Insurance Thoughts

I was wondering what to blog on since I've not been stimulated these last few days to jot anything down on topics I do not find interesting.... blah. blah. blah... And here I though August was the 'dog days'.

But then I clicked on the link for a commenter at one of my 'daily fares' , my so called blog. Lachlan's been having a spot of bad karma lately, but she's showing her true Midwest spirit by either kickin' ass or taking names. Any way, the commenter, Mark, has a site called Tangent to Reality . So, being the kind and courteous type, I thought I'd check it out and found an interesting topic; one that stimulated that little kernel of a brain... Healthcare Insurance Rant.

Awrighty then...Now this is something that piques my interest. As mentioned previously, I've worked in the Healthcare industry for about 20 yrs. Now while I may not be on the front line of HC (doctor, nurse, MT, MLT, et al) , I am closely tied to them by both marriage (the better half is a MedTech at a local hospital) and career ( PM for Electonic Medical Records division) so I live this shit every day. So when folks have a hard time with Insurance Carriers, I totally understand. I, too, feel they are the parasites of society. After all, while they may profess not to take 'pre-existing' conditions, they will do nothing to prevent illness and disease. In my lab, we just run the tests. We have no control over what is ordered nor why. Yet, most of the time we are the ones required to 'collect' payment. This saves the provider the trouble of having to bill the patient. While propagating the fallacy of the abusive Healthcare Industry... After all, who likes to get a notice from the Lab or Hospital saying their Insurance Carrier has denied 20% of their bill, but since it's been requested by the physician, we are required to perform the requested tests if the required ICD-9 (diagnosis codes).

See our problem? It's the lab who is caught in the middle. . . but the patient suffers if they have to pay a bill they were not expecting and will be more than happy to blame the lab and not the physician who ordered the test!!!

Now a word from our Libertarian sponsor. . . Can any of you tell me just when it became the responsibility of the employer to provide health insurance ? ? ? Anyone??? Well, it came about during FDR's grand scheme of a greater society. But let's think about this...What or who decides the employer is responsible for their employee's healthcare? Shouldn't it be your responsibility? But until the dreaded Insurance Carriers adjust their costs for the self-insured, nothing will happen and all will suffer. Believe it or not we do have the best health care in the world, we just have to pay or supplement the Insurance Carriers to provide it.

Insurance = Legalized Loan Sharking