I am the Human Resource Director for a medium sized
healthcare company. We operate in four different states and employ nearly 1,000
people. We provide services to people with disabilities. In this role, I have a
front row seat to what is happening in the healthcare field, as I administer
our benefits, in addition to seeing how our services operate. It is no
exaggeration when I tell you that our biggest concern is for the cost of
healthcare and health insurance in particular.
The cost of health insurance is a direct threat to our
existence and to the jobs for 1,000 people. There are 5 health insurance
companies in Connecticut and we are at their mercy in regard to pricing. Due to
the costs we have lost many good people. I have seen, in my experience, many
people dropping their insurance or going without. I have also seen many
providers, mostly specialists ( for now ), stop taking any insurance; to save money
and aggravation. The insurance companies have told us, in no uncertain terms,
that the fact so many people do not have health insurance raises the cost for
the rest of us.
Since we are in healthcare, we send a lot of people to the
emergency room. Why? Because, like everyone else out there, we fear the cost of
a law suit. When in doubt send them out is the mantra. Whatever happens in the
healthcare system, tort reform has to be a part of it.
Our employees who do not have health insurance do not go for
their preventative care. When they get sick, they go the emergency room too (
as private Doctors can demand cash ), even though its not an emergency, because
they can they stiff the hospital for the bill. They cant pay it. I am not
saying everyones does this, but some do. I see the wage garnishments and get
the collection calls. I am sure that they are sicker when they seek help as a
result of not having preventative care.
A Doctors office visit in Connecticut costs between $150 and
$200, even before any tests or anything else is done. A ride in the ambulance
is between $400 and $500. My friend, an ambulance dispatcher, gets upset
because so many people view the ambulance as a “taxi” rather than something to
be used in an emergency. The cost for an ER visit, again before anything is
even done to you, in Connecticut is $1,200. Therefore, uninsured people and
others who rely on the ER are absorbing the
most expensive healthcare around, something the insurance companies have
been clear affects the rates of the rest of us.
Let me put that another way, the least able to pay are using
the most expensive services. When something someone else does affects me or
someone else, you have socialism, no
matter how you define it. I now have a vested interest in what others do,
because it costs me money. Its not something the President created, it was
already here!
Our employees are not illegal immigrants. As the HR guy, I
have to make sure of that. Most of them are not lazy. In fact, most of them
work two jobs to make ends meet. So much so that this has become a problem for
us as an employer. I too work two jobs, even though I am one of the best paid
in the company. Therefore, the argument that people who want healthcare reform
are all lazy, illegal immigrants is not correct. Though I don’t discount insurance
abusers are.
The health insurance cost for a family is nearly
$2,000/month (25,000/year ). My employer pays half. The cost to me is my second
largest expense, right after my mortgage ($12,000/year for my portion of the
premium ). In fact, the cost to me for health insurance is nearly equal to my
mortgage per month. The cost has doubled in the past 10 years. In 10 years, if
the trend continues, and it is expected to ( so I am told by the insurance
people ), the annual cost for health insurance will be almost $50,000 ( my
portion, $25,000/year ).
My employer cannot afford that and neither can I. I have a
$3,000 deductible to meet. Last year, we never hit that mark; therefore, the premiums
I paid are all profit for the insurance company. I have only had a 1% pay
increase since 2007, while my insurance has gone up 12 – 25% per year in recent
years.
In the meantime, healthcare insurance companies make money
hand over fist. United Healthcare, the largest healthcare insurance company in
America, made a profit of 1.4 billion
dollars in a 90 day period this year. That’s PROFIT. This same company paid
their CEO $102 million in 2009. That’s the person’s compensation for 1 year. To
put that in perspective, that’s the lifetime
income for nearly 50 average Americans!
The other insurance companies are making sizeable profits
and paying their execs equally large sums. A friend of mine who works in
maintenance for an insurance company said that they will buy furniture and then
discard it after 6 months, even though there is nothing wrong with it. When
they put on a conference, they give out all kinds of free things and do it up
big. These are my premiums they are spending! I see it as wasteful.
Clearly, some are making money out there. In my small town
alone there must be a dozen pharmacies. You can’t watch TV or even drive down
the road without seeing an ad for this medication, this medical clinic, that
type of medical care. Almost every time I go to the Doctors there is a pharmacy
rep. there in their suit waiting to talk to the Doctor. They say that the
average American, regardless of age, takes at least 1 prescription medication a
day. I can only surmise that medical care is such big business because it is
lucrative for some.
As an employer we are not alone. Many people work for us
just for the insurance because their spouses have none or the cost is even
greater than ours. I used to hear people say, how come employer X has such
better health insurance? I don’t hear that now. Today, the only people with
good health insurance (except for the rare hold out employer ) are those who
work in state or federal governments. Who pays for that? We do. Oh and unions
too, they also still have good health insurance.
On the other hand, people on Medicaid have good coverage.
Yes, they have to wait in lines and put up with a lot of hassle, but whatever
they need is taken care of. Its like a golden ticket. Unless they want dental
care, then forget about it. A friend of mine who was disabled and could not
work was on Medicaid ( she has passed away ). She absorbed hundreds of
thousands of dollars in health insurance costs annually. Her medications alone
were more than $10,000 per month! She had electric wheel chairs and other
things paid for by Medicaid, that she never even ended up using. Was she a lazy
illegal immigrant? No. Did she deserve to die simply because she was disabled?
No. She had been a productive working American at one time.
So there it is. No politics. No conservative vs. liberal
views. These are the facts from a person who sees it firsthand, everyday. The
system is broken. This is why I get so angry when people think the status quo
is fine. Its not. Those who say everything is fine don’t know what they are
talking about, period, end of conversation. If a person has insurance or if
they have good insurance, they must consider themselves lucky and the minority.
To say, leave the status quo as is, is like Marie Antoinette allegedly saying
“let them east cake” and we know what happened to her.
Whats Obama going to do? Whats Romney going to do? What are you and I going to do? Because something
must be done. I have some ideas,
perhaps I will write about them in the future. I don’t want something for free.
I don’t want undeserving people to get something they shouldn’t. I want a
system that is fair, where people get what they need in an efficient and
effective manner, regardless of income. If that makes me a “liberal” then so be
it. I think it makes me a realist.
Thanks for reading. Feel free to share this, especially to
those “conservative” people who don’t want any change.……..
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