All the diaries surrounding Moore's Sicko movie and I found out what he is talking about. I'm not anywhere close to those who are truly without insurance or suffering financial insolvency due to some medical crisis. I don't have some preexisting illness that disqualifies me from getting medical insurance. I've got medical insurance from my employer but here is what happened when I had my annual physical.
Over all I'm a very healthy. I don't have a many medical issues and rarely go to the doctor's office. But once a year I go in for my annual physical. So I'm not abusing my medical insurance. In fact over the years the medical premiums paid by my employers have been more than any doctors bills that I have incurred. This year the doctor strongly urged me to have a colonoscopy that was 10 years overdue. I went anf scheduled the appointment and went through with the procedure. It really wasn't any big deal but when I got the bill I was shocked. So shocked I contacted the insurance company about it.
I was informed that the billing was correct. What I've noticed over the years that as time has gone by I keep having to pay more and more even though I have insurance. I've gone from zero co-payment to now I have to make a $20 co-pay. I've gone from zero billing for the annual exam and lab fees to having to pay around $300 this time.
But the thing that really hit me this time was that I got a $816.14 bill for the procedure. The breakdown is this: $1000 for the facility fee. The insurance company got a $386 contractual adjustment and they paid $91.20 and I was billed $500. The colonoscopy was $931 and the contractual adjustment was $264 and the insurance paid $530.46 and I was billed $136.54. The final fee was the doctor's for $196 with no contractual adjustment. The insurance company paid $39.20 and I was billed $156.80.
So my insurance company paid $660.86 and I paid $816.14. I'm fully insured unlike many who are either uninsured or not insured at all. The insurance company is making a profit and the people with C's starting their titles (CEO, CFO, etc) are making big bucks.
Even for the insured this is such a ripoff. For profit insurance companies are not providing health care. They are providing a good living for the big wigs and barely covering the people they insure. This has got to change.