THE FILET MIGNON OF HEALTH PLANS

Most people can tell you how much a gallon of milk costs at the grocery store.  But how many of us know the price of a common antibiotic?  Z-pak is $70 for 5 pills ($14 per pill). Or how about an MRI?  About $750.  If Americans had to pay cash out of pocket for drugs and medical services at these prices do you think these companies would still be in business?  No.  But you are not their customer.  Doctor's who prescribe treatments and employers who pay for your health insurance are their customers.  Insurance companies pay doctor's $24 per insured patient, and half that ($12) goes to pay the doctor's office administrator to handle all the insurance company paperwork.  That's why the doctor can only see you for 10 minutes; he has to see 30 patients per day just to stay in business.  The only reason health reform is happening now is because employers can no longer afford to pay for employee health insurance at these prices and insurance companies are now FORCED to make change or lose doctors and employers as their customers.  

Now where do you fit into this picture?  You don't.      

This year 177.4 million out of 300 million Americans (59.3 %) have health insurance through their employer and 39.3 million Americans (27.8%) are covered by Medicaid.  Some state government health plans charge monthly premiums of $621.53 for individual coverage and $1,551.64 for family coverage.  Family coverage costs $18,619.68 annually.  That's more than a minimum wage worker’s annual pay of $14,500 per year.  Now keep in mind the state plan is rich in benefits which is why is costs so much. Yet many cities and employees believe their coverage is the norm or middle of the road when, in fact, it is the filet mignon of health plans.  But how many people are sick that often or actually guided how to use these benefits to improve their health?  Under these plans the customer has minimal out-of-pocket expenses or "co-pays" for health services, so they have no idea what health care actually costs. It's not our fault.  The system has us trained to not ask questions because "my insurance will pay for it". This lack of education leads to unbelievable waste and has snowballed into an avalanche that is killing Americans, slowly.  We are less productive at work, less happy at home, and we take this personally instead of collectively demanding better health services that we understand and can implement into our daily lives. Ten minutes at the doctor is not enough to educate us. So while smart people in Washington are scratching their heads to solve the health insurance problem, this enormous amount of money spent on filet mignon "benefits" literally goes down the toilet because people either abuse them or don't use them.  

CASH FOR HEALTH is the solution.