Michigan's uninsured: The scope of the problem

Remember these are (0.00 / 0)

average costs. There is a big difference between what large corporations pay (because they have buying power, or self-insure) and what small businesses pay for health care coverage.

These average costs are also not for "Traditional BC/BS" that we were all once used to getting as a benefit. Today those of use who are lucky enough to get health care as a benefit, get less today and we also have higher deductables and co-pays.

"The truth is rarely pure and never simple." The Importance of Being Earnest, Act I, Oscar Wilde, 1895

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by: Cordelia Lear @ Tue Jan 31, 2006 at 06:25:06 AM UTC

Exactly right (n/t) (0.00 / 0)

"Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never." - Winston S. Churchill

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by: matt @ Tue Jan 31, 2006 at 12:16:11 PM UTC

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Gouging of uninsured (0.00 / 0)

A few years ago when I needed some big-time dentistry (root canal, crown, etc.), I ended up driving to Windsor in Canada to get it done by a University of Michigan graduated dentist who was a few hundred dollars cheaper out of pocket than the local dentists in the USA for an uninsured student like me.  I'm not a big lover of dentists to start with ... but the striking difference in prices paid by, say, Delta Dental insured folks and the rest of us is dumbfounding.

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by: jimwhitaker @ Tue Jan 31, 2006 at 14:37:05 PM UTC

Fine reporting, Matt (0.00 / 0)

Please keep up the good work on this.  I would love to see a trail of bread crumbs (with accompanying dollar amounts) on a typical health insurance claim--who touches it, how many times, how much it costs in overheads each time it passes through someone's hands, and who really makes a profit.  There's so much bad  information out there, with doctors blaming the lawyers while the hospitals, health insurance carriers, and malpractice carriers always seem to dodge the issue.

Another good topic would be an unbiased comparison of our system with Canada's single payer system.  I drop into the Health Care Blog from time to time; they have something up on this subject this week:  http://matthewholt.net/2003/11/policy-oh-canada.html

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by: eartha651 @ Tue Jan 31, 2006 at 16:36:18 PM UTC

Old link (0.00 / 0)

The Canada piece is 2003, but here's the current link to the blog:  http://www.thehealthcareblog.com/

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by: eartha651 @ Tue Jan 31, 2006 at 16:46:59 PM UTC

[ Parent ]