a bad experience with a 3rd party payer? Mine was the unnecessary death of a family member and over $60,000 of out of pocket cost. All that directly attributable to a 3rd party payer. I'm sure each of you has a story of a bad experience, if not worse.. If you care to share, your comments are welcome.

Do you know that every health care insurance company has a department whose sole purpose is to review every potential claim and look for a way to deny or at least reduce the benefit paid to the patient? The better job they do the higher the bonus they receive. This fact only recently became public knowledge during a senate hearing on health care. The senators expressed righteous indignation while chastising the insurance company executives, but extracted no promise to end the practice. What does that mean to you, who have faithfully paid ever-increasing premiums over the years when you encounter a catastrophic health expense? You can be sure your claim will be subjected to the same scrutiny, and if the tiniest reason to deny or reduce the benefit paid to you exists, your out of pocket costs take a dramatic increase. I'm living proof.

As I ponder these issues, I had to wonder what did our parents and grandparents do when they needed medical care? One just has to study healthcare, before 1942, for the answer. This message is not intended to advocate a return to primitive healthcare, only to look at the enormous problem of current healthcare from a different point of view.

I'm probably a lot older than most of you who are reading this so my perspective is a little different. As child, if I needed medical attention, we would visit the Dr., receive the treatment, pay the fee and go home. No claim forms, no pre-authorization, no haggling with some distant voice about treatment, just pay and go. Because the process was so simple, the cost of medical care was a fraction proportionately of what it costs in today's dollars. Granted, the level of care today is light years ahead of those days, but who's to say that same level of care would not have been achieved without the "help" of 3rd party payers.

Since the early 1990's, a movement to return to those days of yore is slowly emerging, but with a new twist. Hundreds of thousands of medical and dental providers are offering their services to millions of patients at deeply discounted fees. This practice saves the providers the unnecessary expense of claims hassling so he/she is willing to provide the service for a discounted fee. Studies have shown that the patient is paying a lower out of pocket cost under that system than they would with an insured plan, not to mention the outrageously high premiums the patient is paying. Another important factor not to be overlooked is the level of service is determined by the two people most closely involved, the Dr. and the patient, no meddling by some distant 3rd party whose only interest in the process is reducing cost, not what is best for the patient.

This movement was spearheaded by a company in Plano Texas who back in 1992 realized there was a better way to provide dental and medical care to the growing army of Americans who were finding the cost and availability of 3rd party protection out of reach. At the inception of this revolutionary concept, the critics thought the creators were preaching heresy and the idea was doomed to fail. Well, guess what? This one single company now has built a network of over 400,000 medical providers, 40,000 dentists and thousand of optical and chiropractic providers and hospitals serving over 2,000,000 members saving them in excess of one billion dollars. Does this concept work? The best measure of success is the small number of people who leave to seek a "better" plan. Less than 20% of the members who join opt out for something "better". That means more than 80% who choose Consumer Driven Health Care are happy with what is working for them. When was the last time any 3rd party payer plan enjoyed such a ringing endorsement? Add to that, every month more than 20,000 people are joining the millions who proceeded them and are beginning to experience the same level of savings as well.

According to U S Census report in 2005, 47 million people are uninsured and nearly 4 times that number are underinsured. What appalling statistics in this time of our history! When the cost of a health insurance premium is now exceeding the average house payment, is it any wonder so many people are uninsured. For the lack of information, far too many people are forced to chose between food and medical care. That brings me to my mission since encountering the opportunity to spread the word to the uninsured masses that there is an affordable, viable alternative to expensive health insurance. For less than the price of a daily Big Mac, every household in the country can rest easy, secure that an umbrella of medical care now protects them and their loved ones.

Forgive the commercial, but time is my enemy so I'm offering anyone who reads this article the opportunity to see why I feel so strongly about the merits of this program. The benefits being experienced by millions of people are available by visiting site in resource box.

Random thoughts on healthcare is a product of my lifetime sad experiences with 3rd party payers and the damage they can inflict, both physical and fiscal. You all probably have experienced similar, if not more agonizingly worse incidents.

Wally Pieper

[http://www.affordablehealthcare4u.net]