Insurance companies & medical benefits in the US

[KSagal]

These last few postings example my points better than my long winded diatribe.

Several people have stepped up to demonstrate that they will not be dependent on the decisions of Bureaucrats, but instead will determine what is best for their own situation, and make it happen. That is all I was trying to say.

Considering the way Insurance companies pay for (and much worse how the government pays for) items that can be far more efficiently purchased by individuals, I believe that there must be a better way...

Using the example of the walker, for every segway that eventually gets approved by government or insurance purchase, six or more could have been purchased if individuals had done the purchasing...

[falerna]

Since we arrived at a medical insurance discussion, I would like to offer my experience.

Five years ago I became disabled via some very serious surgery, hence my need for a Segway (with aid through the state of Pennsylvania because it got me back to work/paying taxes/etc.). My insurance company paid for the main medical bills (which were substantial), but sent me home as a zombie with minimal rehabilitation. Why? Cost. To ask them for a Segway would have been ridiculous. We had to fight tooth and nail with them to get me back for 30 days in-patient rehab, which got me to this point. So I don't see insurance companies ever paying for a Segway.

In this very contentious health care debate, who would I trust more to give me the care I need? Not private insurers. They are motivated by profit only. My story has been repeated thousands of times. While the federal government is inefficient and wasteful, at least I feel I would get a fair chance at medical assistance because I needed it, and not denied for the purpose of increasing profits. Inefficiency and wastefulness can be corrected; a culture of greed cannot.

So let the discussions begin . . .

[Pkelley]

Profit is the engine of innovation. You don't have to look varry far back in history to see that socialism spell misery of the masses.

[Alanmcd]

Originally Posted by falerna

Since we arrived at a medical insurance discussion, I would like to offer my experience.

Five years ago I became disabled via some very serious surgery, hence my need for a Segway (with aid through the state of Pennsylvania because it got me back to work/paying taxes/etc.). My insurance company paid for the main medical bills (which were substantial), but sent me home as a zombie with minimal rehabilitation. Why? Cost. To ask them for a Segway would have been ridiculous. We had to fight tooth and nail with them to get me back for 30 days in-patient rehab, which got me to this point. So I don't see insurance companies ever paying for a Segway.

In this very contentious health care debate, who would I trust more to give me the care I need? Not private insurers. They are motivated by profit only. My story has been repeated thousands of times. While the federal government is inefficient and wasteful, at least I feel I would get a fair chance at medical assistance because I needed it, and not denied for the purpose of increasing profits. Inefficiency and wastefulness can be corrected; a culture of greed cannot.

So let the discussions begin . . .

Our current government is "a culture of greed". You poor misguided soul.

-Alan

[KSagal]

Originally Posted by falerna

Since we arrived at a medical insurance discussion, I would like to offer my experience.

Five years ago I became disabled via some very serious surgery, hence my need for a Segway (with aid through the state of Pennsylvania because it got me back to work/paying taxes/etc.). My insurance company paid for the main medical bills (which were substantial), but sent me home as a zombie with minimal rehabilitation. Why? Cost. To ask them for a Segway would have been ridiculous. We had to fight tooth and nail with them to get me back for 30 days in-patient rehab, which got me to this point. So I don't see insurance companies ever paying for a Segway.

In this very contentious health care debate, who would I trust more to give me the care I need? Not private insurers. They are motivated by profit only. My story has been repeated thousands of times. While the federal government is inefficient and wasteful, at least I feel I would get a fair chance at medical assistance because I needed it, and not denied for the purpose of increasing profits. Inefficiency and wastefulness can be corrected; a culture of greed cannot.

So let the discussions begin . . .

From a perspective of one, your argument may make some sense. You see that the insurance company will see each and every bill of yours, and try to deny it, and the government will be wasteful but not care of your bills, so may pay more.

The truth is, that may actually be so, for a short time. Because the decision makers are not worried about profit, and the money they spend or waste or steal is not kept account of, and they are never held accountable for it, they may give it to you. But this is not because they want to give you a fair chance at medical assistance, it is because they are never held accountable. It is the same reason they will give up $700 per walker till all their money is gone, servicing 'X' number of people, instead of doing it the responsible way, pay 1/10th as much, and service 10'X' people. If you are among the X, you get your walker, and feel the government does a good job. IF you are in the 2 thru 10 'X' of people, you are forced to wait till another fiscal period, and the problem gets worse and worse.

Sometime the solution is to call and write and complain, and the government worker will do what they can to get the pain in the butt people off his case, but they only do this at the expense of others who have been waiting patiently.

