Originally Posted By: martinfocazio

I'm fed up with this party line, and I'm calling out any provider of a HDMM plan that actually lets you get to the dammed deductible with routine healthcare expenses and the occasional ER visit. I've been playing this game for almost 8 years now, and my attempt at humor before was actually a fairly accurate description of the sh&^&^t that I had to put up with with the HDMM plans I've tried and now that I'm uninsured, I'm seeing even more of the vast scam up close and personal.

Insurance is GAMBLING. People think they can bet against the house and win. I don't know why.

I'm betting that my premiums will be less than my cost if I was uninsured. Even though I'm clearly losing my shirt, I stay in this game because I just might need a triple bypass one day. You can't get out of the overall game. If you don't place your bet with the insurance company, you automatically place it with Murphy. Then if you need a triple bypass, Murphy wins big and you lose everything.

You can't win. You can't break even. You can't get out of the game.

Oh, also, the game is rigged. As you described, the insurance company makes all the rules and plays their games and it is so complicated there's no way to nail them down. I love it when I ask how much a procedure will cost and they tell me "we have to do the procedure, submit the bill to your insurance and then they tell us how much you owe." B.S.

I can't understand why a doctor wouldn't give you a better deal for cash. Think of how much it costs them to process a claim with your insurance company and if they code it wrong they won't get anything! If they are lucky they'll get ten cents on the dollar from a collection agency. How do they get through medical school WITHOUT OWNING A BRAIN?

Here's what I want when the world becomes perfect: To pay for my routine, expected, reasonable medical costs with CASH. I should pay for what I get, just like anywhere else. I want an insurance policy that will cover only unlikely events that would bankrupt me in the blink of an eye and I want it priced in accordance with the likelihood that I'll need it. I don't want a "deductible" because life is too short to argue over whether a doctor visit counts for $90 or $68. I want providers go get a brain and remember why they where called to their vocation.

There are some out there. A doctor who will take your phone call, listen to your symptoms and call in a prescription for no charge. The dentist I mentioned before who took a quick look at our baby's two front teeth and didn't charge us anything (our regular dentist would have gladly taken our copay and billed our insurance, after making us wait for an hour).

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- Tom S.

"Never trust and engineer who doesn't carry a pocketknife."