The P&R Plague Thread (Covid-19)

[BigRedBuster]

When was the last time ANYONE on here has gotten sick, had a broken leg, heart attack, stroke...etc. and said.....  STOP!!!!  I need to check the price of the treatment before you do that?  

[Born N Bled Red]

5 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

I'm the one who purchases the health insurance for our company.  If an employee of ours goes and gets an MRI, they only need to worry about their deductible and co-pays.  They don't care if the MRI costs $10,000 or $1,000.

 

Edit:  I just checked with the person who administers our plan in our company.  I asked if a person gets sick and is in the hospital and the bill is $50,000, how much does the employee pay.  Answer:  Just the deductible.

 

That's why the patient never really cares.

 

So, if any of that cost is passed on to your business, it means that you're company has move to a "self insured plan" to save costs on premiums, which is a whole 'nother can of worms. Smart if you have a healthy workforce because then you can bank any unused payouts for heavy use years. However, the additional cost to the business isn't really the business' money, its the money from the insurance pool that is created when you decide to move to self-insurance. Additionally, your business will also have co-insurance to protect from any catastrophic bills, protecting the business. - That said, ultimately if insurance payout costs continue to rise, your company will ultimately pass those costs on to the employees in the form of higher premiums. - So the patient does care. They just DONT HAVE AN OPTION. At the time of service. What's more when have you ever seen a menu at a healthcare provided that would allow the patient to "shop around" for the best price?

 

 

[BigRedBuster]

2 minutes ago, Archy1221 said:

we aren’t, you are. I was clearly talking about doctors depending on private insurance rates in many cases to pay their bills. You are the one who tried to “fix” my post 
 

Well, providers depend on private insurance rates to pay their bills.  To make trillions and enrich their stockholders. If your happy with less providers, less innovation, then go with an all Medicare solution.

 

If cutting out middle men is so great in healthcare then why don’t we do it in every industry?   If we can save so much money and have better healthcare with government in total control then why can’t government do this in every industry?  Let’s do it all around.   Cost savings would be everywhere by your logic and we don’t need private industry. 

We do it all the time in other industries.  

[BigRedBuster]

2 minutes ago, Born N Bled Red said:

 

So, if any of that cost is passed on to your business, it means that you're company has move to a "self insured plan" to save costs on premiums, which is a whole 'nother can of worms. Smart if you have a healthy workforce because then you can bank any unused payouts for heavy use years. However, the additional cost to the business isn't really the business' money, its the money from the insurance pool that is created when you decide to move to self-insurance. Additionally, your business will also have co-insurance to protect from any catastrophic bills, protecting the business. - That said, ultimately if insurance payout costs continue to rise, your company will ultimately pass those costs on to the employees in the form of higher premiums. - So the patient does care. They just DONT HAVE AN OPTION. At the time of service. What's more when have you ever seen a menu at a healthcare provided that would allow the patient to "shop around" for the best price?

 

 

Sure, we are self insured.  If we didn't we couldn't afford it for the employees.  

 

We also have issues with lasers.  You get sick and cost us a lot of money going forward?  The insurance company excludes you.  We end up footing the entire bill then.

[Archy1221]

23 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

Sure, ask around.

But, the answer is that it's easy.  They can just pass on the cost to who's paying for the insurance.  Which...in the US is many times employers.  The employee/patient only really cares about the deductible and co-pays.  They have no clue what it's really costing and don't care.  The employer has to keep paying more and more to provide good benefits to attract employees.  The Insurance company doesn't care because they can just pass it on.

If that’s your answer, then why don’t they just pay Medicare rates and make even more money, an additional 6-20% more.  That’s nothing to sneeze at. 
 

Employers don’t pay for 100% of the insurance.  Emoloyees have skin in the game too, roughly 40% of premium cost on average I believe.  They pay more than just deductibles and copays.  It is a nice benefit though to get it subsidized by employers (their choice) 
 

 

[BigRedBuster]

1 minute ago, Archy1221 said:

Employers don’t pay for 100% of the insurance.  Emoloyees have skin in the game too, roughly 40% of premium cost on average I believe.  They pay more than just deductibles and copays.  It is a nice benefit though to get it subsidized by employers (their choice) 

We pay 100% of the employee's premiums.  They pay part of the premium if they are on the family plan.

 

The vast majority of our employees are not on the family plan.

[RedDenver]

21 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

The first graph in this article just about makes me want to puke.  There is ABSOLUTELY no reason why this is like this other than people yelling SOCIALISM!!!!  Every time the subject is brought up.