In any case, once enough people take from any system, and the people who give into it stop giving, or stop producing, then the system fails. We are very much headed there now. Europe and many other socialistic societies are way ahead of us. Where is the USSR now? How would you feel depending on government services that come from the Greek government?

In any case, more people globally have been serviced and helped to a better life thru the positives of capitalism, than thru the positives of socialism. Think of the quality of life in the great socialistic societies, like the USSR and China. Think of the quality of life in the great capitalistic societies.

It is easy to bump into a tree, while looking for a forest.

I wish you well in your search for medical resources.

[Tarkus]

Originally Posted by falerna

Since we arrived at a medical insurance discussion, I would like to offer my experience.

Five years ago I became disabled via some very serious surgery, hence my need for a Segway (with aid through the state of Pennsylvania because it got me back to work/paying taxes/etc.). My insurance company paid for the main medical bills (which were substantial), but sent me home as a zombie with minimal rehabilitation. Why? Cost. To ask them for a Segway would have been ridiculous. We had to fight tooth and nail with them to get me back for 30 days in-patient rehab, which got me to this point. So I don't see insurance companies ever paying for a Segway.

In this very contentious health care debate, who would I trust more to give me the care I need? Not private insurers. They are motivated by profit only. My story has been repeated thousands of times. While the federal government is inefficient and wasteful, at least I feel I would get a fair chance at medical assistance because I needed it, and not denied for the purpose of increasing profits. Inefficiency and wastefulness can be corrected; a culture of greed cannot.

So let the discussions begin . . .

Hello falerna . Im a l4 para treated at The Mayo Clinic in Ontario......no wait in mean Jacksonville. I get confused by all the Canadian plates in the parking lot. Seems strange these folks would pay when all they need is provided by their government.......

I've had the pleasure of talking with many and the stories of why they chose to go outside the system. They run the gamut but one that sticks in my mind is a guy in his forties being treated for prostate cancer. He was diagnosed quickly and then found the first treatment would be almost six months off with a doctor of their choice.

We can't get the US Govememt to buy Segways for blown up , shot up, burnt up service members. People who left pieces of themselves on the battlefield . What do you think the chances of them giving me or you one are.

Just my own experience .

Be Big,
AMAC

[eJM]

Isn't there a way to work around that insurance thing? How 'bout the doc prescribes a motorized wheelchair or a 3/4-wheel scooter. Then you pick up the device and promptly sell it and put that money toward the cost of a Segway.

Is it a violation of some sort for the owner of a scooter or wheelchair to sell it? Hmmm.

Jim

[Tarkus]

Originally Posted by eJM

Isn't there a way to work around that insurance thing? How 'bout the doc prescribes a motorized wheelchair or a 3/4-wheel scooter. Then you pick up the device and promptly sell it and put that money toward the cost of a Segway.

Is it a violation of some sort for the owner of a scooter or wheelchair to sell it? Hmmm.

Jim

Lol nice thought.

Yes it's a violation, it's considered fraud so I would not suggest taking that route.

Be Big,
AMAC

[falerna]

I also think that would be illegal, but I think you could buy five Segways for the price of one electric wheelchair

[eJM]

Originally Posted by Tarkus

Lol nice thought.

Yes it's a violation, it's considered fraud so I would not suggest taking that route.

Be Big,
AMAC

I'm surprised. I thought someone could do whatever they want with a mobility device, after they become the owner of it. What if some time passed, like a year later, and the owner decided to sell it? Then they decide to buy something with the money. Whatever they buy - clothes, food, an iPad or a Segway - wouldn't they have the right to do that? Or is a mobility aide supposed to be owned by the patient for life?

It doesn't seem fraudulent to me, unless a person lied to a doctor to get a prescription for the device. If the person was incapacitated and the doctor felt a mobility aide was necessary and it was covered by insurance, what makes the patient required to use it or even keep it?

Heck, I've been prescribed several devices over the years (leg braces, crutches, a shower seat, etc.) and I didn't use any one of them for more than a week, some never. No one has asked me to take inventory or account for them at any time. I still have all of them, but if I sold any of them at a yard sale or on eBay, would I be breaking a law? I tried to return a nebulizer once and they said they couldn't take it back unless it was defective and then they would just give me one that worked.

I'm a little confused about this. Would an insurance company actually know, and if they did, would they take you to court for exchanging one mobility device for another? Would a judge find you guilty of fraud, or just trying to manage your own disability?

Jim