my health payment plan
2009-Dec-28, Monday 11:29 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mellowtiggerIt's "insurance" only if money is paid into a pool that can be drawn from in times of rare need. There is such a thing as home fire insurance, for example. It's a "payment plan" if everyone expects to withdraw from it continuously. There is no such thing as health insurance for maintenance prescriptions (for medications that you expect to receive every month for the rest of your life).
I wish we could stop referring to anything like "health insurance"; in its modern form, it's an impossibility. A proper health insurance policy would apply only to very rare accidents and disorders. If it covers eyeglasses and dental visits and upper respiratory infections and recurring medications, then it's not an insurance policy; it's a payment plan. Payments plans should be a lot more expensive than insurance policies, because you always have to pay the full price of everything you consume.
Insurance is for when someone gets struck by lightning. Payments plans are for when everyone gets struck by lightning.
Regardless, I'm now on a health payment plan. Mostly, Minnesota taxpayers will be paying for my share (for which I thank you). I called today and confirmed that they received my new paperwork, a complete listing of all my paychecks for this year. They reduced my monthly premium amount from $103 to $46. I can afford that amount monthly, so I paid online. My coverage should begin on January 1st, although I probably won't receive a membership card until later next week.
Once I get my card, I'm going to the clinic to try to get a referral to a neurologist.
I wish we could stop referring to anything like "health insurance"; in its modern form, it's an impossibility. A proper health insurance policy would apply only to very rare accidents and disorders. If it covers eyeglasses and dental visits and upper respiratory infections and recurring medications, then it's not an insurance policy; it's a payment plan. Payments plans should be a lot more expensive than insurance policies, because you always have to pay the full price of everything you consume.
Insurance is for when someone gets struck by lightning. Payments plans are for when everyone gets struck by lightning.
Regardless, I'm now on a health payment plan. Mostly, Minnesota taxpayers will be paying for my share (for which I thank you). I called today and confirmed that they received my new paperwork, a complete listing of all my paychecks for this year. They reduced my monthly premium amount from $103 to $46. I can afford that amount monthly, so I paid online. My coverage should begin on January 1st, although I probably won't receive a membership card until later next week.
Once I get my card, I'm going to the clinic to try to get a referral to a neurologist.
no subject
Date: 2009-Dec-28, Monday 06:03 pm (UTC)I was just having the "it's not insurance" discussion with my partner the other day. I find myself incredibly frustrated by the way our health care system is run. EVERYONE needs or will need health care. The insurance companies have latched on like ticks on a dog, sucking money without really contributing anything.
Then they portray themselves as victims of the Obama administration.
I suppose when you pull a tick off a dog, it thinks of itself as victimized, too.
Anyhow, most Americans are too dumb to figure this out, and so we have "health reform" that does little more than re-enforce the status quo.
Bah.