The Uncertainty Tax
Insurance rates are going up next year. Why? Uncertainty. It turns out that this is the next excuse for double digit rate increases. Wouldn’t you like to have a double digit raises EVERY YEAR? Just tell your boss you don’t know what your expenses will be and you need this guarantee. The excuses are irrelevant. The NY Times articles cites both Obamacare as the cause well as stating the “insurers are being quite explicit about citing the Trump administration’s hostile policy messages as a substantial reason for the higher prices.” No hedging there. I guess they were uncertain. All of it is bogus. See my past posts. The insurers are raking in profits. You can see their shares on Wall St. continue to climb. Don’t believe any of their BS. That being said, I just thought it would be fun to point out this new buzz term.
It’s like paying the Mafia not to break your store windows. My wife, with controlled HTN, hyperlipidemia, and HRT, has to pay BC/BS $1,100/month for 15 more months until she hits Medicare eligibility (my Blue Medicare D is $64.40/month). She sees her doctor(s) once a year each and hasn’t been hospitalized in other 20 years. But I worry that if we dropped her coverage before November 2018 something would happen to her medically and we could be wiped out. Only when insurance companies all start losing money will this nation advance toward a single-payer plan, for better or worse. (Probably worse, since we’re such a nation of babies and whiners.)
Insurance is also contributing to the downfall of private practice. Last week my wife got a letter from our insurance company telling her it was time for her “check up”, despite the fact that she has seen our primary care doc twice in the last 3 months for medication adjustments, and the insurance denied payment to the doc on the second visit.
The letter goes on to say that the insurance company will be happy to schedule your check up at a local retail clinic, AND give you a $100 gift card for making that appointment.
So, they refuse to pay for follow up care, encourage visits with retail providers instead of a dedicated primary care doc, and they give you an extra $100.
Thanks…
Wow.
And the AAFP tells us that these insurers want to work with us and recognize our value and pay us fairly for what we do.
Who is the insurer?
Anthem Blue Cross.
We’re going to fax a copy to our doc, so she can see how she’s getting f***ed.
can you email me a scan of that letter?
Happy to. How do I get it to you?
Nevermind, sent .
Perry