Obesity and health costs.

[Casull]

Yep, Mcwoodduck, I hear what you are saying.  But, what about the rest of my examples?  Where will it stop?  At what point would you (or someone else) object?  All a matter of degree.

[mechanic]

In a constitutional world, or one that applies the US constitution, the feds have NO BUSINESS WHATSOEVER involved in healthcare to any degree.  It should be consumer based period.  If someone's obesity costs money, it should be their money.
 
Now the feds will control what we eat and how we eat......which is also none of their business.
 
We shouldn't even be having this conversation about healthcare in this manner.
 
When I was a young man, my health care cost $35.00 a month, and paid 100%.
 
Ben

[mcwoodduck]

Yep, Mcwoodduck, I hear what you are saying.  But, what about the rest of my examples?  Where will it stop?  At what point would you (or someone else) object?  All a matter of degree.

I do not know the statistical data that would show cancer runs in families and that it is genetic and that the other side of the family would not cancel it out.
But you are getting back to what I would like.  I want a medical savings account and a cancer, hit by a buss kind of insurance.  Let me dump moneyu into a medical saving account and pay the doctor with it, and pay $200 a year or so for a catasrophy policy and make my own desicions of what to do with my life nad health.  I do not like the State, mandating I need to do this or that, I do not like the feds or the insurance company knowing what is going on between me and my doctor.  Doctors have privledge but an Insurance company does not. 
The more you demand of the insurance the more it will cost.  The more it costs the more you demand of it and feel riped off if you do not use it, creating longer lines at the doctors, cause for $12 I sure as heck am going to the doctors and he is writting me a script for the good stuff, no generic cause I paid so much a month.

[Casull]

Mcwoodduck, you are spot on with one of the biggest problems with healthcare INSURANCE and that is the mindset that it should cover every cent.  Medical insurance should cover the big stuff.  However, for some reason, people nowadays think that there is something wrong with paying for a doctor visit, or a prescription.  A friend of mine worked for the state.  His insurance covered doctor's visits with a $2 (yes, $2 co-pay).  His wife would take his girls in every time one of them sneezed.  I'm talking virtually every month, sometimes more than once a month.  She actually complained when the co-pay was raised to $5 per visit.  I, on the other, had my own private major medical policy, and when my daughter or wife needed to see a doctor, I paid the $40 or $50 for the visit.  I could afford those visits, what I could NOT afford would be a $300,000 or $400,000 hospital stay.  Funny how people will pay $100 for a tune up on their car, but balk at paying $50 for a doctor's visit.

[mcwoodduck]

Yep. 
I did something stupid and had the old insurance card in my pocket, the new insurance card was at home and did not know who the company was.
Well long story short I paid for the doctors visit out of pocket.
Recieved an X ray, 2 perscriptions, and some bandages.
I wrote a check and then asked what my co-pay would have been if i still had the old insurance card.
The Co-pay was $15 more than actually paying for the visit.
Later I asked the doctor why and he said that the insurance gets padded to cover the cost of an office worker that just does insurance claims and they usually only pay a percentage of the total bill.

[mcwoodduck]

Yep. 
I did something stupid and had the old insurance card in my pocket, the new insurance card was at home and did not know who the company was.
Well long story short I paid for the doctors visit out of pocket.
Recieved an X ray, 2 perscriptions, and some bandages.
I wrote a check and then asked what my co-pay would have been if i still had the old insurance card.
The Co-pay was $15 more than actually paying for the visit.
Later I asked the doctor why and he said that the insurance gets padded to cover the cost of an office worker that just does insurance claims and they usually only pay a percentage of the total bill.

. Nope...not exactly the case. Uninsured out of pocket payers most always pay more for services.  Insured get group rates from HC insurance bulk buying/negotiations....Visits to your primary doctor are always figured on a discounted basis by HC insuer-- doctor agreements and so on, right down to setting a broken arm, or tonsilectomy, etc....Thats the whole point! .Uninsured are always billed about twice what HC insurers pay for same service.
.
..TM7

I wrote a check for $200 bucks.
I was told I would have had to write a co pay of 215 for the same services.
The Hospital was a different story when I went there to get a tetnus shot that was one of the prescriptions, they told me $50 for the shot and then sent me a bill for $350 more for the examination I told them I did not need and kept handing them the prescription.  I let my Health insurance deal with them.
But since you were not there you know.  I may have gotten a deal.  I may have had pitty taken on me, I may have gotten a discount as I was called and there was a guy there with something in his eye I said got to go ahead of me.

[Sourdough]

OK, I admit I did not read most of what has been said.  it started getting argumentative so I skipped over it.

What I have to say is that yesterday I was listening to the radio going into town.  Rush was on talking about this same issue.  Got me to thinking about how we Americans eat.  Then I thought about how Europeans and people in the Middle East eat.  I went to restaurants in Turkey, Northern Italy, Greece, Spain, and France, the servings were tiny in comparison to what we got here in the US.  But you know I dropped a few pounds and stayed trim the entire time I was over there.  Everywhere I went seeing obese people was not the rule. 

