Why Do We Need Medical Insurance?

The focus is all wrong!  We don't need medical insurance, we need to eliminate the middle man by getting rid of the medical insurance companies.

When I was a child, we didn't need medical insurance.  Our doctors made house calls and neither they nor hospitals charged such exhorbitant rates that an operation would break a family's finances.

When I was in my twenties,thirties, and yes, even forties, my medical insurance made sense. In my twenties, I I had surgery, and my insurance covered everything.   Then came co-pays:  they used to mean that when I went to the doctors or had a procedure, I paid the $35 co-pay and that was it.  The insurance company paid the rest.  Not so today.  Today, the co-pay is just the first payment of continuing charges.

And let's talk about deductibles.  Even my car insurance still knows what that is.  For my car, if I have a $500 deductible, I pay that amount and then the insurance company pays the rest.  Not so with my health care.  I have no idea what the deductible means today.  I met the $2,000 co-pay months ago, and I am still paying through the nose.  Add to that, the insurance company decides whether medications my doctor deems in my best interest should be covered or not.  And even worse, they've upped my insurance by almost $300 a month while continuing to decline services.

Here's a good one.  The insurance company proudly says that they care about my health and I'm allowed a free annual mammogram.  Free apparently means that I pay the total bill -- all $1,400, after the hospital, upon realizing the insurance company wouldn't pay, reduced their bill.  The insurance company always boasts how much of a reduction they've managed to get for me and the truth is, we could eliminate this useless third-party, not have the high monthly payments, and negotiate directly with our doctors and medical facilities to get our bills reduced.

The insurance companies are useless blood suckers.  Younger people have no idea what good medical care is and what good medical insurance is.  What we have now is a system so broken the only thing that would help is to simply get rid of the leeching medical insurance companies.

Do I sound upset?  You bet I am.  I was on medicine that required weekly blood tests to make sure I wasn't going to bleed to death.  The insurance company proudly said that thanks to them my weekly cost was reduced from $50 to $25.  The catch:  they were only paying $3 and I had to pay the rest.  I'm so glad I get to keep paying them almost $800 a month before I have to pay the medical bills which they barely cover.

Politicians:  Listen up.  We don't need the insurance companies.  We need good medical care!