One More Reason to Hate Health Insurance Co.

[TampaYankee]

... well not shit can private health but restrict it to add-on only coverage for those who want extra coverage beyond basic. Consider the latest effort of Big Insurance to duck their obligations and repsonibilities to their pollicyholders.

Tom Brady, Paul Pierce Borderline Obese?

Some Question Value of BMI Calculation

Due to copyright restrictions please read article at:

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/health/25800226/detail.html

[Guest NeedSome]

I only skimmed the article. Most BMI calculators will have a disclaimer that if you're athletic/muscular then BMI is not a good indicator of obesity (see: Tom Brady and Paul Pierce). I am actually in pretty good shape - not muscular but definitely HWP, body fat hovering around 15%, and right in the middle of the NIH guidelines for body weight, and my BMI puts me on the verge of being overweight. My doctor told me to stop acting like a 13 year old girl and lose the obsession over it.

How anyone could say that Tom Brady is anything other than completely delectable is beyond me. He's not ripped like a lot of athletes but he is so completely luscious, perfect, and dreamy that anyone suggesting otherwise should be executed on the spot.

... well not shit can private health but restrict it to add-on only coverage for those who want extra coverage beyond basic. Consider the latest effort of Big Insurance to duck their obligations and repsonibilities to their pollicyholders.

Tom Brady, Paul Pierce Borderline Obese?

Some Question Value of BMI Calculation

Due to copyright restrictions please read article at:

http://www.thebostonchannel.com/health/25800226/detail.html

[RA1]

I guess I need to be executed on the spot. For sure, Tom Brady's body is attractive but his personality and performance is NOT. So, shoot me and get it over with.

Best regards,

RA1

[lookin]

It does make one wonder how intimately corporate America should be involved with our health, and that includes our food supply as well as our medical treatment.

I guess it's possible to be both a doctor and a farmer but, if we're not in that position, big business seems to be perched all along the supply lines.

There was a time that I trusted large corporations more than I do today, but I keep hearing these stories that show how their interests are diverging from mine. I'm looking for ways to grab back a bit more control from them, at least in the areas of healthcare and nutrition.

I also pretty much believed in the common wisdom that a free market allows me to stop doing business with companies that work against me and start doing business with companies that work for me. But I'm finding it more and more difficult to take advantage of that freedom of choice, and I'm wondering whether my choosing skills are getting worse or whether the good choices are just getting harder to find.

I wonder what Tom Brady thinks.

[RA1]

I think most people are wondering how intimately the government should be involved in our health? So far, what I can tell is that the BO plan is for everyone to be insured, by force. That strikes me as a double whammy. The government not encouraging, not suggesting, but forcing big business to "control" our health care, whatever might remain of it after all this settles. Could this just be more of our pols at work screwing the average Joe?

Best regards,

RA1

[TampaYankee]

How much longer are people going to put up with theft by deception from the insurance companies? The promise to pay for health services for a monthly premium. That is until they decide the don't want to pay for it and trump up some irratonional, illogical reason to deny meeting their obligation. If you are luck and work for big business with a group plan then you are safe because the Insurance Company doesn't want to lose the big contract. If you are a small business or an individual then you are screwed if the compnay decides to take you on.

I am on record time and again willing to pay a fair price for a fair service. I am not willing to pay to get screwed. These companies undertake a contractual obligation when the take someone's money to provide a service. Instead, when it suits their bottom line puposes, they look for loopholes to get out of their contractual responsbility, withhold services and keep the money paid for those services.

They get away with it because they bribe Congress and others. It is nothing less than business corruption supported by institutional corruption in Congress supported by corrupt political parties. How long will people continue to put up with this?

[AdamSmith]

The promise to pay for health services for a monthly premium. That is until they decide the don't want to pay for it and trump up some irratonional, illogical reason to deny meeting their obligation. If you are luck and work for big business with a group plan then you are safe because the Insurance Company doesn't want to lose the big contract. If you are a small business or an individual then you are screwed if the compnay decides to take you on.

That is the definition of insurance, no? Health, property, business-interruption, life, whatever. In all those categories I have seen people (individuals or small businesses, as you note; hardly ever big corporations) get screwed over royally when they needed to make a claim.

[Guest chillmaster01]

How much longer are people going to put up with theft by deception from the insurance companies? The promise to pay for health services for a monthly premium. That is until they decide the don't want to pay for it and trump up some irratonional, illogical reason to deny meeting their obligation. If you are luck and work for big business with a group plan then you are safe because the Insurance Company doesn't want to lose the big contract. If you are a small business or an individual then you are screwed if the compnay decides to take you on.

I am on record time and again willing to pay a fair price for a fair service. I am not willing to pay to get screwed. These companies undertake a contractual obligation when the take someone's money to provide a service. Instead, when it suits their bottom line puposes, they look for loopholes to get out of their contractual responsbility, withhold services and keep the money paid for those services.

They get away with it because they bribe Congress and others. It is nothing less than business corruption supported by institutional corruption in Congress supported by corrupt political parties. How long will people continue to put up with this?

I listen to this thread and have to contest your fact, information and disemination of inaccurate data. First I have represented from the highest level 3 of the top 10 largest writer of Individual Health Insurance for over 20+ years. If you think we have congress in our pocket you are dullusional. We at the carrier administrator level hate congress and think they are taking advantage of the industry.

If you think these insurance copanies have made hge amounts of money in this class of business you are very off base. The average carrier has been marginal at best over last 12 years. Since 1998 very few carriers have made even 3-5% return on risk based capital. Some years actually losing as must as 20% of risk based capital.

Please don't take into consideration the many factors that effect Health Insurance and risks that can't even be cealuclated. An example of this was the 9/11 attacks and Anthrax scares. Do you have any idea how much it cost a SINGLE block of business with 26,000 members to pay for UNNEEDED and WASTED CIPRO because doctors were too scared to tell patients they didnt need but demanded as feared they might need to fight off anthrax. Then the psychological drugs and treatment needed for individuals for the 9/11 attacks from anti-depressants, to anxiety meds. These cost related to Anthrax on this block of business was over 7 million dollars not counting the Doctor visited but just the pharmacy cost. Then the 9/11 on same block was estimated to have cost over 9 million. This represented over 30% of collected premium and since these were not actuarialed expenses they were added to normal medical needs and expenses, This caused the block to lose over $9,000,000 alone.

Insurance Companies can't even keep ahead of the doctor scams to find ways to rip off insurance companies. They are finding ways to bill same treatment many different ways and different codes and ways to over charge Ins. COmpanies

[Guest zipperzone]

I hate to sound like a broken record - but here goes.

As a Canadian I enjoy complete health care for a payment of only $57 per month to the government. Is it perfect? No it isn't. Sometimes wait times for elected surgery are longer than ideal. But I'd take our system, even with it's inadequacies over the US system any day. $684 a year vs thousands? It's a no-brainer.