Does anyone know how much the cost is for catastrophic health coverage? It seems as though paying for doctor visits out of pocket and then carrying coverage for something major would be far more cost effective than trying to maintain a total health care package. I think Billie or Howard said it was costing them $1500/month for a health care plan. If a catastrophic plan cost $2K per year, paying for the rest out of pocket should be extremely affordable.
I think American's already pay plenty of money in taxes and should be covered already. Add up your total tax bill sometime and get ready to feel as though you've been kicked where you don't want to be kicked. Look at you paycheck, what you pay in property taxes, another 8% for SPENDING your money, about 77 cents per gallon of fuel in taxes, extra taxes on tires, taxes/fees hidden in your cell phone bill...the list goes on and on.
How many billions of dollars does this state rake in just from lottery sales? Yeah, that's supposed to go to the schools......suuuuuuuuure it does. The problem with the gov at any level is spending, inefficiency and bloat. Obamacare is just going to be a disaster simply because it places your health care in the hands of people who know nothing about health care.
I'm wincing just thinking about the clusterf*** about to rain down upon us.
I would want to know the specifics before I could make any judgment call. I have coverage with my husband through his employer which is for a family plan and that policy has a $3,000.00 annual deductable. I have coverage through my employer (I work full time) but if I were to get a family policy through my employer, I would have to pay to work here. So if you just paid a fine or a tax would that be less than the cost of the family policy and the deductable. Makes me wonder how it all will work out.
FYI my family pays approximately $400+ per month for the policy (and it could go higher next year) and the $3,000.00 deductible every year because my daughter has many health issues. So if I cancel everything and the government fines me say $200.00 per month, I am doing better. May the government should look at all possibilities as others are definitely in the same boat as me.
Doug, we pay just over $900 per month. And we were notified yesterday that the company wants to raise rates 13 percent.
It's a high deductible plan so for all practical purposes, it is a catastrophic plan.
I am starting to wonder if we wouldn't be better off just to put $1K a month into a savings account, pay our out-of-pocket expenses and tax penalty out of that account and save the rest for medical needs down the road.
Catastrophic health coverage is inherently less expensive in that it is only used as needed as opposedto general coverage which covers every aspect of medicine. That is just a fact.
Ironically, health care cost began to skyrocket with the advent of HMO's, while the HMO did in fact improve preventativce care, it also contributed to increased cost because it took the eyeball of the consumer off of the actual cost of the proceedures, in other words, "Got a cold, go to the Doctor, as opposed to Got A cold get some rest and drink plenty of fluids" Everytime someone goes to a doctor, there is a cost, whether someone thinks it's free or not, the receptionist, the nurse, the technician and the billing clerk all have to be paid as well as the Doctor.
When HMO's replaced the traditional family doctor as the mainstay, the pricing was standardized using the CPT which takes the perscribed cost under medicare and then a mark up to cover the actual cost. With that, regulations that insured that Medicare patients are not 'Discriminated against' thier words not mine, force a series of reporting details to ensure compliance. The result, instead of one or two billing clerks to manage a Doctors office. When the HMO sends the bill to the insurance carrier, (And yes there is an insurnace carrier for the HMO) there is another tier of compliance checks that requires even higher cost.
It is easy to blame insurance companies for these cost, after all they make trilions of dollars right, but in actuallity, the profit margin in insurance is like 2%, in business terms, a smaller profit margin than a grocery store.
With all that said, I believe there should be three tiers in health care, 1st tier the Doctors visit, (Cash or public clinic) 2nd tier Intermediate, ordered by a doctor for testing i.e. mamograms, colonoscopies etc. covered by catastrophic insurance with a moderate co pay and the third tier Intense (Hospitalization, long term therapy etc) again covered by Catastorphic insurance but with a lower co pay than the 2nd tier.
Unless a patient (Consumer) can see the actual cost they will never balance need versus cost in thier own mind in consult with thier doctor, but leave that decision to administrators and politicans.
Health care should never have become a gimme from politicians, it should have always been a decision solely between doctor and patient based on the individual need.
I think you're much better off doing just that, Howard. I've often wondered why local doctors don't start their own health care practices and put HMO's out of business. I've heard of it happening elsewhere, where a group a doctors with differing areas of expertise offer their services for a set fee. Lets say 500 families pay pay a group of 6 or 8 doctors $5000 per year for their services and then charge an office fee for regular visits and checkups. Any surgeries/ broken bones, etc would be covered by the $5000. Something along those lines should work well.