Now Germany was a different story.  Most Germans were heavy, like Americans.  Too much American influence after the War maybe.  Or possiably we got it from the Germans that came to the New World, and brought their customs with them. 

Anyway we Americans eat too much.  I know I'm guilty.  I weigh 240lbs, this morning.  I should weigh 180lbs.  Several Doctors have told me, if I get my weight under control many of my health problems would go away.  My diabities, sleep apenia, problems with my knees and back, would either go away or be significantly reduced.

Started working on it last week, at 247 lbs.  I'm eating 1100 calories a day at present.  I have a little book, and everything that passes my lips gets written down.  At the end of the day I look up the calories and carbohydrate numbers and write them down.  Then I add them up.  I'm adding a colomn for colestrol.  That makes me aware of what and how much I am eating.  I pass up the cookies at lunch, or the doughnut when I stop for coffee as I drive into town.  Breakfast and dinner has gotten smaller.  Lunch at Denny's has gone from Steak and mashed potatoes to a salad.  When we went out to eat this last weekend, Sky ordered two entreys to get the protein he wanted.  The wife ordered a Chicken dinner.  I had a salad.  Sky is beginning to look like the guys on the front of the body building magazines.  5'6" and 180lbs solid muscle.  The wife is a 4'11" Chunky Monkey, and I point that out to her every day.  I'm 6'2" 240 this morning, got a long way to go yet.  Wife said when I get below 200 she will start working on her weight, Yea Right.  We will see.

[charles p]

The purpose of any insurance coverage is to protect you from an unknown event.  For instance, you do not purchase insurance for known events or wear and tear.  But government has come along and forced insurance companies to cover many "knowns".  A good example is a Pap smear and mammogram (not picking on females).  These are known expense that prudent families should prepare for because it is uneconomical to insure against them.  They occur over and over at regular intervals.  Why would someone pay an insurance company $200 each year to pay their $100 charge for these procedures - but it happens.  It is a mandatory coverage.  What has happened to insurance is that the government and special interest groups have mandated extra coverage, thus running the claims rate up and causing premiums to increase.  When I sold group medical insurance, any claim rate over 50% was unprofitable to the company, because overhead and commissions ate up the other 50%.  So the cost to insure every known event became 200% of the customary cost of each event on top of the cost to insurance against the unknown events.
 
Go figure.  Our government is saving us money!

[KIMBER45]

OK, I admit I did not read most of what has been said.  it started getting argumentative so I skipped over it.

What I have to say is that yesterday I was listening to the radio going into town.  Rush was on talking about this same issue.  Got me to thinking about how we Americans eat.  Then I thought about how Europeans and people in the Middle East eat.  I went to restaurants in Turkey, Northern Italy, Greece, Spain, and France, the servings were tiny in comparison to what we got here in the US.  But you know I dropped a few pounds and stayed trim the entire time I was over there.  Everywhere I went seeing obese people was not the rule. 

Now Germany was a different story.  Most Germans were heavy, like Americans.  Too much American influence after the War maybe.  Or possiably we got it from the Germans that came to the New World, and brought their customs with them. 

Anyway we Americans eat too much.  I know I'm guilty.  I weigh 240lbs, this morning.  I should weigh 180lbs.  Several Doctors have told me, if I get my weight under control many of my health problems would go away.  My diabities, sleep apenia, problems with my knees and back, would either go away or be significantly reduced.

Started working on it last week, at 247 lbs.  I'm eating 1100 calories a day at present.  I have a little book, and everything that passes my lips gets written down.  At the end of the day I look up the calories and carbohydrate numbers and write them down.  Then I add them up.  I'm adding a colomn for colestrol.  That makes me aware of what and how much I am eating.  I pass up the cookies at lunch, or the doughnut when I stop for coffee as I drive into town.  Breakfast and dinner has gotten smaller.  Lunch at Denny's has gone from Steak and mashed potatoes to a salad.  When we went out to eat this last weekend, Sky ordered two entreys to get the protein he wanted.  The wife ordered a Chicken dinner.  I had a salad.  Sky is beginning to look like the guys on the front of the body building magazines.  5'6" and 180lbs solid muscle.  The wife is a 4'11" Chunky Monkey, and I point that out to her every day.  I'm 6'2" 240 this morning, got a long way to go yet.  Wife said when I get below 200 she will start working on her weight, Yea Right.  We will see.

Every exchange student that I know of gained at least 15 pounds after staying in America for 12 months. They say it's the type of food and the amount of food we eat. One from Germany thought it strange that we would drive from one end of a stip mall to the other. He said in Europe they wouid walk that distance.
When my wife had health problems, she started to eat better and exercise. Most of her health issues have gone away because of eating right and exercise.

[mechanic]

Sometimes what one would think were routine diagnostic procedures are anything but.  Several years ago my Dr. kept insisting on a colonoscopy until I scheduled one.  My out of pocket was $5,000.  They had to remove some polyps.   My insurance has a $5,000 deduct. and a 40%.  For this insurance I pay over $400.00 per month now, just on myself. 
 
I wonder if I had told them I was uninsured if I could have negotiated a better deal?
 
Ben