Thursday, May 08, 2008

Rants and...well yes, just rants, really (about healthcare)

(First I just wanted to say thank you for the words of wisdom on my bike fit...I appreciate the suggestions and am definitely going to go into the Hub when I get back home...THANKS!!)

Just a few things I needed to get off my chest...

1) Has anybody noticed that the Wall Street Journal has really fallen by the wayside? I mean...since Rupert Murdoch (aka Fox Network owner) took over 8 months ago or whenever it was...countless contributors/columnists have left (not to mention the editor), and the articles have become so much more...broad and mainstream. They're crap. For all I know, this paper could be USA Today at this point. It's gotten that bad. (I mean...even some of the topics...one columnist wrote a whole Page One article yesterday about being a juror in the Uma Thurman stalker trial...SINCE WHEN THE HELL IS THAT KIND OF 'NEWS' REPORTING FIT FOR THE WSJ? US Weekly, maybe...hell, The Journal of Popular Studies People too...but WSJ? Come on.)

2) But last week, there was an article in the WSJ regarding health care that made me LIVID. I meant to post it so that I could write a whole thing about it, but I never got around to it. It was about how many hospitals (non-profit ones included) are now asking patients to pay upfront for their care before they receive treatment (see “Cash Before Chemo." If you don't have WSJ subscription, I posted the article here on my blog. It's utterly sick that some of these non-profit hospitals are turning SIGNIFICANTLY larger profits than their for-profit counterparts. Hmm. It also raises the issue of, "well fine, fair enough, hospitals and doctors DO need to be paid, that's true; but now that costs have spiraled out of control, NOW you're asking people to pay out of pocket for things up front? WTF IS WRONG HERE?" Then we confront the question that needs to be asked, which is, do we all deserve fair and equal access to the same level of care, regardless of insurance/ability to pay?

3) This also comes as I just found out what my new healthcare premium is going to be since I switched to an independent plan. Um, let's see, I'm one of the healthiest people in this WHOLE FREAKING COUNTRY, but because last year I was 'diagnosed' with plantar fasciitis (I think my doc did that so that my orthotics would be covered by the insurance I had...but really I needed them because I have no arches), my premium went up about 55%. FIFTY FIVE PERCENT.

HUH? Somehow, I'm a super risk because of that. *rolls eyes*

Thankfully, they'll let me appeal it 12 months from the date of diagnosis, so I should be good to go in another 2 months. Until then, I'll pay through the wazoo. So dumb.

4 comments:

rocketpants said...

Health care system is SUCH a mess it is unbelievable.

Mel said...

I am so with you on the Health care...they really have it backwards!!
I want to give you a BIG thank you for your AWESOME comment, it couldn't have come at a better time when I was having a break down :) You nailed it and now I can laugh about it and be ready to climb the next mountain :)

Thanks again :)
hugs...Mel

BreeWee said...

Sarah... bummin' for you! All the money you could save if health care were more reasonable you could be out here on the island with me getting ready for Hawaii 70.3!
Next year...

Anonymous said...

I want to move to the Netherlands, specifically Holland, or Sweden has free health care too! I said that to my mom and she called me a socialist. really, I just hate health insurance. I have been with Kaiser my whole life and I feel like I have to jump through hoops and pay ridiculous co-pays just to get a simple thing like asthma medication. Plus I have to have 2 insurances because there are NO kaisers in the boston area!! I could go on....