Denise Lee Porter

www.everyonebenefits.com/porter

Lately there has been a very loud and unhealthy discussion about health insurance in this country. I say unhealthy because the discussion very rarely focuses on the facts and no one walks away from the fight feeling good about it. In my discussion on the subject I would like to remove the political component:

1. Forget about what side of the aisle the people that you voted for sit - chances are they don’t have any of your interests at heart anyway
2. Forget about the color of our President and whether or not he has all the qualities of the antichrist as stated in the Bible - that’s just the arrogance of every generation thinking that we are so important that the world will end on our watch and in our lifetime
3. Forget about what you have heard on TV the radio or from newspaper articles and editorials - it’s all spin since everyone has an angle on this thing and anyway for the most part those guys have good insurance that they can afford

Instead let’s talk about you and me and our experience with the health care system. If you currently:

• pay less than $100 per month for insurance or have in the past
• and have never paid more than $10-$40 out of pocket for medical, dental, vision, prescription or a visit to the chiropractor
• and this is not Medicare or Medicaid

I would understand if you  drop out of the discussion at this point as it is probably difficult, if not impossible for you to understand what all the fuss is about.  But I suggest you stick around so that you can understand what others have experienced or are experiencing.

If you are on Medicaid or Medicare, or have a child enrolled in a federal or state run health plan,  then I definitely want you to stay and give us some insight on what a “government run” health care system is like. For example:

1. What does it cost you monthly?
2. How much do you pay for prescriptions?
3. Have you ever been denied care because you are on “the dole” so to speak?
4. Do you feel that you receive inferior care because you are on Medicaid or Medicare?

For those of us who fit into none of the above . Those of us who pay anywhere from $200 to $600 plus per month for health insurance. Those of us who have paid additional  health care bills of  anywhere from  $300 to $300K  over and above what we paid for health insurance. I have to ask, what are we doing? Why are we fighting each other? What are we seriously fighting for ?

Last year I wrote an article about consumer driven health care and I told the story of a woman who paid over $300 per month to insure herself and her teenaged child. She required dental surgery that would take several iterations, but was not able to finish the process because she could not pay the $3000.00 bill.  So the world turned and a year later she finds herself working for this very same insurance company, and guess what? She only pays $20 a month for her coverage.  There is a saying that came to mind when I heard about that “somebody is buying you wholesale and selling you retail”.  I mean seriously people, if the insurance company employees can pay only $20 per month for coverage, why are you and I paying upwards of $300.00? What the heck are we paying for exactly?

I’ve had a discount plan for almost three years now (read why here), even though I work full time and my job offers benefits I declined them - do you want to know why? Because my discount plan costs $360 per year, I pay a discounted fee at the doctor, the dentist, the drug store, and even when I get glasses - and I am still spending less than the $10,000 plus  per year that I invested back when I had employer sponsored health care.

When I had insurance I had to get an HSA to cover those extras that my insurance did not cover. I breezed through a $2000 HSA easily. Why is that? Why do we pay so much for something that does not do the job? And why are we letting the insurance companies spend our money on lobbyists and bad advertising? Why aren’t we mad about this? Talk to me, I’m listening…