Affordable Health Care (DirectPay)

[AJMD429]

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At 26:45 they discuss the concept of 'DIrectPay' medical practices, and the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (https://aapsonline.org/aaps/) and the difference between DirectPay versus 'concierge' practices.

https://odysee.com/@FrontlineCovid19Cri ... H20_2024:c

This is the best way to get primary and preventative health care these days.

[gcs]

When we were kids, 50's, if you had to go to the doctor you paid him direct, we didn't have medical insurance, don't think most other folks did either. Of course the office visit was low, to reflect the times, and any shots needed were just an cheap add on, .

How things have changed....

[GunnyMack]

I'm paying 275/ mo now, I've had the policy almost a year and haven't used it yet! Knock wood.
My knees are bothering me, call my primary asking if I need a referral for orthopedic visit. The primary says all the insurance company says call your primary ! Ya cant make it up...

[AJMD429]

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Yeah the system is terribly dysfunctional. The overhead is ridiculous, so that drives up the fees, and the bureaucrats 'fix' things by layering on even more overhead-consuming, time-wasting, bureaucracy.

[oldebear1950]

As a retired military person with 20 years in , am now blessed with Medicare and Tricare for life, which is considered the cadillac of all medicare supplements. I get that for being retired military.

[COSteve]

Kaiser is almost a 'Direct Pay' approach as the insurer is also the provider.

[Ji in Hawaii]

I'm glad I'm retired, and I have full health insurance paid for as part of my retirement benefits from the state. My disability retirement check is so small that I qualify for Medicaid, and start Medicare at end of year. I don't pay a penny for me and wife's doctor's visits, prescription medications, and emergency room visits. I have a Kaiser Permanente senior plan. When I went to Japan on vacation in late 2023, Kaiser told me I'm covered in Japan too, except that I would have to pay upfront in full while there, keep all receipts, and I would be reimbursed in full on my return.

[COSteve]

Good to know about Kaiser and Japan as my son and I are going there in September.

[GunnyMack]

My rates went up 75/mo ! I haven't used it since I bought the policy... im going to start shopping I think!

[COSteve]

My home and auto insurance yearly renewal is coming up in early May and I've already started pinging the independent company to put together some info on competitive rates from various companies. I've read here that the rates are going up between 25-40% this year alone!!

I expect the quote from my current company in early April and I'm braced for the worst. Add that increase to my property tax going up over $1,200/yr due in April (I pay in one chunk) it's putting a squeeze on the budget that's for sure.

Luckily, my Senior Advantage payment to Kaiser actually went down a bit this year but it's a small part the total as Medicare's Part A/B premiums went up.

[AJMD429]

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One thing with health insurance vs home or auto is that the 'limit' is not only high or even in some cases unlimited, but the incidence of claims is pretty close to 100%.

If 1 of 10,000 homes burns down or tornados per year, and the homes average $1,000,000, then to replace the one home, each of the others need only chip in $100 per year to cover the claims.

On the other hand, with health, we have about 600 months of our life where we will pay premiums, and unlike the rare home that is lost, we all will die, and about 2/3 of us will have a chance to NOT die if we get enough health care, such as a cancer regimen, trauma care, or bypass surgery, any of which is easily a half-million dollar event. Many of us will survive one of those, only to have another, and a few will have three or four of these mega-events. So I believe the average per person is more than one of these mega-events. Thus, even if nothing else was covered (no 'minor' things like hernia repairs, gallbladder surgery, blood pressure medication, or whatever), we would easily average $600,000 apiece we want available when WE have our heart attack, stroke, cancer, or car wreck. So even if we all paid premiums (and 40% or so never buy health insurance but just get subsidized care via the government), we would have to average $1,000 per month premiums just for the system to approach break-even.

So when you hear how many people pay just a couple hundred per month, it is no wonder the system is 'broke', and that many of the people who THINK their premium ('contribution') is $250 a month are really paying $1,500 or so, because their EMPLOYER takes $1,250 a month out of their pay (before it even gets to the top line of the paycheck, but it is money allocated to the position, and thus money which otherwise would have been given to the person employed to compete in the hiring market), are paying far more than they realize. I believe one recent statistic from the insurance industry said the average U.S. citizen pays about $19, 000 per year for health insurance and/or deductible, which would be consistent with these ballpark figures.

So....unless care is either rationed by government/force, rationed by market forces, or made less expensive by market forces, it will get to be more expensive than the average person's income, which is impossible to sustain.

The only long-term viable solution is market competition, but right now the U.S. subsidizes other nations with our inventions and our willingness to take the catastrophic cases other nations can't cope with, so the other 'socialized' systems appear to be all great, but just like other nations mooch off the U.S. military protection so have the luxury of being inefficient and/or spending money on 'social' things instead of military, other nations mooch of our health care in that way.

[GunnyMack]

My property taxes are pushing 10 thousand per year! My auto insurance is about 1500 yearly. Gotta get outta here!!

[Pat C]

I've worked for same company last 31 years , started out employee health care was free.Family $85 month $200 deductible.

Last year before Obama care I was paying $425 family plan montly. With best plan Anthem Blue cross had ,Blue Care.

Obama said cut the Cadillac plans ,everybody has to pay for the uninsured.

So now we have to do yearly health screening family plan is $650 or $950 if you choose not to do screening per month.

State Farm keeps going up $2600 per year with 2003 Silverado, 2007 Kia Sorento, 2013 Ford Edge .No accidents or tickets but under 25 driver though.

Property taxes not an issue $1600 year 2700 Sq ft house on 5 acres.