Michael Moore's Latest Target: Your HMO

[Beemnseven]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

The fact that if you come to my hospital for an emergency appendectomy and you have a PPO or HMO with Aetna, we'll get paid about $3500 by your insurance company.

If you don't have insurance and you come in for the same emergency appendectomy, we'll charge you $150,000.

I'm not kidding.

OK, I'm no expert in this field, so I'm genuinely confused by people who say that our health care system is broken.

In your example, is this a complaint by the hospitals and doctors that they should get $150,000 for such a procedure whether an individual is covered or not? Or do they honestly feel bad for the uninsured who have to come up with this cost?

Would the situation improve if the federal government allowed for individuals to deduct the cost of their health care coverage off their income taxes? Why don't we ever hear of an offer like this if the politicians are as concerned about the uninsured as they say they are?

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by Beemnseven

In your example, is this a complaint by the hospitals and doctors that they should get $150,000 for such a procedure whether an individual is covered or not? Or do they honestly feel bad for the uninsured who have to come up with this cost?

No it's definitely not a complaint, it's a necessity for financial survival.

Originally Posted by Beemnseven

Would the situation improve if the federal government allowed for individuals to deduct the cost of their health care coverage off their income taxes? Why don't we ever hear of an offer like this if the politicians are as concerned about the uninsured as they say they are?

No, because the federal government would lose way too much revenue. They'd have to enact some sort of other tax to make up for it, lest we end up in an even bigger federal deficit than the one Bush has already pushed us into.