Anyone have a Christian Medshare policy?

[MoKelly]

I'm not saying that anybody should quit their job for better health care, but it should be something to think about if that option is available.

Along the same lines, I know a good amount of guys who would retire if they could get decent health care coverage for themselves and their wife at an affordable price.

But they cannot.

So, they cannot retire until Medicare kicks in. It’s not a happy place to be stuck.

 

[Snobdds]

So around 2000, BCBS wanted to make the healthcare market, act more like a true market, with true transparency. Healthcare is the only market where, you have no idea what you will pay going in, have no idea what you will pay when you leave, and only know the true cost a month later when the bill arrives. That is crazy.

So we tried to do "Consumer Driven Healthcare". This is just simply making prices known to the consumer. That is is. The hospital associations and the Doctor and nurses associations were at first on board. The plan was for health insurance companies to raise deductible amounts that made the out of pocket expenses enough that consumers would feel the need to price shop to get the best bang for their buck. On the provider side, hospitals and doctors were to develop pricing models that were provided to patients. We wanted consumers to take a more active role in the costs of their care, like other true markets. Simple right?

Well we did our part and developed all these new plans to have higher deductibles and costs shares to incentivize consumers to be aware of costs for their care. Literally two weeks before we went live, which keep in mind we had all the systems programed, litatiture printed, sales staff trained etc...the hospital association called and said they won't post prices. They said people would decline care if they knew what prices would cost. They were done.

It was a bait and switch. We had to keep all these high deductible plans and roll it out without the mechanism to make them work properly. To this day, they will fight tooth and nail to keep their prices under wraps. We project we could lower prices by 20%, just by simply making prices known.

There is a lot of ideas to make care more affordable. There are also a lot of ideas to keep healthcare expensive.

In the meantime we will continue do just plot down the path to insolvency.

 

[two_bit_score]

The stupidity of the issue is now such that people think Insurance is healthcare.

This is a true statement.

 

[Creamer]

Obviously, I've been diving down this whole healthcare rabbit hole with some idle time, but some of the stats and trends I've come across are truly eye opening and frightening. We're obviously on a trend that's unsustainable with the costs still significantly outpacing inflation. One statistic I found was healthcare increase projections for Europe, out to 2050, are expected to be 0.8%/year. While the United States is projected to increase by 7.9% to 2028.

As many on here have pointed out, there's a myriad of issues that have created the problems. From lifestyle issues (obesity, diabetes), tort reform, direct marketing of drugs, admin costs, patent reform, regulatory requirements etc. etc. But one thing is becoming crystal clear, it's unsustainable and is on-track to bankrupt the US government.

I truly believe that any reform is going to require an effort on a scale unlike any other this country has ever undertaken. Or, maybe with these medshare and medical group plans, there might be a slow groundswell shift in how our healthcare is administered and paid, but it's doubtful.

I think these groups are a great start as are the private doctors with prevention that somone mentioned above. It has to start somewhere and small and figure out how to topple the monster that the government has created with its regulation and special deals. Since my wife broke her hip a few years ago I can real many horrifying treatments and scams we have seen in the current system but the one thing that has disappeared from the health care industry is care - and that will be its downfall.

 

[ultrarunner]

I see a lot of care in healthcare everyday but my exposure is limited to the surgery unit…

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

We were so glad at 65 going on Medicare and we have Anthem Blue Cross supplemental but to me...my opinion is it's like pre-medicare we had appointments to see Dr. & all these tests but not so after Medicare. I'm thinking because the Dr. doesn't make as much money or maybe getting older it's like they don't care.
Just today in the mail we got notices about insurance rates increasing as well as deductible and higher out of pocket we have to pay.

 

[shooterdon]

According to this Harvard study, medical liability costs account for 2.4%, or $55.6B. A large number, but not as large of a contributor as I might have thought.

Medical Liability Costs in US

Cost of Defensive Medicine

The overuse of tests and procedures because of fear of malpractice litigation, known as defensive medicine,1 is estimated to cost $46 billion annually in the United States,2 but these costs have been measured only indirectly. We estimated the cost of defensive medicine on 3 hospital medicine...

jamanetwork.com

Medical defensive costs (unnecessary tests) are the huge part of the 55.6B. But what is not included are the premiums paid by medical professionals and hospitals for liability insurance. Insurance against ambulance chasers.

 

[milkman636]

I feel like US healthcare is just another example of the failure of our legislators. I understand when healthcare was made a "benefit" as a way to skirt wage caps during WW2 (1942 Stabilization Act). But why was it never repealed after the need had passed? I feel like it aided in removing the true consumer (the insured) from the actual costs.

Here's a really good article on the rising in costs in relation to years, societal changes and policies passed.

The Rising Costs of Health Care by Year

I’ve always wondered why health insurance is so tied to employment here in the US. It’s stupid that employers have to negotiate and manage healthcare care plans. That costs every employer money and time. Switching jobs or attracting employees would also be so much simpler if all that had to be considered were wages and PTO.

And it’s also stupid that we can lose health insurance simply by losing or quitting a job. No other insurance I have is tied to my job. I looked at the exchanges once to see if I could purchase my own insurance more competitively, but hit the eligibility wall as soon as I said my employer offered insurance. That was a non-starter, why??? Thats not a free market system at all.

 

[ultrarunner]

Goes back to offering perks to hire the labor required during WWII is my understanding.

An example in my region is Kaiser Industries offering liberty ship workers a health plan and fast forward into the next century and the legacy is Kaiser dominates Healthcare in the West…

Growing up we had no insurance… dad self employed and back then some of the neighbors with Kaiser were always complaining about how bad it was…

 

[milkman636]

The reality of our healthcare is anything but a free market. If I need to see a doctor there is only one choice, my primary care physician. I recently went through my doctor retiring and it’s pretty hard to find a local doctor that is accepting of new patients.

When I need something more done I go where he refers me. Without his referral the specialist and testing places won’t even schedule me an appointment.

My doctor is employed by the nearest hospital system. If a hospital is involved that’s the one we go to.

The whole mess gets billed to my employer sponsored insurance, that I pay partial cost for, and I get billed any cost they don’t cover.

There are no practical alternatives to any part of the equation that I know of, and I have no idea what anything costs until the dust settles. I really don’t see any choice other than skipping medical care, which does not usually end well.