I hope that something good comes of all of this.
Hopefully people will be forced to look at the price of healthcare. Not just the insurance premiums, but at the actual cost of medical care.
For example, once people meet their deductible, they don't care what things cost, it's going to be covered by insurance. But now with these high deductibles, it will take much longer to meet it and people will be paying out of pocket until it is met.
Drugs? It is out of hand. Don't even get me started on cholesterol meds. Billions of dollars are spent annually on meds that people could control with lifestyle changes and a just plain 'I'm not going to take cholesterol meds to lower my cholesterol from 210 to 199'. If the co-pay is higher on meds, people will think twice about taking them.
Got a sore throat? Now people run to the doc, get antibiotics. But if there is a big co-pay for both the visit and the drugs, maybe people will wait a day or 2 to see if it will get better. Right now I am teetering on a sinus infection. I am pretty sure it's viral. I am going to wait 1 more day (I've been sick since Saturday, low grade fever to begin with, but none since) before I seek medical attention. I have insurance but I am not one to run to the doc for anything.
And a question. If we have the UCA, why do we still need medicare and medicaid? Why don't they eliminate these programs and put them on the same program as everyone else? Because the medical treatment for these programs is unlimited, people will take advantage. They don't have to pay for it, so why not? People on insurance play the exact same game so I am not just disparaging the needy.
I can remember arguing with people on Medicare about lab work. They would DEMAND that we check their entire blood panel each time they came in for a visit, many for 5 or more times per year. This was back in the 80's before Medicare clamped down on the excessive testing. They said "it's free, why shouldn't I have it"?
Hopefully people will become less likely to have unnecessary procedures done. For example, my husband had a ruptured Achilles tendon. Our doc, not prone to excessive testing, asked my husband if he wanted an MRI. My husband asked if it would affect the treatment in any way. The doc said,' well, no'. So my husband asked 'then why have it?' The doc smiled and said 'all right then!'.
If you look at the price of elective surgery (market driven, cash basis), that is the way I hope regular medical care will become. People will ask about prices, necessity and be savvy when it comes to medical care.
We have a local medical practice that takes no insurance. They have people coming to them who are on medicare and medicaid and regular insurance. These patients find that the prices are low, the time it takes to get an appointment and the care is so much better than the typical clinic, or doc office.
http://www.acchealth.com/
At our practice we want to encourage wellness so when you have an Annual Comprehensive Preventative Screening Physical Exam ($449), scheduling of your office visits for the following 12 months will only be a $20 fee and most basic lab work or provider visits will not be any additional charge*
Basic lab work include annual screening labs typically ordered for routine physical exams and for diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and hypertension followups. Specifically: Annual Pap Smear, cholesterol panel, complete blood count, thyroid screen(TSH), Complete Metabolic Panel(glucose, creatinine, liver function tests), urinalysis, Quarterly Hemoglobin A1C for diabetics,and annual PSA(prostate cancer screening test)
I worked in healthcare for 30+ years and I've seen it all. Off my soapbox now.....