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Jujitsu is cool! It's all about getting out of holds and throwing people down. Ok. I'm sure there's more to it than that, but that was what my lesson was about.
However, twice during the class my big toe caught on the mat and rolled under my foot. The second time it happened, I was in the process of throwing my instructor down, and I had lifted him onto my hip. So the combined weight of him and I was too much for my poor toe.
Later that night I felt it. It swelled a little, but really started to hurt. Being stubborn and proud, I didn't listen when my husband urged me to go to the doctor. It's a toe for goodness sakes!! What could they possibly do for me anyway...
I finally conceded and taped the toe flat and straight with a tongue depressor cut in half. I did that for a couple of weeks, but that was REALLY inconvenient! After about four weeks, I was beginning to feel like it had fully healed, and healed well. I went back to Taekwondo.
That was a mistake! I was doing very well, but halfway through the class I kicked the paddle my instructor was telling me to kick, and I felt my toe give. Instantly, I knew that I'd made a mistake!
I went back to limping and taking it easy. I didn't re-tape it, but I was definitely being careful.
A week later, and it's actually feeling worse than it did when I first damaged it. So today I swallowed my pride and went to the doctor. My doctor sent me off for x-rays.
I have health insurance. Thankfully. But I intentionally have a plan with a high deductible, which I pair with an HSA account that we contribute to for small expenses, like prescriptions and office visits. It makes me very conscientious of what we go to the doctor for, or the price we pay for prescriptions. So, knowing I'd be paying for it, I asked for the cost of the x-rays.
This is what she tells me: If I pay cash (had no insurance), the cost would be $170. Since I have insurance, and they have a contract with my insurance company, the cost is $213. I asked her if I could pay cash, and submit the paperwork to my insurance company myself. She said no, because that would be breaking the contract they had with my insurance company.
Seriously?
I know that billing the insurance company costs money. However, I offered to do the paperwork myself. $43. I now have to pay an extra $43 because of a contract between the imaging company and my insurance provider. Could this be why the costs of insurance premiums are so high? And getting higher. This was just a $200 x-ray. What if it had been a $5,000 procedure. Would they tack on an extra 25% to that too? That's $1,250.
Do you have any idea what it costs when you go to the doctor? Or get an x-ray? Or get blood drawn?
Perhaps, if we were more aware of what's going on behind the scenes, we'd be better able to fight for a healthcare plan that would benefit everyone.
6 comments:
Perhaps if the health insurance companies were regulated and werent allowed to do this kind of thing, or perhaps if doctors were regulated to contol the prices of thier procedures then we would have better and more accessable healthcare. Oh, right..that would be government interferance...Oh, right...that would be Socialist. God forbid the citizens of the USA have equal access to resources. I mean all those poor people wouldn't be poor anymore...what would we do with them??
I'll take an order of Bank Bail Outs with a side of Forclosure Assistance, please. Oh and the 8K new home purchase assistance for dessert.
debi
Ah... But that IS what government is for! To regulate to protect the individual against the greater power of the large corporation.
It's interesting that people think that the government should PROVIDE the service, instead of regulating when they see fraudulent practices happening.
It is NOT for the government to protect and assist the large corporations. It is NOT for the government to jump in and save capitalists when they greedily make bad decisions.
And the government SHOULD use tax breaks to jump start the economy because the government should NOT be taxing as unevenly and fraudulently as they do. As long as greedy people are given the keys to the vault, there will always be UNFAIR taxation to pad their pockets.
The United States is a Republic. Just like France. France's Healthcare is mostly paid for by the government and was ranked top in the world. Everyone pays a premium but the "inusrance oompanies" are NOT FOR PROFIT. They have to negotiate their rates with the government. I do not understand how that is PROVIDING the service. The people are still paying into it at a rate they can afford and receiving excellent health care.
They will give 8k to people that buy a house they still wont be able to afford, IF they have the money to put down a minimum of 3%. How is that helping the "poor"? They are POOR, they do not have 5K laying around to put down on a house!
But they won't help me pay 4K in healthcare premiums a year? and this make sense to the American people how?
The 8K rebate is not to help the poor, it is to incentivize people to buy a house who have been sitting on the fence.
I agree that insurance companies should be non-profit. Thus the fraud. I think that if government were truly interested in preventing fraud, then they would not have given the insurance companies exemptions from anti-trust laws, would limit the influence of corporate lobbies on shaping law, and would also not use taxes as a way of manipulating capitalism.
I think there is much that can be changed about our healthcare system, and it is my opinion that a lot of it is due to greed, both corporate greed and individual entitlement.
I can not imagine what it is like for people like yourselves having to worry about costs of healthcare! I live in the UK and we have the National Health Service. Believe me its not super nor great but it gets the job done. Our prescriptions are just one set price per item and many people get prescriptions free through exemptions such as jobseekers allowance and so on. I've watched a documentary concerning the US health system and it appalled me to be honest (no offence). I think the doc was called 'Sicko' not too sure tho. I have an open mind but if your healthcare is a small percentage of what was shown i feel for the american people. I could never imagine hesitating over treating an ailment due to the cost! Do children need insurance too? And what happens if you have no insurance and no money?!
Thank you Gypsy82 for a different perspective.
There is no good answer to healthcare. But choosing to not go to the doctor in order to save the expense is one of the many reasons our healthcare system is in chaos.
Children do not automatically have insurance, but there are more options for children. The toughest place to be in is in the lower middle class, where you don't make enough to afford insurance, but make too much to qualify for free healthcare.
Something must be done. There's no doubt of that. The question is how to do it right.
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