What Is It Like to be Uninsured? A Reader Responds.
The following was sent in by one of our readers, in response to a letter I wrote to the editor of the Orlando Sentinel, entitled “Study about uninsured makes ridiculous claim”:
Being one of the uninsured families that everyone seems so concerned about I thought I’d chime in. Not only is the claim that being uninsured somehow caused these individuals demise ridiculous but the claim that being uninsured equals no healthcare or poor health in general is absurd.
I have yet to meet a health care provider that won’t except cash for services. Being uninsured doesn’t mean that my family doesn’t receive the health care they need. It just means that when we require the assistance of a professional to improve our health we pay for it out-of-pocket. Paying for general health care doesn’t mean that we are financially bankrupt either. On the contrary, we figured out that for our family having general medical insurance was far more costly each year than being private pay. Why would I pay an insurance company thousands of dollars every year to cover the one or two times that a member of my family requires the services of a healthcare provider? General health insurance through my husband’s work was going to cost more per month than our house payment! That monthly fee didn’t include the costly deductible, we chose the highest offered, or the co-pays and other out-of-pocket and uncovered expenses.
Major medical insurance is practical because those are the events that can devastate a family financially. We opted for a co-op type system called Samaritan Ministries to assist with major medical issues should they arrive. I’d much rather send my money directly to another member to assist them in paying for an actual bill than to pay a corporation so they can make a huge profit off the suffering of others.
Interesting. I hope a lot of people read this.
I’ve read about Samaritan Ministries before. It sounds attractive, but I’m not sure it would work for most people.
All anyone really needs is catastrophic coverage. The rest of medical expenses can be paid out of current income and savings.
This is exactly the kind of system and change we need in this nation. As of now it is self serving and corrupted with political pocket stuffing. It is is no wonder the World Health Organization ranked the US as #37 in health care. http://www.ourblook.com/component/option,com_sectionex/Itemid,200076/id,8/view,category/#catid107
To get the government to treat a universal plan, like this co-op that you speak of, would be the most ideal system structure for all Americans who fall between middle and lower income.
[…] letter from a woman whose family is not in a health care plan but has insurance to cover major medical issues. Instead of paying a health care provider for coverage, they […]
Many doctors and patients assume the only way to access medical care is with an insurance card. An insurance card may be the size of a debit card, but it does not work the same. When third-parties pay are responsible for medical bills, they make the rules and impose restrictions on usage. Furthermore, patients mistakenly assume it doesn’t really matter that insurers pay their bills. But when patients pay medical bills indirectly (funneling their health care dollars through insurers), providers cease acting like competitors and patients cease acting like consumers. A competitive market would drive all manner of innovations, efficiencies and conveniences that are absent from our medical marketplace.
You can contact me directly if you have questions about Samaritan Ministries (jlansberry smchcn net). I agree that it is not for everyone, but it is one patient centered model that works well for people of faith. Our members are engaged in the costs while having help with large needs, and they get to make their own choices about what services to pursue.
HSAs are another patient centered model that I’d love to see expanded.
Until we find reform efforts that move the patient back into the center of the picture instead of the third party we’ll never bend the cost curve back down and the quality curve will never bend up.
Thanks for sharing this, John. You can find Samaritan on line at http://www.samaritanministries.org. I always appreciate your blog taking on the issues.
James Lansberry
Vice President
Samaritan Ministries
Thx for your excellent article. Very informative. It’s amazing to me that we as a country can’t come up with an acceptable solution when many other countries have. Even relying so much on medication is “interesting” to me. Finding a cure through medication would be helpful, but as you know, a lot could be done by all of us thru proper diet and
exercise. Self discipline however can be tough. But if circumstances exist whereby medication is needed, I wanted to possible help some people out there by letting them know about a site that few people know about, but can help greatly in paying less for all their medications, diabetes
included. I have known as least 10 people it has helped, some diabetic, some with other prescriptions they get, and hopefully this will help get the word out. The site is http://www.medpap.ws and tho it’s “free,” the “catch” is that they want you in their store hoping you will impulse shop and pick up other items while you are there. One of the oldest marketing ploys in the world, but if you can just use the card….enjoy the savings, and don’t buy anything else you don’t truly need, you will beat the system.
There also is a short 1 minute video to explain how it works. It is a good program that
saves you money so I hope u take advantage of it. Take care and hopefully great health
will be a reality for all of us one day.