If it Ain’t Sick, Don’t Fix It
Anybody seen Sicko yet? I haven’t, mostly ’cause I feel like it’ll be preaching to the converted and will just make me depressed about the state of healthcare in America right when I’m supposed to feel pride in our independence.
But then yesterday, my wife got a bill in the mail for some health-related services that just about drove me batty and once again emphasized the need for a simpler, less bureaucratic method of benefits. Of course, this bill wasn’t based on our insurance’s error but rather on the provider themselves, who apparently couldn’t keep their records straight and/or double-check their math before underbilling our insurance (and, um, we pay for insurance so we don’t get bills like this) and rebilling us for something we’d already paid — not to mention the fact that the invoice they sent her, for an eye exam, had a different amount on it than the invoice they sent me a few weeks ago for the exact same thing — and for which they had billed our insurance company in an amount larger than what they indicated on her invoice. I’m still trying to attribute that to their obvious math deficiencies, but it sure looks sketchy. Which is too bad, because their in-office service was pretty great, but we won’t be going back for additional annual exams.
And we have all the documentation and bill-paid records and such that we need in order to straighten everything out, mostly ’cause we’re super-anal about bills and don’t have the extra cash to just be throwing around so go over every bill that comes in with a fine-tooth comb, but I wonder sometimes about people who might just get a bill in the mail and either not be able to get through the accumulated BS of insurance statements vs. provider invoices vs. credit card bill statements or have the time and patience to contest a bill or maybe those who would just say, “Ah, it’s a bill, guess I better pay it.”
Somehow I doubt that Michael Moore — or probably any of the political parties — have the right answer, but I do know some change is needed.
Yep, I’ve seen it and am going to see it again. It’s important and a clear kick in the ass. Here’s a good story on its impact at a screening in Texas, too:
http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Sicko-Spurs-Audiences-Into-Action-5639.html
Ah… I remember back in the good old days, when this blog was about Portland-specific things. I guess that’s no more…
Annoid (cute, by the way): sorry if you didn’t appreciate this post, but i have to say that i think this blog does a pretty good job of presenting things from a portland perspective– not everything can be about a specific portland person/place/thing, but as a portlander, this was my experience with a Portland health provider and dealing with healthcare woes and, sure, i namedropped “Sicko” and Michael Moore, but like i said in the post, i haven’t seen it and i tried to keep it apolitical.
as someone who works at a place that offers health care benefits that i can’t afford so i therefore buy my own health insurance, it’s my opinion that this issue affects lots of portland folk. sorry that you didn’t agree. and part of the goal of the blog is to present our personal view of the city…which includes the crappy service i got after i got my eyes checked.
Health insurance IS a local problem if you ask me.
It’s a national problem, it’s a local problem, it’s a problem – period.
I suggest you take the time to watch Sicko (even if that’s not what this post was about) — it’s on just about every torrent site out there.
So I’ve heard.
See it for free:
Part 1: http://insanefilms.com/?p=413
Part 2: http://insanefilms.com/?p=415
Allegedly it’s sanctioned by Moore himself.
Andrew Sullivan concisely states an argument pretty close to how I feel about nationalized healthcare:
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2007/06/shticko.html
“Moreover, a wholesale shifting of healthcare from the private to the public sector simply means replacing rationing by wealth with rationing by number, and a drastic decrease in individual freedom on both sides of the medical equation. You’d replace insurance company bureaucrats who deny care with government bureaucrats who deny care. Removing the financial incentive from doctors simply means they will provide sloppier treatment. They’re not saints. They’re human beings. And slashing the profit motive from the drug companies will simply mean fewer new drugs for fewer illnesses. This is the trade-off the left will deny till they’re blue in the face. But it’s a real trade-off.”
“The European health systems have, of course, been free-riding on private U.S. drug research for decades. Name a great new drug developed in Europe these past ten years. Their own pharmaceutical industries have been decimated by the socialism Moore loves (and many of Europe’s drug companies have relocated to the US as a result). But I fear the left is winning this battle; and the massive advantages of private healthcare are only appreciated when you lose them.”
The problem with Moore is that he’s not a documentarian in the ideal sense. He’s a polemicist and propagandist in the same sense that politicians like Dick Cheney are. He’s just more entertaining. There are plenty of examples of how he purposely obscures the facts in order to get the result he wants. He’s like Borat, except he’s manipulating how people vote.
btw, this site has some interesting counters to Moore’s rosy picture of nationalized healthcare:
http://www.freemarketcure.com/
(And there are much more disturbing counters to the picture of Cuba’s healthcare as something we would want.)
Again, i haven’t seen “sicko” yet, but there are some good rebuttals to sullivan’s arguments here:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2007_06/011571.php
and here:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2007_06/011560.php
as well as a report about the relative correctness of “sicko” here:
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/11310.html
there is never going to be an ideal system that works perfectly for everybody, but the idea that you could walk into an ER and maybe get treated before the first question someone asks you is “do you have insurance?” is a reasonable goal, eh? and i would hope that part of the emphasis in a universal healthcare program would be on preventive care rather than just “oh, you’re sick, let’s fix you”. i personally have not seen a doctor in my adult life — mostly because i can’t afford it, but partially because the one time i tried to get a physical a few years ago, i got laughed at for being under the age of 40. but who knows what’s really going on in there.
First food, now economics and healthcare. Is there no end to your ignorance, MSG? Figures you’d try to quote Sullivan and a website run by a New Republic contributor as authoritative. Economic theory ripped from the headlines of the 19th Century. Now back to ineptly proving to people you can do a food cost analysis.
BTW, ol’ Nick here will be responding to this all day, so y’all should sit back and enjoy the histrionics.
“the massive advantages of private healthcare are only appreciated when you lose them.”
I’ll miss the incessant Vytorin commercials.
“The problem with Moore is that he’s not a documentarian in the ideal sense. He’s a polemicist and propagandist in the same sense that politicians like Dick Cheney are. He’s just more entertaining. There are plenty of examples of how he purposely obscures the facts in order to get the result he wants. He’s like Borat, except he’s manipulating how people vote.”
God Bless Michael Moore.
There is a federal law that prevents ER’s from asking for your insurance info before treating you, or using it as a way to screen patients prior to receiving medical assistance. It’s called EMTALA (Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act), and I suggest anyone who finds themselves in that situation reference it – every hospital employee should know what it means.