If I have to pay it as a tax,
If I have to pay it as a tax, I'm including it on my itemized deductions as a medical expense
Does anyone know how much the
Does anyone know how much the cost is for catastrophic health coverage? It seems as though paying for doctor visits out of pocket and then carrying coverage for something major would be far more cost effective than trying to maintain a total health care package. I think Billie or Howard said it was costing them $1500/month for a health care plan. If a catastrophic plan cost $2K per year, paying for the rest out of pocket should be extremely affordable.
I think American's already pay plenty of money in taxes and should be covered already. Add up your total tax bill sometime and get ready to feel as though you've been kicked where you don't want to be kicked. Look at you paycheck, what you pay in property taxes, another 8% for SPENDING your money, about 77 cents per gallon of fuel in taxes, extra taxes on tires, taxes/fees hidden in your cell phone bill...the list goes on and on.
How many billions of dollars does this state rake in just from lottery sales? Yeah, that's supposed to go to the schools......suuuuuuuuure it does. The problem with the gov at any level is spending, inefficiency and bloat. Obamacare is just going to be a disaster simply because it places your health care in the hands of people who know nothing about health care.
I'm wincing just thinking about the clusterf*** about to rain down upon us.
I would want to know the
I would want to know the specifics before I could make any judgment call. I have coverage with my husband through his employer which is for a family plan and that policy has a $3,000.00 annual deductable. I have coverage through my employer (I work full time) but if I were to get a family policy through my employer, I would have to pay to work here. So if you just paid a fine or a tax would that be less than the cost of the family policy and the deductable. Makes me wonder how it all will work out.
FYI my family pays
FYI my family pays approximately $400+ per month for the policy (and it could go higher next year) and the $3,000.00 deductible every year because my daughter has many health issues. So if I cancel everything and the government fines me say $200.00 per month, I am doing better. May the government should look at all possibilities as others are definitely in the same boat as me.
Doug, we pay just over $900
Doug, we pay just over $900 per month. And we were notified yesterday that the company wants to raise rates 13 percent.
It's a high deductible plan so for all practical purposes, it is a catastrophic plan.
I am starting to wonder if we wouldn't be better off just to put $1K a month into a savings account, pay our out-of-pocket expenses and tax penalty out of that account and save the rest for medical needs down the road.
Catastrophic health coverage
Catastrophic health coverage is inherently less expensive in that it is only used as needed as opposedto general coverage which covers every aspect of medicine. That is just a fact.
Ironically, health care cost began to skyrocket with the advent of HMO's, while the HMO did in fact improve preventativce care, it also contributed to increased cost because it took the eyeball of the consumer off of the actual cost of the proceedures, in other words, "Got a cold, go to the Doctor, as opposed to Got A cold get some rest and drink plenty of fluids" Everytime someone goes to a doctor, there is a cost, whether someone thinks it's free or not, the receptionist, the nurse, the technician and the billing clerk all have to be paid as well as the Doctor.
When HMO's replaced the traditional family doctor as the mainstay, the pricing was standardized using the CPT which takes the perscribed cost under medicare and then a mark up to cover the actual cost. With that, regulations that insured that Medicare patients are not 'Discriminated against' thier words not mine, force a series of reporting details to ensure compliance. The result, instead of one or two billing clerks to manage a Doctors office. When the HMO sends the bill to the insurance carrier, (And yes there is an insurnace carrier for the HMO) there is another tier of compliance checks that requires even higher cost.
It is easy to blame insurance companies for these cost, after all they make trilions of dollars right, but in actuallity, the profit margin in insurance is like 2%, in business terms, a smaller profit margin than a grocery store.
With all that said, I believe there should be three tiers in health care, 1st tier the Doctors visit, (Cash or public clinic) 2nd tier Intermediate, ordered by a doctor for testing i.e. mamograms, colonoscopies etc. covered by catastrophic insurance with a moderate co pay and the third tier Intense (Hospitalization, long term therapy etc) again covered by Catastorphic insurance but with a lower co pay than the 2nd tier.
Unless a patient (Consumer) can see the actual cost they will never balance need versus cost in thier own mind in consult with thier doctor, but leave that decision to administrators and politicans.
Health care should never have become a gimme from politicians, it should have always been a decision solely between doctor and patient based on the individual need.
What do they want from us -
What do they want from us - how much more can we pay for and still live-if you get sick you are so screwed -its sad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think you're much better
I think you're much better off doing just that, Howard. I've often wondered why local doctors don't start their own health care practices and put HMO's out of business. I've heard of it happening elsewhere, where a group a doctors with differing areas of expertise offer their services for a set fee. Lets say 500 families pay pay a group of 6 or 8 doctors $5000 per year for their services and then charge an office fee for regular visits and checkups. Any surgeries/ broken bones, etc would be covered by the $5000. Something along those lines should work well.