Universal Health Care – Why is Health Care So Expensive?
July 31st, 2010 -- Posted in News And Society | No Comments »
Health Care: The History
Health care costs have risen over the last few decades. The bulk of these medical increases have come with advancements in medical technology. Advanced procedures such as neurosurgery, chemotherapy, MRIs, kidney dialysis, etc, cost money to provide. Health care providers pass these costs onto insurance companies, who then pass these costs off to their customers through deductibles and premiums. Of course, this also means that those who need these treatments the most become more expensive to insure. Health insurance companies adjust to this by either raising premiums, or denying coverage altogether. In fact, underwriting (the process of researching prospective clients and deciding how much to charge or whether or not to even cover them) costs money in itself, which again, is passed onto consumers through deductibles and premiums. In other words, providing health insurance only works as a viable business model if those who need it the most are denied their needed coverage. Insurance companies provide potential treatment to those who are likely to need it the least.
Why Medicare Costs Have Increased
This increased cost in health care also affects public health insurance programs such as Medicaid and Medicare. Of course, these programs are affected even more. Whereas private health insurance companies calibrate for these costs by passing them onto consumers or denying them coverage, these programs don’t turn people away, or charge them more for preconditions. Medicare insures senior citizens; the most costly to demographic to insure (imagine private health insurance premiums for a 68 year old). So the same profit and loss relationship are driving up private health insurance costs as well as Medicare/Medicaid costs. The burden this places on Medicare doesn’t end here however. Beyond good publicity, private health insurance companies have very little reason to proactivly offer real preventative treatments, since later-in-life illnesses will be covered by another insurer (like Medicare). So it’s Medicare that pays the bill for this lack of preventative later-in-life illness treatment.
Single Payer Health Care
A Single Payer system would effectively fix most of these problems. Being part of a non-profit organization, such a plan would have lower costs all around. Private health insurance companies spend a lot of money, time, and resources underwriting (screening prospective customers), and deciding whether or not to even cover them. They also have other costs, like advertising, paying dividends, and well-paid CEOs and executives. They also invest money into lobbying politicians to discourage them from passing any health care bill which might reduce their profit margins, or running tactically misleading advertisements scare the public into believing horrific things about proposed legislature. These costs are again passed onto customers by way of higher deductible and premiums. Again,these are costs that would come with a public plan.
In addition to all of this, a Single Payer plan would be able to truly spread out costs per unit, to a far greater extent than any single private health insurance can (because of the number of customers it would have). On top of this, there would be real incentive to provide proactive treatments to later-in-life illnesses since the same plan providing these treatments will have to pay the bill for emergency treatments down the road. Other advanced countries have universal health coverage of this nature (or something closer to it, and less privatized than the United States) and are able to ensure their entire populations for less money per person, and health care consumes a far smaller share of their GDP. The people in these countries also have longer lifespans and lower infant mortality rates. In fact, Taiwan provides and even better text case. Several years ago, Taiwan moved from a privatized system to Single Payer (modeled after our Health care system). The result was virtually universal health care coverage for a small percentage of their GDP.
By: Cecil J Cloud
Health Care Fraud and You
June 29th, 2010 -- Posted in Legal | No Comments »
Millions of Americans feel the effects of health care fraud without ever being aware of it. This is a growing problem that takes each and every one of us to fight. If you know of anyone who has committed this type of crime then you should report them to the proper authorities immediately. This is a problem that will only grow worse unless we work together to put a stop to it.
Even our insurance premiums may be affected. When someone files a false claim and insurance companies pay out on it then they have to get that money back. They don’t get it from the person who files the claim but from everyone who has insurance with them. No matter who files that claim it is all policy holders who pay in the end.
Government run programs are often the target of fraud. These programs are paid for by each and every one of us through tax dollars. When someone commits fraud it not only costs us but it could mean others are not getting the care they need. It may also mean the programs won’t be around when we need them our selves.
Because of fraud in the health care system, some procedures and medications may not be available to those who need them most. Some of these could be life saving but instead people suffer and possibly die because of those who take advantage of the system or abuse narcotics. No person should have to live in pain because of other peoples addictions.
