Fortunately, I'm on Medicare, but my wife has more than two years to go before she qualifies. I was able to switch carriers and save hundreds of dollars for my supplemental coverage, but my wife had to stay with the insurance company due to a previous medical condition. Now, her premiums have increased nearly 20% (19.57% to be exact). Did the president tell us costs would not increase under the reform plan, or was I dreaming?
The so-called health care reform bill that was pushed through Congress - after arm-twisting, backroom deals and out-right lying - won't be fully implemented until 2014. By that time, based on a straight line projection of the increase just experienced, my wife's basic plan will double.
A call to the insurance company resulted in plenty of non-answers, double-talk and false sympathy. Not only was this frustrating, it has become just plain scary for a retired couple that has seen nearly a third of our savings and much of our home equity vanish over the past couple of years, with no signs of short-term recovery.
On top of this, our family physician sold his practice to a younger doctor who has raised the rates for office visits, but the insurance company's allowable charges have not increased. We can't be the only ones feeling the squeeze. Am I wrong to suspect the current administration is turning a blind-eye to increases from health insurance companies, doctors, hospitals and those who do the lab tests, x-rays and other services?
My wife recently underwent the first surgery of her life. We could not believe the costs to date and the statements are still coming in. We have yet to find out what portion of these bills will be covered and what we must pay. They say it will take a couple of months before we receive all the charges. I wonder if the fact that she actually used the insurance we've been paying for over decades will mean another increase is on the way.
There's no doubt in my mind that we need health care reform. But what we got instead was 32 million more people on the insured roles, half of whom will be on Medicaid. This means the ones who have paid their premiums over the years are expected to bear the load for those unwilling or unable to buy insurance. And the insurance companies are raising rates to hedge against the added cost they expect to incur.
This suggests the entire health care system needs to be scrutinized from top to bottom and revamped where needed. We know something is wrong when $500 billion is going to be cut from Medicare and the administration claims this will be offset by tightening up on waste, fraud and abuse. Wouldn't you think the folks in Washington would have fixed these problems long ago instead of hoping to accomplish this sometime in the future?
It's time to change the existing health care bill and do something to protect the people who have tried to do the right thing but somehow got caught an ongoing political battle. We should not be the ones to suffer through higher premiums, lower quality care or both.
Don Potter, a Philadelphia native, was born in 1936 and is a 50 year veteran of the advertising agency business. Now living in Los Angeles, he has written two novels in retirement, frequently writes on marketing issues, and has a blog dedicated to pre-boomers (those born between 1930 and 1945).
Read more articles for and about pre-boomers with thoughts, comments and opinions designed to spark thinking, foster discussion, and stimulate debate by logging on to http://www.pre-boomermusings.com
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