Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/03/02
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Ernie: This is what I've suspected since 10 or so years ago, when the insurance companies successfully fought off the Clinton'e attempts to bring some rationality to the health care business. - -- Jim - http://www.hemenway.com "Ernest B. Ferro" wrote: > > Austin and Buzz: > Hopefully you won't mind me butting in here but I can't resist > putting my two cents in. I'm on the board of our local hospital. We're > a rural hospital located in NW PA. One of my responsibilities is that > I'm also chairperson of the finance committee. So, I know a bit about > what gets billed and where the money goes. In addition, I also own a > business that provides group insurance to their employees at no cost to > the employee. So I also know a bit about insurance costs. > You ask who gets all the money. The conclusion to which I've > come is simple. It's the insurance companies. Since I see both sides > of the equation, the hospital and doctor side and the business owner's > side, I'm sure it's the insurance company. Our hospital recently > received an increase of $500k annually in malpractice insurance > coverage. Do you know what our malpractice claims have been for the > last 5 years? They've been zero. So, who's getting the money? > We recently renewed our group insurance coverage at my company. > It went up 47% from last year to this year. This is typical in our area > no matter whether the employees have overused the insurance or not. How > many companies do you know that can raise their prices 47% in one year? > We supply primarily to the automotive industry and our prices have been > in a downward spiral for years. On the other side of the coin, I see > the hospital reimbursements. They've gone from 53% of every dollar > billed when I joined the board 7 years ago to about 48% today. So, > insurance costs are up but reimbursements are down. Figure that one > out. > People complain about the bills that they get from their doctors > and hospitals but what the doctor or hospital actually receives in > reimbursement from the insurance companies is considerably less. > Well, I'm contributing to the OT chatter on the list so I'll > sign off now but just had to get my two cents in. > Ernie > > >Hi Buzz, > > >> I am not sure what you mean, Austin. > > >It's quite simple. You said the doctor got only $2k. The overall > billings > >to the insurance companies are far more than $2k. Who gets all the > money? > > >> The hospital gets about four to > >>five grand for the birth, laboratories collect another one and a half > to > >> two thousand. That's about it for normal prenatal care and a > moderately > >> complicated delivery. > > >Hum. Our two routine births were a hell of a lot more than that! > > >> My point is, what's your M6 or M7 worth to you in terms of other > aspects > >> of your life about which one may or may not complain? > > >But on the other hand, births are a lot more common than M7's ;-) > > >> For those among > >> us with stents, was your heart procedure worth as much to you as a > >> camera? > > >I feel that's a useless metric, and that isn't meant insultingly at > all, > >just stating what I feel. Of course life issues are far more > important, >but > >what does money have to do with level of importance? Should you pay a > >mechanic $20k to do brakes on your car, because if he doesn't, 6 people > may > >die? Certainly a brake job is more important than M7 to some, but that > >doesn't mean it should cost more! > > >Regards, > > >Austin > > -- > To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html