At 8/3/2010 01:44 AM, Tom DeReggi wrote:
yeah, cash pay works, until you get a stroke, heart attack, cancer,
etc Even when you have good insurance, it can mean still having to
come up with a few hundred thousand out of pocket.
Often cash pay translates to... if you have a serious illness, you
cant afford to chose to live. I dont mean to be bleak, but that is
the reality of it.
Sure, I understand that some for financial reasons must choose to
fore go insurance. But I'd surely prefer to find more affordable
insurance, than fore go insurance.
Affording Healthcare is surely a big issue today. I actually find it
somewhat ironic that some countries have made "broadband" a human
right. I'd argue that "healthcare" (aka affordable insurance) far
more deserves to be made a human right.
Pretty much every industrialized country except the United States
made health care a basic right a long time ago. ONLY the United
States views it as a business, for which profit comes first and
results (or the illusion thereof) are merely a means to that end.
BTW I have a good broker here in Massachusetts who gets me, as a sole
proprietor, a small-business group rate that's well below the
"connector" rate (the model for the "exchanges", but really an
assigned-risk pool). And it's tax deductible as a business
expense. There could be similar plans in other states. But rates
here are ridiculously high; thanks to state intervention and their
refusal to allow this year's 18-30% rate increases, I'm only paying
around $18k/year, though today's paper announced that there is likely
to be a more modest negotiated increase this month.
But hey, the hospital, insurance, and drug company executives are
getting their bonuses and buying yachts, and isn't that what counts the most?
Tom DeReggi
RapidDSL & Wireless, Inc
IntAirNet- Fixed Wireless Broadband
----- Original Message -----
From: <mailto:[email protected]>Cameron Crum
To: <mailto:[email protected]>WISPA General List
Sent: Saturday, July 31, 2010 5:56 PM
Subject: Re: [WISPA] [WISPA Members] Health Insurance
Negotiate directly with your doctor or the hospital. I've been cash
pay for years. About a year and a half ago, my then 2 year old got
outside un-noticed and fell into our pool. He was at the bottom when
we found him and my wife, being a trained lifegaurd, was able to
perform cpr and get his pulse and breath back. That combined with
the cold temperature of the water (early december), and the grace of
God left him with no brain damage or permanent problems. Our trip to
the ermergency room plus overnight stay in the hospital was more
than $12,000. I negotiated with the hospital, the doctors, and the
ambulance company (all different bills) to get my bill down to less
than $5000. It took about 1 hour of my time. Had I had insurance, I
would have had to pay the full $5000 or $10000 deductable. So in
this case it worked out for me. My family is extrememly healthy. Our
kids go to the doctor maybe once a year and I can't remember the
last time I saw a doctor. My wife just had arthoscopic surgurery on
knee in the spring and agian, paying cash, I walked away with about
a 50% dicount. As we get older, I'll probably consider getting
insurance as age typically means more trips to the doc. and on
average it will become cheaper to pay the insurance bills than to
fund it in cash. I don't know what age that will be, but I'll keep
you guys posted...
Cameron
On Sat, Jul 31, 2010 at 10:02 AM, RickG
<<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]> wrote:
How do you negotiate that? I've tried and they same we pay their
standard rate. After moving back to health insurance, we always see a
discount, especially on "in network" doctors.
On Sat, Jul 31, 2010 at 12:34 AM, Blake Bowers
<<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]> wrote:
> We are cash pay. Regular DR visits are half of what the
> quoted rate is.
>
> Hospital is pretty much the same way.
>
>
> Don't take your organs to heaven,
> heaven knows we need them down here!
> Be an organ donor, sign your donor card today.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Faisal Imtiaz" <<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]>
> To: <<mailto:[email protected]>[email protected]>
> Sent: Friday, July 30, 2010 10:19 PM
> Subject: Re: [WISPA] [WISPA Members] Health Insurance
>
>
>> That is very interesting... it is the first time I am hearing as such...
>> Our experience has been on the contrary... Without the insurance
>> company's pre-netogitated discounts, it is impossible to get a
>> reasonable bill..
>> more like.. They stick to you as a cash paying customer..
>>
>> Faisal Imtiaz
>> Snappy Internet& Telecom
>>
>>
>>
>> On 7/30/2010 9:20 PM, Roger Howard wrote:
>>> I had a friend who had a triple heart bypass. They gave him the bill
>>> for loadsa money, assuming he would pay it over a long period of time.
>>> When he said he was paying cash outright, it cost a tiny fraction of
>>> the amount the bill was for.
--
Fred Goldstein k1io fgoldstein "at" ionary.com
ionary Consulting http://www.ionary.com/
+1 617 795 2701
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