Health care providers are guilty as well. Every time a bill is padded or they charge for a procedure that wasn’t done this is fraud. Some doctors and hospitals have even invented ghost patients to get more money. Fraud of this type could even be as simple as performing procedures that are not medically necessary.
While you may not be able to prove weather or not a procedure was necessary you can prove weather or not it was preformed. What one doctor considers legitimate another may say was unnecessary. This is a gray area and not all doctors will agree on what is best for a patient. More often than not this is left at the doctor’s discretion.
Another form of medical care fraud is medical identity theft. This occurs when a person uses another’s identity to gains access though their medical coverage or you may find huge medical bills in your name that aren’t yours. They can also use your name to get narcotics due to an addiction. This can affect your medical records and be very dangerous.
The simple fact is that fraud affects each and every one of us. Imagine not being able to get medical coverage for your child because of other peoples fraudulent activities. Worse, imagine your child being given the wrong medication because of medical identity theft.
You can help prevent fraud simply by knowing what is in your medical files. Help insure that all people who need medical coverage can have access to it. Report any suspected fraud to proper authorities.
By: Adriana A Noton
Don’t Look For Cheap Health Care Without Reading This!
June 29th, 2010 -- Posted in Insurance | No Comments »
There are a huge number of health care providers from Individual and group health insurance policies to family, short term and student medical insurance, the list goes on.
What you need to ensure is that you are getting the best deal for the particular type of insurance you are shopping for and that the deal you find really is cheap health care. This is actually a difficult job to do and in days gone past it would have taken a lot of time and a lot of effort. However, thanks to technology, or rather some clever guys, we have a few tools that can really make this job easy for us and get us the deals that we want.
This means using an independent price checker website, that does that long laborious job of collecting all the different providers in whatever state you live. Users can then collect quotes from them all, to see which are the best ones. These types of site let you search for all different types of insurance, from Individual and family policies to group, small business, student, short term and even dental insurance.
I will add a warning however, make sure that the site you are using is not tied to a particular company so that they can stay independent, because if it isn’t independent, you will not get all the different providers that are out there selling policies in your category. This ultimately means that you will be missing out on the best prices and really defeats the point of using this method in the first place.
By: Paul B Stevens
Insured vs Uninsured – The Segregation of American Health Care
June 27th, 2010 -- Posted in Insurance | No Comments »
Everyone, at some time in his or her life, will need to seek medical care. The American health care system is a billion dollar industry, and it discards people that can’t afford its services. The current health care system is divided into two groups–health care for the insured and no health care or limited care for the uninsured. The kind of medical and personal care that an individual receives under the current American health care system depends on the person’s insurance status. In the land of equal opportunity, segregation is still practiced.
It is a well known fact that people that have health insurance receive much better medical and personal treatment from health care providers than people that don’t have health insurance. The insured are treated with dignity and respect. Sadly, the uninsured are treated with indifference and disdain. For uninsured people, obtaining health care can be an extremely demoralizing and frustrating experience.
When a person calls a medical practitioner for an appointment, the first question of the medical office staff is if the person has health insurance. If the person doesn’t have health insurance, the attitude of the office staff changes dramatically. A lot of times the person is asked abrasive and invasive financial questions. Cash payment is requested before the visit will be scheduled, or at the time of the visit prior to services being provided. Some medical offices refuse to provide medical care if there is no health insurance and the person is unable to pay cash in advance. Uninsured people seeking medical care face embarrassment because they cannot pay in full for medical services without benefit of a monthly payment plan. They are made to feel like their health does not matter because they are uninsured.
In some hospitals and physician’s offices, the type of medical care that is rendered to uninsured patients is much different the medical care that is provided to insured patients. During a personal interview with Carolyn Hagan, an uninsured Oregon resident, it was revealed just how shoddily uninsured patients are treated. According to Hagan, because she doesn’t have health insurance, she is unable to obtain the necessary medical care for her heart condition. Hagan stated, “I have so much trouble getting medical care because I am uninsured, and I can’t afford the cost of health insurance. I can’t afford the high cost of the medical tests that I need. None of the doctors will treat me except for occasional brief checkups because I am not profitable to them. Every health insurance company that I contacted to see if I could get insurance refused to insure me because I have heart trouble. I have had to cancel medical tests because funding that I applied for to help with the cost became unavailable. The care that I need is expensive, and it is so frustrating because no one is willing to help me. I feel like no one cares.”
