Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/03/02
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Austin and Buzz: Hopefully you won't mind me butting in here but I can't resist putting my two cents in. I'm on the board of our local hospital. We're a rural hospital located in NW PA. One of my responsibilities is that I'm also chairperson of the finance committee. So, I know a bit about what gets billed and where the money goes. In addition, I also own a business that provides group insurance to their employees at no cost to the employee. So I also know a bit about insurance costs. You ask who gets all the money. The conclusion to which I've come is simple. It's the insurance companies. Since I see both sides of the equation, the hospital and doctor side and the business owner's side, I'm sure it's the insurance company. Our hospital recently received an increase of $500k annually in malpractice insurance coverage. Do you know what our malpractice claims have been for the last 5 years? They've been zero. So, who's getting the money? We recently renewed our group insurance coverage at my company. It went up 47% from last year to this year. This is typical in our area no matter whether the employees have overused the insurance or not. How many companies do you know that can raise their prices 47% in one year? We supply primarily to the automotive industry and our prices have been in a downward spiral for years. On the other side of the coin, I see the hospital reimbursements. They've gone from 53% of every dollar billed when I joined the board 7 years ago to about 48% today. So, insurance costs are up but reimbursements are down. Figure that one out. People complain about the bills that they get from their doctors and hospitals but what the doctor or hospital actually receives in reimbursement from the insurance companies is considerably less. Well, I'm contributing to the OT chatter on the list so I'll sign off now but just had to get my two cents in. Ernie >Hi Buzz, >> I am not sure what you mean, Austin. >It's quite simple. You said the doctor got only $2k. The overall billings >to the insurance companies are far more than $2k. Who gets all the money? >> The hospital gets about four to >>five grand for the birth, laboratories collect another one and a half to >> two thousand. That's about it for normal prenatal care and a moderately >> complicated delivery. >Hum. Our two routine births were a hell of a lot more than that! >> My point is, what's your M6 or M7 worth to you in terms of other aspects >> of your life about which one may or may not complain? >But on the other hand, births are a lot more common than M7's ;-) >> For those among >> us with stents, was your heart procedure worth as much to you as a >> camera? >I feel that's a useless metric, and that isn't meant insultingly at all, >just stating what I feel. Of course life issues are far more important, >but >what does money have to do with level of importance? Should you pay a >mechanic $20k to do brakes on your car, because if he doesn't, 6 people may >die? Certainly a brake job is more important than M7 to some, but that >doesn't mean it should cost more! >Regards, >Austin - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html