Tuesday, March 18, 2008
OK, Let's fix this health care problem once and for all.I recently read the article in the Northwest Herald, a horrible story about the situation with Katherine Mueller, a caregiver with no insurance. Let me get this out in the open. I am a Chicago area health insurance agent, so forgive me if I seem opinionated. As Americans, we have been spoiled over the course of our lifetimes with $500 deductibles and $20 co-pays for doctor visits. I always wonder how this system came into play?? With our car insurance, there is no co-pay for an oil change and our homeowners coverage does not pay to fix the oven. Folks, doctor visits are an oil change for your body. Health care can be afforded by everyone if we change our thinking. We do not need socialized medicine like Canada , where by the way the average wait time to see a specialist is a year. We do not need to raise taxes to fund our state programs either. If we stop abusing health care (going to the doctors office for a hangnail for example), we can lower health care cost because someone is always paying the bill ( the insurance company not the consumer.
WHAT IF… Health Insurance was treated like your home insurance ( many people now carry at least a $1000 deductible on their home insurance, and it is known that if you file a claim you will likely get a premium increase. WHAT IF, we designed all health care plans (company sponsored or individual plans) with a $2000 deductible or greater. Doctor visits for check ups were paid for by the consumer and applied toward the deductible. Immunizations were covered by insurance companies regardless of the deductible so we could still get our chicken pox shots or flu shots. Have a you deductible also be your out of pocket max. Prescriptions could be treated the same way. This might also bring down the price of prescription drugs, if insurance companies did not have to assume all of the charges.
HEALTH SAVINGS ACCOUNTS (H.S.A.) H.S.A.'s are catching on, they combine a high deductible health plan with what is basically a medical IRA. You can fund the IRA part tax-deferred and use it for medical bills tax deferred. Ideally, you would have a $5000 deductible for an account like this, and then you pay your premium, but also fund the medically portion just like you fund your IRA. If you are like most people you do not have surgery that often. So lets's say you can put just $150 per month into the medical IRA portion of this plan. In about 2 and a ½ years you will have your deductible covered, if you need it. It keeps growing with interest tax deferred. It is a great savings venue and can be very cost effective. We carry insurance on cars, homes, motorcycles, boats and jewelry IN CASE SOMETHING HAPPENS. We need to start looking at health insurance the same way.
Eric Wilson Office: 815-372-1363
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