Remember when your doctor used to truly know you, when you actually had time to talk about your health issues? Remember when you didn't have to wait weeks to be seen - and wait 20 minutes to an hour once you got there? As a patient, you are parked in a "waiting room". When your name is called, you are then parked in an examination room. Ten minutes later, a harried physician gives you a perfunctory "How are you doing?" You get three to five minutes to state your case, pills are prescribed and out the door the physician goes... Is that good medicine??? No. There's got to be a better way.

Why is it that a family of four must pay $ 6,000 to $12,000 a year for health insurance when, if they paid their actual medical care expenses in cash, it would typically be less than $1,200 per year? The problem is NOT the "high cost of health care" as trumpeted by the health insurance industry, but the high cost of health insurance. The insurance industry, using fear and their dominance of the local market are selling a bloated product.

If the auto insurance industry were run like the health insurance industry, your auto insurance would cost $20,000 per year. Why? Because when you need an inspection, a new battery, a new water pump or tires, you pay for it AND you have a large selection of insurance companies to choose from. Family doctor visits, eye glasses, dental visits are inexpensive for the value you receive. Think about it - people pay more for hair and nails, cigarettes (which may kill them), Panther/Bobcat/NASCAR tickets or NIKE shoes. A family would save more money if they bought a major medical policy and dealt directly with their doctor. Most independent physicians would be accommodative.

So why is health insurance so expensive?

Ever larger insurance companies are buying up smaller insurance companies and dominating the local health care market. When a company like United Healthcare, Anthem, or Blue Cross/Blue Shield of North Carolina "own" 30% or more of any local market, they can effectively charge any price they want to individuals, families, and small businesses - AND THEY DO! There's got to be a better way... perhaps serious State and local rate intervention like our utility and cable system operators receive whenever a health insurance company's market penetration exceeds 10% of a local market.

Our politicians...

Politicians, for their part, want to mandate additional coverage or benefits to health insurance policies - making coverage even more expensive - or worse, pandering for votes by enacting laws creating entitlements without any intention of paying for them. The laws of economics cannot be eliminated with a stroke of a pen. When the cost of providing a service exceeds the payment for the service, the service disappears. It's basic economics and basic human nature. Who wants to work for nothing? What's the government's solution? In 2006 the government will lower physician Medicare payments by 26%. If enacted, your mother or father may not be able to receive timely medical services at all. Contact your senator and representative and tell them "There has got to be a better way"!

Our hospital systems...

Our two hospital systems in Mecklenberg County contribute to higher insurance expenses. Together, they provide over 90% of all health care in this county AND control significant parts of the North Carolina and South Carolina healthcare delivery system. Every hospital system price hike affects the cost of YOUR health insurance.

Their multi-million dollar buildings have become excessive, contributing nothing to the local property tax base. Their earnings are tax free, supposedly in exchange for providing charitable care to the indigent. But how much care is being provided and how is their services "cost" being measured? There is insufficient representation of primary care and urgent care offices in the areas of greatest need, causing emergency rooms to be overcrowded with people needing primary care services and less available for YOU and your family should timely, emergency services be needed. Surely, there is a better way.

You are being cheated...

You are being cheated if you are married, and both spouses are covered by their employer's health insurance. Each insurance company is collecting the full amount for providing health insurance coverage for you and your spouse. When a claim is filed, the insurance company of one spouse knows about the insurance coverage of the other spouse... SO... they have a deal with each other, and forced upon you, called 'secondary' insurance. One company will pay 85% of the claim and the other will pay 15% of the claim. Both insurance companies pocket the difference in the FULL PREMIUM collected and the poor doctor has double the billing overhead and payment delays. There is a better way - have you and your spouse covered by the company with the best policy and SAVE MONEY. Better yet, see if the other spouse can collect payment in lieu of health insurance from the other company.

You are being cheated if you see an independent, lower cost physician and your co-workers see a hospital system physician. Why? The hospital system physician services are up to 40% more expensive. The insurance company should be paying you for being a better consumer - either through less being taken out of your paycheck or a rebate. Instead, the cost savings are going into the health insurance company's pocket. In other words, you and your employer are paying full price and getting nearly 40% less benefit.

Some of us are "getting our money's worth"

We pay so much for our health insurance, $500 to over $1,000 a month. By golly, we are going to use it. It's a self fulfilling prophesy. The more we are forced to pay for health insurance, the more health care we are going to use. Let's face it. We've already paid for it. The rising "cost of healthcare" bemoaned by the health insurance industry and mindlessly parroted by our media, is largely due to increased utilization of medical services. People don't like getting nothing for their hard earned money. And that's what our health insurance products largely have become - a whole lot of expensive nothing. Our healthcare delivery system is in tatters and health insurance, which I strongly recommend for everyone, has become excessively expensive. There's got to be a better way!