Some folks are still pushing the HSA (Health Savings Account) as a great way for healthcare consumers to control costs. While this seems like a reasonable assumption, my experience has been that the healthcare industry is anything but transparent. Also, healthcare is not just like other consumer markets; it is not like you can just do without that cast for a broken arm if it seems to pricey. Maybe next month casts will be on clearance, you never know.
I have been self employed with an HSA for our family for about 4 years. Our experience with finding out even approximately what a procedure would cost was a nightmare. Last year Nolan was having one of the most simple procedures done, ear tubes. Yet no single person could even give a ball park figure for what the procedure would cost. Individual calls needed to be made to the doctor performing the procedure, the hospital, the anesthesiologist, etc. Also, the costs for everyone varied on where the procedure was done.
When it was all said and done, the cost was $6,000 for a 10 minute routine procedure with no complications. This was up from $2,500 just two years earlier. The most touching part of the whole experience was realizing that the people doing the actual procedure, the doctor and the anesthesiologist, were less than 20% of the total cost.
Of course the ear-tubes were not covered because Nolan had one ear infection prior to getting our HSA coverage, so it was considered a preexisting condition. On a related note, Karen's entire back is not covered, not because she had some sort of prior procedure or injury, but because she has been to see a chiropractor. Also, her lungs are not covered because she has asthma. Brilliant.
On a related note, I am not sure how to rectify that 1) government run Medicare is way more popular than private insurance;
while, 2) People in the age group covered by Medicare are opposed to Obama's healthcare reform plan:
“Obama’s plan is most popular among younger Americans and least popular among senior citizens,” says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. “A majority of Americans over the age of 50 oppose Obama’s plan; a majority of those under 50 support it.”
Most of the opposition to the Obama public option that I have seen seems to be based on fear of government run care ruining what a good thing we have going with private insurance. I am not up to speed on all this free-market anti-socialist thinking, but I really don't understand what cherished institution or principal would be undermined by a public option. It is not like the insurance industry provides an actual product or an actual service; the heath care provider is doing that. All the insurance company is doing is aggregating risks and skimming profit. What is so capitalist about that? Wouldn't it be even better to go back to a freer and simpler time where there was no insurance at all, so healthy people were not forced to pay for the sick people and the sick people could just go broke and sit in debtors' prison, especially all those older folks who can't stand the thought of my family having access to socialized medicine but don't want anyone to touch their Medicare. People in glass houses...
Posted by Jim