Hagan is a productive American citizen that works and pays taxes, and she is among the working middle class that is wrongfully victimized by the American health care system. Due to health insurance company exclusions, she is not insurable, and she is unable to pay cash in advance for the care that she needs. What the current health care system in America is telling her is that even though she is a hard working American citizen, she doesn’t matter because she can’t help increase the bottom line of the health care industry.
Many practitioners refuse to work with uninsured people, and won’t allow them to pay for medical care on a monthly payment plan. This additional exclusion prevents thousands of Americans from obtaining necessary health care. The American health care system has become so convoluted and expensive that American citizens are forced to seek health care outside the United States. Places like Argentina, Singapore, Manila, Bangalore, and Costa Rica provide high quality, low cost health care to American citizens that America should be providing to its own people.
American society is insurance poor–people are unable to get health insurance. Private insurance policies are too expensive for most people to afford, and the policies that are affordable to people of middle class and lower are frequently inadequate in the medical services that they cover. American insurance companies have exclusions that prevent many people from qualifying for health insurance even though having the insurance would prevent further illness and allow maintenance for current illness, consequently reducing medical costs.
America has some of the best trained medical professionals, and the cost of their education is enormous. No one can expect them not to make a good living at their profession; however, the migration of medical care to countries outside the United States is a glaring indication that the American health care system needs to be revamped and made affordable to everyone.
There have been many attempts at health care reform in America; by the time it finally happens, there might not be enough people seeking medical care in the United States for the reform to make any difference. America will still be health care poor while other countries will be getting rich by providing Americans the health care that America places beyond reach.
The Fine Print of Health Care in Dubai
June 27th, 2010 -- Posted in Health And Fitness | No Comments »
Dubai is one of the federacies in the United Arab Emirates. Amongst the its seven other brother emirates, it is the most advanced as well as commercially progressive through the creation of free trade zones in the country. These business havens have encouraged high investment flows into the emirate.
The system of health care in Dubai is recognized for its quality and is at par with the facilities offered in many developed countries. The hospitals are located in strategic locations throughout Dubai to provide easy access to the residents of the emirate. These public hospitals are run by the government’s Department of Health and Medical Services. The result is free or very low cost medical services for the emirate’s residents. Overall, there is no obligatory state or employer contribution insurance coverages and instead there are many private health care providers. Many medical professionals are from other countries such as the United States, Europe, India, Pakistan and Egypt.
The current government policy is providing patient-specific health care for its residents. This program includes immunization, vaccinations, psychiatric treatment, medical fitness, marriage and family counseling, yoga therapy, rehabilitation medicine and health and nutrition education. One of the best aspects of the system of health care in Dubai is the post-clinic private medical calls. All residents are provided with the proper medical attention regardless of nationality. These include diagnostic visits, specialist private consultations and regular clinic consultations. All the costs of these medical check-ups are fully reimbursable from their insurance providers upon presentation of the doctor’s receipts.
Currently, the largest program being undertaken by the government is the establishment of the Dubai Health care City. This city has a fully functional Medical Center with the Harvard Medical School Dubai teaching center and the Boston University Institute of Dental Research and Education Dubai. As for the private sector, there is the proliferation of private health care insurance providers. Since health care in Dubai provides no compulsory coverage, the private sector responds to this need.
The number of patients in the public hospitals is mostly expatriates seeking assistance for their health conditions. In order to provide a more balanced care for all, medical services are no longer free for expatriates but are still heavily subsidized. This was further tightened when admissible foreign patients can only be serviced by public hospitals. When a life threatening case does come along, be it local or foreign, the full service is provided free of charge.