 

LINK

From that article:

Quote

 

Per capita health spending in the U.S. exceeded $10,000, more than two times higher than in Australia, France, Canada, New Zealand, and the U.K. Public spending, including governmental spending, social health insurance, and compulsory private insurance, is comparable in the U.S. and many of the other nations and constitutes the largest source of health care spending.

 

In the U.S., per-capita spending from private sources, for instance, voluntary spending on private health insurance premiums, including employer-sponsored health insurance coverage, is higher than in any of the countries compared here. At $4,092 per capita, U.S. private spending is more than five times higher than Canada, the second-highest spender. In Sweden and Norway, private spending made up less than $100 per capita. As a share of total spending, private spending is much larger in the U.S. (40%) than in any other country (0.3%–15%).

 

The average U.S. resident paid $1,122 out-of-pocket for health care, which includes expenses like copayments for doctor’s visits and prescription drugs or health insurance deductibles. Only the Swiss pay more; residents of France and New Zealand pay less than half of what Americans spend.

 

 

[Born N Bled Red]

5 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

We pay 100% of the employee's premiums.  They pay part of the premium if they are on the family plan.

 

The vast majority of our employees are not on the family plan.

 

.Kudos to you! You are among the minority in doing so. 

[BigRedBuster]

3 minutes ago, Born N Bled Red said:

 

.Kudos to you! You are among the minority in doing so. 

Not in my area.  I have to do that to be competitive for employees.

 

Personally, I wish healthcare wasn't tied to a person's job.

 

Just one more reason why I would love to seriously consider Medicare for all.

[Archy1221]

26 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

The first graph in this article just about makes me want to puke.  There is ABSOLUTELY no reason why this is like this other than people yelling SOCIALISM!!!!  Every time the subject is brought up.

 

LINK

 

 

• The U.S. has the highest chronic disease burden and an obesity rate that is two times higher than the OECD average.
• Americans had fewer physician visits than peers in most countries, which may be related to a low supply of physicians in the U.S.
• Americans use some expensive technologies, such as MRIs, and specialized procedures, such as hip replacements, more often than our peers.
• The U.S. outperforms its peers in terms of preventive measures — it has the one of the highest rates of breast cancer screening among women ages 50 to 69 and the second-highest rate (after the U.K.) of flu vaccinations among people age 65 and older.
• Compared to peer nations, the U.S. has among the highest number of hospitalizations from preventable causes and the highest rate of avoidable deaths
   

Diet affects expenditures...we have known for quite some time that we are not graduating enough physicians to keep up with a growing and aging population....We use more expensive diagnostics more of the time (good thing? Or overcompensating to avoid lawsuits)....We don’t deny QOL procedures like other countries.....We have a better preventative management system....goes back to Diet and overall Life risk tolerance of our society.  

[RedDenver]

Just now, BigRedBuster said:

Not in my area.  I have to do that to be competitive for employees.

Good for you and your employees. I took my current job because of the healthcare my employer offers and the health issues my family has. It severely limited what job offers I could consider accepting.

[Born N Bled Red]

2 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

Not in my area.  I have to do that to be competitive for employees.

 

Personally, I wish healthcare wasn't tied to a person's job.

 

Just one more reason why I would love to seriously consider Medicare for all.

 

Guessing you're in nonprofit? 

[DevoHusker]

35 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

The first graph in this article just about makes me want to puke.  There is ABSOLUTELY no reason why this is like this other than people yelling SOCIALISM!!!!  Every time the subject is brought up.

 

LINK

 

 

Thanks for the link. Interesting data set. 

[Archy1221]

13 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

We pay 100% of the employee's premiums.  They pay part of the premium if they are on the family plan.

 

The vast majority of our employees are not on the family plan.

Great benefit you provide.  

[BigRedBuster]

1 minute ago, Archy1221 said:

Diet affects expenditures...we have known for quite some time that we are not graduating enough physicians to keep up with a growing and aging population....We use more expensive diagnostics more of the time (good thing? Or overcompensating to avoid lawsuits)....We don’t deny QOL procedures like other countries.....We have a better preventative management system....goes back to Diet and overall Life risk tolerance of our society.  

Why is that?  It's a very important point that's another huge part of the equation.  I can probably name at least 3-4 kids that I know in the last few years who applied for medical school and was denied.  These kids did NOT have problems with academics.  

There are bright kids who want to be doctors but medical schools aren't letting them in.

3 minutes ago, Born N Bled Red said:

 

Guessing you're in nonprofit? 

LOL....I try not to be.

 

But...no, I'm in private industry.