OT: Healthcare Sucks Today!

I'm going to go against the grain here a little and post something that has very little to do with RE investing - healthcare in the United States today. Now this is only my opinion from my own personal experience - others may very well have a differing viewpoint.

As most of my readers know by now, my wife is expecting twins any day now, so we've really had to deal with the medical industry pretty close the last 9+ months. Much of what I have to comment about in this blog entry deals with the healthcare we've (well, really she) has received in that timeframe.

There are two major issues I have with healthcare (costs and quality of service), and they are so closely related to one another that it boils down to really one problem: money. To digress a bit, when I was talking with our CPA at our last meeting, we got on the subject of healthcare. I work in a Fortune 500 company that is global and is pretty solid by most standards. I still have to pay a pretty good chunk each month towards my medical, dental, and vision plans. Up until a few years ago, I would pay a modest co-pay each time I visited a healthcare provider on top of the monthly payments. Any overages above 10% were paid by my insurance company. Sice then, my coverage has morphed into me paying about 3x more a month, and my co-pay is now a straight percentage (which is usually a lot higher than with the old way). When talking with my CPA, I learned I actually have it pretty damned good. She was saying her and her husband (who is a teacher) pay over $600 a month for BASIC medical-only coverage. I about fainted! Besides education (especially for college), medicine has got to be the fastest growing industry out there in terms of costs.

But that's just one issues.

The other issue I have is with the quality of service. Now, before anyone jumps on my back about who is to blame: doctors, administrators, insurance companies, etc., I want to say that my sister is a physician and I've had countless talks with her about this point-blank. The thing is it doesn't matter who is to blame - what matters is there is a serious problem with quality of service today and it seems no one who can do anything about it really gives a damn. What happens is that doctors are coupled with insurance companies due to the differing medical plans patients have. They have to hire complete staff in order to handle all the insurance claims and general paperwork. This cuts into their bottom line, so they need to see more and more patients - usually overbooking their day. This causes both poor quality of service, since they get behind due to longer-than-expected visits, emergencies, etc. Who is ultimately put on backburner in all this is the patient themself, though. And, again, I have firsthand knowledge, especially over these last 9+ months.

Thus we're paying more-and-more money for less-and-less quality of service. Point the finger to whomever you feel is to blame, but I think we can all admit there is a definate problem today in the healthcare industry.

My most recent examples?

1. We went to see my wife's OB/GYN for a scheduled appointment. We rushed to get there on time, since it's a 20 mile drive one-way, and the office has a 15 min past your appointment time limit or they will reschedule you. We sit in the waiting room for a good 30 mins before they call us back. The nurse then does vitals on my wife, and tells us we have to wait for the doctor, who is running behind. An hour - yes, hour - later, we see the doctor. My wife brings a VHS tape so they can videotape the sonogram. They have only allowed us to tape the sono a few times as they are usually in too much of a rush. Bingo! Same thing today. The doctor is behind and does what she needs to do and leaves. Total time with patient: 10 mins. My wife had some questions, also, but my doctor said she could only answer a couple of them, and to have my wife talk to the physician assistant with other questions.

2. My wife also sees another doctor about her pregnancy (lon story). just about the same thing there, too. Rush to get there, wait for a while, and feel like we are being put through a speedy buffet line when we do get to see the doctor.

Okay, now back to the real intention of this blog ...