One aspect of the system of health care in Dubai is the ban on sleeping pills and anti depressants from being sold over the counter. These can only be obtained by prescription under strict conditions. Medicines overall are quite expensive in Dubai. So in order for one to be reimbursed by their health insurance provider, all receipts and prescriptions need to be submitted.
Overall, the system of health care in Dubai is one of the best in the world. It is different though as there is no universal coverage, so private health coverage assumes the cost of medical care. As advised in the Expat Forum, “when choosing private health insurance companies or health maintenance organizations, the amount of cover, the health cases that can be covered, and the general medical benefits that can be obtained by the insured should be looked at.”
By: Jose Marc Castro
Does the Canadian Health Care System Cover Those Visiting Canada?
June 26th, 2010 -- Posted in Insurance | No Comments »
The Canadian Health Care System is based on several socialized health insurance plans providing full coverage to Canadian citizens and a model to follow that the American Health Care System has been analyzing for a while.
In Canada, federal government set the guidelines that apply to the different provinces and territories of the country in health matters, but the system comes from public funding on a territorial or provincial basis.
Because every Canadian region manages its own health care system, there is too much controversy and debate in relation to health care coverage for both locals and people visiting the country.
People who want to access the Canadian Health Care system must apply for a provincial health card and wait for no longer, than three months to obtain their health card in the case of new immigrants.
While the Canada Health Act guarantees that all residents of a territory or province will be accepted for health coverage, temporary visitors can only access this system purchasing insurance by themselves.
However, there are also Public Health Care Providers that ruled under the same act, providing services such as hospitals, dental surgery, ambulatory services, primary care doctors, and specialists to cover provincial insurance policies.
As a visitor to Canada, you can purchase a health care insurance policy and benefit from these public services during your stay in the Canadian territory.
Canada counts with about 30,000 primary care doctors, who account for over half of all Canadian doctors so you will not have a problem finding a physician that can provide you with preventative care or basic medical treatment.
Specialist doctors account for 28,000 all over the country and there are countless private clinics operating in the country offering specialized medical services, although under federal law they should not provide those services covered by the Canada Health Act.
Even though, most clinics offer such services regardless the legal limitation, they are covered by private insurance policies to provide health care assistance to people that otherwise would be left without medical protection.
Private insurance in Canada may cover up to 80% of medical cost and it is available to visitors and local residents unsatisfied with their provincial or territorial health care system.
In terms of medical availability as of 2007, there is one primary care doctor for every 1000 Canadians, who spend nearly $3,300 per capita on health care attention every year.
Keep in mind that the Canadian Health Care System does not provide basic services to residents, and some of them are those that visitors usually require, such as optometrists, dental services, and prescription medication, which people have to pay.
By: Amy Nutt
A Great Tip to Save Money on Health Care Costs
June 24th, 2010 -- Posted in Insurance | No Comments »
The trick to saving money on your health insurance policy is knowing where to look. There are lots of different health care providers in the marketplace and they all specialize in providing policies to different segments of the market.
For example some may specialize in individual policies for the over 50’s, some may specialize in family policies. They specialize by being able to offer lower premiums for those specific types of policy.
So for people looking to buy a policy they just need to know what companies are specializing in the type of policy that they need.
However, this is where it becomes more difficult. Unless individuals have a special market knowledge finding those companies is very tough and it takes a huge amount of time and effort to systematically try and go through all the different providers in the industry and then get quotes to compare.
It’s just not practical or fun. However, thanks to the recent development of price comparison websites people are now able to search through the entire health care industry, in just a few minutes.
It’s very simple. A price comparison website collects data from all the different providers in the industry and stores it in their databases. A user comes to the site and enters a few of their details, like the state they live in and the type of policy they are looking for.
The price comparison site can then go out and retrieve all the different companies that can provide those specific types of policy.
It’s very quick and easy for the user to then pick the best one. Best of all the service is free and it ensures that users never miss out on the best deals.
However, for anyone looking to use this method they must make sure to only use an independent price comparison site.
There are more and more of these sites springing up and many actually have affiliations, or are owned by insurance companies, although they appear to be independent.
When this occurs the potential savings to the user will be much less, because the potential choices are greatly reduced.
By: Paul B Stevens