Who's the Putz with Obamacare?

I feel like a putz.

I have been self-employed for more than two decades, and thus have purchased my own health insurance. I always bought the highest deductible allowed to minimize my premiums, so in effect, self-insured for all but catastrophic illness or injury.

I have not filed a single health claim since the mid-80's -- until recently -- and boy did I ever get an education in the health care industry.

Typically I spent several thousand dollars a year on health care. A complete blood work up ran me close to $400. An unexpected injury visit to the doc could run $200-$250. Regular doctor visits typically cost $160 -$185.

To save everyone a lot of paperwork, I just handed over my credit card after each visit, figuring if I should ever hit my deductible one year, I would file everything then. In the meantime, look how considerate I was to save the doc's and insurance company all that unnecessary work.

I don't even remember why I finally handed over my insurance card, but did I ever get a "Stupid Tax" education. As a cash payer, with no paperwork to file, I paid full retail all these years. Now that I am filing, here are a couple of recent bills:

1. Annual checkup - Billed $225.00: Insurance company lopped off $87.62, paid $128.63 (which I didn't realize they would) and my bill came to $8.75. Savings: $216.25, or 96%.
2. Lab bill - $95.00: Insurance company refuses $62.32 and paid the $32.68 balance, though I don't know why since I didn't hit my deductible. Savings 100%.

Summary: last two medical bills totalled $320, which I would have paid back when I was the nice, considerate cash payer. Now that the doctors have to do all the paperwork and wait for the money, I only paid $8.75, or only 2.7%, even though I never came close to hitting my $3500 deductible last year.

Conclusions:
Let's set aside the lunacy of financially punishing the cash payer for a moment. Let's instead consider the fact that by using my insurance card, I felt virtually no financial pain for seeing the doctor. Sounds like what's being promised with the Obamacare bill. Everyone gets fabulous health coverage for less money. The only problem with the numbers, is that since everyone has to sign up, there won't be any putz's like me to subsidize the rest. The numbers simply cannot add up without either skyrocketing rates or rationed health care.

Where's the Beef?

Maybe I missed it, but I haven't seen much ink on taking personal responsibility for one's health. Don't get me wrong: if you want to eat a 3/4 pounder double bacon cheeseburger, I certainly don't want to take that pleasure away from you. But for those of you that do so daily, should the folks that take that same lunch hour to go to the gym be paying for your excessive health care costs?

An article in today's New York Times talks about how one reason our health care costs are so much higher than other countries is because we are fat. My neighbor, a refugee from Serajevo, said his family was shocked when they arrived in America. In movies, everyone was thin and there is no doubt that here in Eastern NC, we are a large lot.

I personally believe that in order for us to reduce health care costs, people need a combo carrot and stick approach. You get a better rate for certain behavioral activities like working out or maintaining a decent cholesterol, etc., and maybe a higher copayment if you smoke.

The fact of the matter is that we cannot afford to give everyone all of the health care they want, and hard choices have to be made. A free market system is, in my mind the way to go, but perhaps we can add some personal accountability to the equation.

Hold Them Accountable

Yesterday while working, I was thinking about how our Senators and Congressmen these days seem to hold themselves up on an elevated level above other Americans.

They routinely vote themselves nice perks and pensions, and now as they debate the most important bill in our lifetime, the Health Care Reform Bill, most have decided that they will not vote to forgo the Federal Employees Health Benefit Program that so richly covers them and their families and instead join the plan they deem good enough for us taxpayers. THIS IS WRONG! They should live under the same standards that they hold us accountable to and live under any mandates that they dictate for us.

I propose that Americans petition our Senators and Congressmen to add a 28th Amendment to our Constitution that reads:

"Senators and Congressmen must include themselves in any mandate required of American citizens."

Those of you that agree, I encourage you to sign a petition I've started stating:

I want my federal representatives to pass a Constitutional Amendment that ensures that Senators and Congressmen must include themselves in any mandate required of American citizens. I commit that I will not vote to elect or re-elect any member who refuses to support such an amendment.

Here's the link to the webpage I set up. Sign it and send the link to all of your email contacts and ask them to consider signing it. Let's use the power of the internet to raise our collective voices to corral our politicians and make them accountable to us.

When I was in college, my professor said that the "Sleeping Giant" was China. He was wrong. It is the American People and we are starting to wake up.