Our healthcare changed policies in November. It is a company sponsored program that my husband pays $600 p/mth which is about 40% of the total yearly premium. Up until the new policy we were paying $20 copays on all Dr.'s covered and lab work also, with no deductible. When the new policy kicked in, which we chose from a group of choices, the copays went to $25 for our primary care physician and $50 for all others and $50 for lab work, still no deductible. Before the change the lab work would cost aprox. $250, I would pay my $20 copay and the insurance would discount the bill to where they were responsible for about $30 of the bill. Now the new insurance policy, same company, the same bill we pay a $50 copay and the insurance discounts the bill to $00.29, and pays the bill for 29 cents. How much did it cost to run the check and put a stamp on the envelope or pay the person to push the button to send the electronic payment? I'm sure more than 29 cents. How has our $600 per month saved us anything on an insurance bill that is discounted to the point of the insurance company being liable for only 29 cents? Oh yes, I do understand that we would have been responsible for the full amount of the bill without insurance. Hence people who use the emergency rooms. If the insurance only has to pay 29 cents then why without insurance shouldn't we have to pay the same as the insurance company or some percentage less than the full amount?
My friend and I are having a disagreement about how this will or won't change with the new Health Care Bill. In my eyes, I now have government mandated (MA) health insurance that is too expensive to use. I am thinking that the health care reform will open up insurance policies that we can afford to buy and also afford to use once we have them. The insurance connector in MA is no cheaper than what we are getting through my husbands employer, we cannot save with that program- which was already in place pre-Obama.
Does the fact that the health care reform bill passed the way it passed cause us to be going in the way of socialism? How does that work?
