LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth |
CAMP Fitness |
by Rick Moore |
I really didn't think I would become an "activist," but if you didn't catch my last column, I've ruffled some feathers. It was a very controversial essay that's brought me a lot of feedback, most of it positive. It was about the drug companies manipulating doctors to prescribe expensive prescription drugs. This week, I have to get something else off my chest, because it's my number one complaint: health insurance companies, and how they're blatantly ripping us off. Obviously, the government has done nothing, state or federal. I know a number of small business owners locally who have been dropped by their health insurance companies, or who are paying more for their health insurance now than they are for their home mortgages. Dave and I have been affected by this as well. We could own a new Cadillac for what we're paying each month. A few years ago, the insurance company doubled the premium on our group coverage, forcing us to switch to individual plans. And for the past two years, these individual plans have continued to shoot up. In fact, they are trying to raise my premium 75%. If you think that's bad, I've been told, "Wait until next year." To cope, I've had to raise my deductible and reduce my coverage. So I'm paying more for less. What's the cause of all this? I hear all sorts of explanations. One of the main ones is that insurance companies want to become more and more profitable, so they're merging into mega-companies and denying coverage for anyone who's not 100% healthy. But here are some other factors pushing up the cost of coverage: Expensive prescription drugs. All those ads on TV, radio, and in magazines (often featuring has-been celebrities) aren't cheap. The cost of all those ads and marketing to doctors is now factored into the price of prescription drugs. The ads also make people demand drugs they don't need. Unnecessary care. The doctor doesn't make any money unless you're being treated, and he or she is running a business, after all. They also have to practice "defensive medicine," because they don't want a lawyer asking why a certain test wasn't performed. So they throw in the kitchen sink. Lawsuits. If you watch daytime TV, you'd think everyone were a victim of a "medical mistake." The problem is, people today think that if they have something wrong with them or they don't get cured like they think they should, it's someone else's fault. Sometimes it is, but most of the time, it's not. The verdicts are getting higher and higher, allowing the lawyers to make more and more money, attracting new lawyers and new "victims," etc., etc. This has caused malpractice insurance to triple for some doctors, including one I know. Aging population with bad health habits. There's no way around it. As people get older, they tend to get sick more often and with more expensive illnesses like cancer and heart disease. The baby boomers are getting older and fatter and demanding more care, and as a result, health insurance is paying out more in claims. Delaware has become the "new Florida" with all the retirees locating here. It's one of the reasons that Sussex County was "re-rated" by the insurance companies to be a much higher risk, so it now costs more to buy insurance here. Heroic care. Elderly patients reaching the end of their lives are often treated with heroic care that drives up costs without improving quality of life. In our society, you can't die of old age anymore. Even though death comes for everyone, we deny the fact that it is a natural process. It might sound cruel, but you just don't see that type of treatment offered in Canada or Europe, where there's national health care. People who don't pay. You don't get treated very well if you don't have any money or insurance, but you do get treated for emergencies. The trouble is, as insurance has gotten more expensive, fewer people have it, forcing the medical establishment to raise prices for people who can pay. It's called cost shifting. They also tend to pad the bills for people who have insurance. For example, it's not unusual for families to be billed for services supposedly performed weeks after a loved one had actually died. So, where do we go from here? At the current rate, no one who owns a small business or who has an individual policy will be able to afford coverage within a few years. Only the rich or those who work for large companies or the government will have any coverage at all. An uninsured person who spends a week in the hospital could easily be forced into bankruptcy and lose everything. I don't think that's an acceptable situation for our country. There will be a lot of needless human suffering if people can't get health care. In fact, there already is. It makes me angry that we've gotten to this point. Everybody should be covered by some type of national health care, like Canada and Britain have. People shouldn't be dropped by their insurance company just because they get sick or have a pre-existing condition, but that's now the case. I recognize that national health care would have its own, different set of problems from what we have now. But overall, I think it would be a huge improvement. It probably won't happen, though. The special interest lobbies are just too strong. The doctors, lawyers, and drug companies in this country would never consent to a change in the status quo. Wouldn't it be great if Delaware enacted some sort of statewide coverage so that everybody is insured fairly? People need to contact their elected officials to voice their concerns. If Delaware is the First State, why can't we be the first to do this?Rick Moore is a personal trainer certified by the American Fitness Professionals & Associates. Visit his club, Rick's Fitness & Health, in Milton, Delaware or www.ricksfitness.net, or call 302-684-3669. |
LETTERS From CAMP Rehoboth, Vol. 12, No. 06, May 31, 2002 |