08/24/2009
Another poke in the eye. Master said his Health Insurance (Unicare in Texas) went up another 25.4% above last year’s premium. He didn’t spend a penny on ANY health care over the past 3 years – guess the daily swimming (preventive care) he pays out of his own pocket helped. He already has the least expensive plan -- see, he’s retired with very small fixed income, but still not “mature” enough for Medicare – like that will matter since a Medicare Gap Insurance will need to purchased anyway (more discussion later). Hope he doesn’t ever get really sick because he’ll need to dip to the tune of $10,000 to cover the deductible. Oh well – we continue to roll the dice of life and destiny. Anyway, that poke in the eye will most definitely affect my biscuit supply!
How is it that someone so healthy who doesn’t spend anybody else’s (insurance company) money continues to pay the same amount as an unhealthy person on the same plan? It’s the pool, pup, says Master. Instead of putting all the healthy people in the same pool to lower their insurance premiums, it’s only fair that they help out the unhealthy pay their premiums. My Common Scents hasn’t figured this one out. You’d think my Master would get paid for health club fees (preventive care) if it results in the insurance company not to have to dip into its LARGE pockets to any LARGE extent. Maybe a 5% discount every year compounded (I’m a smart doggy) every year such a condition exists. I say give my Master a 15% premium discount this year! Yeah, that was heard! I even tried sign language (showed teeth)! I bet Master would even settle for the health club fee of $40/month as an incentive to KEEP THE INSURANCE COMPANY’S COSTS DOWN. Common Scents says there IS a solution to the ever-increasing expenses. The private insurance companies need to pitch in.
Maybe a solution is to let the insurance companies compete across state lines. When we moved to Texas from West Virginia (good ridden bad Keyser doctor) Master was fortunate to have the same insurance (Golden Rule), but at a cost $250 more per month! OUCH. Had the same soup bone for months until Master was able to switch insurance companies – the switch is a story in itself and will be discussed later (the Keyser Quack misdiagnosed a condition but still documented his error which now became a scary preexisting condition). Anyway, for $370/month less, Master locked into a different insurance company that he now pays despite not spending a penny towards health care. As a matter of fact, in the now 13 years he has been on an Individual Plan the most any insurance company has paid out has been less than $300 total – quick calculation estimate indicates the Insurance Companies are winning by a score of at least $50,000 to $300. Where’s the Justice! How about clearing the mud holes and making a nice clean large pool for him? National shopping, versus state only shopping, could do that! Incentives, like Auto Insurance, where discounts are given to responsible drivers, would be a step up. Do we have to spend $1 Trillion to improve the cost of Health Care INSURANCE? It’s probably going to cost near $3 Trillion – only my Common Scents – to really improve insurance AND health care? NO! (Definitely more discussion coming on this)
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