our HMO copays have gone up

[flordehinojos]

From $10 to $15 for PCP; from $15 to $25 for specialist; Hospital ER is now $75 (it used to be $30)
and ... certain conditions or procedures previously covered are not now covered...and other procedures are limited to once a year (tough luck if you happen to a need a catscan or something like that more than once in a year).

[Bitwit1234]

1. And CEO's salaries have skyrocketed

how can republicans explain that.

[flordehinojos]

2. and a year or two ago one of the pharmaceutical companies donated a hefty sum of money to the

University of Miami School of music... all of which came, i am sure, out of the high priced cost of medicines and our hard earned dollars that we spend on buying them.

[bluedeminredstate]

3. Same with us.

I had to take my daughter to the ER the other night when she got kicked in the face with a soccer ball and I needed to get her eye checked out. It was too late for the urgent care center nearby, so we spent 3 1/2 hours waiting for her to be looked at. I had to check-in and check-out with the records/financial representative, and I swear the hag signing us out was under strict orders to detain me by all means possible until she got the co-pay! She was so demanding and rude, and while I had my checkbook and was able to pay without a problem, I felt sorry for the folks coming after me who might not be able to cough up what this battle ax was demanding.

The damn co-pay was $100!!! It used to be $25 and now they've quadrupled the cost of emergency care not to mention the higher co-pays on meds which goes as high as $35 if the med is a pricey one and the $300 co-pay on MRIs, $500 on hospitalizations, etc. I know we are lucky to have insurance, but we pay almost $1500 a month for it and do without other things in order to have the health insurance since being without it is not an option with my husband's medical issues.

I just can't believe what they charge for coverage, and they turn around and nickle and dime you on every single thing and many times refuse to pay the full amount of a bill because they think the doctor charged too much, or they just flat out refuse to allow a procedure/test/referral with no explanation. These companies are thieves and it is disgusting that we have reached the point that what used to be considered a quasi-public service (in that hospitals were not for-profit operations) is now a profit-making venture which is answerable to stockholders and not the sick and healthy people who pay a lot of money for their services.

:mad:

[flordehinojos]

5. medical care is an aggravation these days ... not so much because of the people

giving the care but because of the HMOs which are getting away with murder.

My husband had to go to the emergency room two days before Christmas (when the co-pays of last year were still valid). They didn't make him pay before being treated, but they made sure he paid his $30. copay before they released him.

(and to think that old poppy bush goes in and out of any hospital in the nation--he seems to visit every hospital in the nation that he can--as a patient for one reason or another--and probably doesn't cost him a penny, or if it does, he not only has the money to pay for it --which he probably doesn't and the insurance to cover it).

P.S. i hope your daughter's eye is okay.

[BluePatriot]

4. I dread getting sick

and now I am uneasy as it's possible I have a chronic, mild condition requiring monthly blood work and doctor visits. When will my insurance co. say I have had too many blood tests in a year? Too many visits? They are already starting with the nickel and dime stuff, and it's cruel because they know a lot of ill people do not have the energy to wade through bureaucracy.

[flordehinojos]

6. it is cruel. and it is bush and the rep. congresswho have allowed such cruelty

by allowing the HMOs so much leverage...and that is why the HMOs oppose any democrat who will make them really give service and stop the cruelty.

p.s. i hope you can stay healthy. i hope your HMO is honorable and does the right thing which is to allow you to have the services you need.

Bush has really sunk this country.

It will take a long time to ammend all of the wrongs bush has created and allowed.