Re:High-Deductible Health Policies Linked to Delayed Diagnos...
by hedora on Saturday April 20, 2019 @06:40PM
(#19709354)
Forgive me for asking, but do you personally deal with the paperwork generated by you and your family’s health care?
At my last N employers, I’ve been lucky enough to choose between literally the best HMO in the US (on multiple metrics), and top-end insurance plans from a range of multiple companies (e.g., a $0 annual deductible plan or an HSA + high deductible plan, where the employer’s HSA contribution matches the annual deductible).
The paperwork for the high deductible plan took multiple letters per doctor visit spread over multiple months, and more than doubled the paperwork we had to track for income taxes. This is completely unacceptable.
The HMO is, well, an HMO, we have limited choices of doctors and specialists, but I swipe my credit card when I check in or pick up medicine, and that’s 100% of the paperwork, even for extended hospital stays.
The only people in the US with better health care plans have what I have, and also a personal assistant (or heroic spouse) to abstract away how messed up the system is.
For these reasons, I argue the US health care system has failed all but top <1%, and those people can already afford to fly to Europe and buy specialist care, I don’t see why they won’t be able to do so in the US after the rest of us get universal healthcare.
At my last N employers, I’ve been lucky enough to choose between literally the best HMO in the US (on multiple metrics), and top-end insurance plans from a range of multiple companies (e.g., a $0 annual deductible plan or an HSA + high deductible plan, where the employer’s HSA contribution matches the annual deductible).
The paperwork for the high deductible plan took multiple letters per doctor visit spread over multiple months, and more than doubled the paperwork we had to track for income taxes. This is completely unacceptable.
The HMO is, well, an HMO, we have limited choices of doctors and specialists, but I swipe my credit card when I check in or pick up medicine, and that’s 100% of the paperwork, even for extended hospital stays.
The only people in the US with better health care plans have what I have, and also a personal assistant (or heroic spouse) to abstract away how messed up the system is.
For these reasons, I argue the US health care system has failed all but top <1%, and those people can already afford to fly to Europe and buy specialist care, I don’t see why they won’t be able to do so in the US after the rest of us get universal healthcare.