Help Me Understand Healthcare
Years ago when I quit my high-paying, high-stress job to get my master’s degree and pursue my passions, I decided that paying for my own health insurance would be a welcome expense — if it meant I’d be outside the clutches of a path I wanted so desperately to leave behind.
But it seems like I went from one pair of clutches to another ‘cuz health-care companies are a biznatch!
My rate has increased by $25/month since I first signed up. That may seem like an insignificant increase, but it’s not when you’re a freelance writer in grad school; esp. since I’m not about to live off Top Ramen — I’ve got to save my pennies for all that organic produce I buy, ya know? 
This is how Anthem recently explained, via letter, why they are raising premiums:
“By law, premiums must reflect the anticipated health costs health insurers expect to cover, and rising health care costs do affect premiums. Below are several reasons contributing to the rising cost of health care coverage:
- Advances in medical technology and subsequent increases in utilization.
- Price inflation for medical services that exceeds inflation in other sectors of the economy.
- Cost-shifting from people who are uninsured and those receiving Medicare and Medicaid to the private sector.
- Compliance with government regulations, including the recently enacted health care reform legislation.
- Lifestyles, such as physical inactivity and increases in obesity.”
Say what?
Oh no they didn’t!
But, yes, yes they did.
I’m moving to Canada!
Firstly, “anticipated costs” seem like a semantic load of crap to me. We’ve been anticipating that the nation would keep getting fatter and more x, y, z for the past 10 years, no? I think I’ve heard the alarmist phrase “obesity crisis” since I came out of the womb. Maybe this is one of those self-fulfilling prophecy things because Anthem’s letter to me has actually filled with me ire and I’m sure that raises my blood pressure and puts me at risk for a cranky-attack. Damn you, Anthem!
Secondly, I thought advances in medical technology, especially the advances in electronic medical records, would streamline administrative costs. Oh wait, they mean all of us getting MRIs every time we get a head-ache or feel a tingle in our elbow? Well then stop letting people get MRIs on their freakin’ funny bones! You’ve got to implement practices to stream-line efficiency and reduce cost, not just throw up your metaphorical hands and charge us poor little college students more money (*breaks out mini violin…*).
Thirdly, if my insurance costs rise because others are uninsured, shouldn’t I just un-insure myself and thank all my friends, in advance, for slaving away in corporate America and footing my bill? Sounds like a plan! Sorry about all your school debt, guys, but I’m gonna need you to pull together and pay my anticipated medical costs!
Fourthly, and, most importantly, you’ve got to be kidding me about the “lifestyle” bit. You mean to tell me that even though I have done, and continue to do, everything in my power to live a healthy lifestyle, I still have to — literally — pay for that fact that others have not? This one really feels like a smack in the face — I mean, come on!
Someone explain this health-care stuff to me because it eludes me. I, thankfully, have no health problems that I am aware of and I don’t take any medications. Not even a freakin’ Advil. Shouldn’t I get a rate based on a probability related to my history and specific circumstances, not the nation’s collective baggage?
You know, I’ve heard a lot of people throwing around the term “obesity crisis” and how it’s collectively hitting the nation’s pocket book. Crisis or not, truth or not — shouldn’t we be taking more proactive and preventative approaches to health instead of hitting people in the pocketbook?
I need a picket-line. Or a sandwich board. Or even a soapbox. I need to channel this cranky energy into something that will affect change….
Or, it should at least be made possible to ask for and give health-care “gift cards.” They would make a GREAT gift for the cranky-one over here. Ooo and then we can have gift-card re-loading stations right next to the vending machines selling us all sorts of processed crap. That sort of backwards logic seems like something Anthem would stand behind.
Thoughts, opinions, knowledge to share on health care? Tips, advice? Want to go-in on my health-care gift-card idea?
<3,
The Cranky One
Tags: health care, health care system
2 People have left comments on this post
Obama’s healthcare plan neccesitates a raise in healthcare costs. It raises costs slightly for all of us that already have health insurance, but extends health insurance to hundreds and thousands of people who couldn’t afford it at all. While I DO NOT enjoy paying more, I would rather pay a little more knowing that people (most likely minorities and women in low income situations) will be able to get healthcare they would not otherwise have been able to get.
Ultimately, this will saves LIVES. Currently, we already pay for the costs of those individuals who can’t afford health insurance. They aren’t able to afford preventative care of ANY kind, and therefore must go to the emergency room at the last minute, costing far more than it would have otherwise. They can’t pay these bills. Therefore, the hospitals write off these expenses quarterly. Do you know who pays for that? The government, and consequently WE do in taxes.
So, yes, you’re paying more in your current monthly bill, but you were paying for this before. You just didn’t know it. AND, people were dying. The gap between rich and poor raised something like 16% during the term of our last president. This healthcare move redistributes wealth in a very small way. And, I don’t think that’s a bad thing.
Just my two cents. xo
The healthcare/insurance system in the US pretty much sucks (and not, I don’t think it is Obama’s fault, it has always been REALLY crappy). It seriously is a shame if we consider how great and important the States are. I am not saying ours (Canadian) is flawless, it certainly isn’t but in this case, I am glad I live here.