A study in the Archives of Internal Medicine has found that many families with high deductible insurance plans of at least $2,000 decide against getting care because of the expense.
Even high income families who had very high levels delayed or foregone care according to one of the researchers. The debate is now whether these people are just being stingy about their care because they are using their own money or whether they are just neglecting it altogether. I have seen data like this before and interestingly enough, there has been a huge increase in luxury item purchases (cell phones, cable, iPads, etc) during this same time. My hunch is that people just don't want to pay for medical care out of their own pocket. It will have to be a learned habit because we are so used to just paying premiums and letting the insurance companies determine what we need. But this change does need to happen and when it does maybe we can get rid of these managed care companies altogether. What? A man can dream, can't he?
Even high income families who had very high levels delayed or foregone care according to one of the researchers. The debate is now whether these people are just being stingy about their care because they are using their own money or whether they are just neglecting it altogether. I have seen data like this before and interestingly enough, there has been a huge increase in luxury item purchases (cell phones, cable, iPads, etc) during this same time. My hunch is that people just don't want to pay for medical care out of their own pocket. It will have to be a learned habit because we are so used to just paying premiums and letting the insurance companies determine what we need. But this change does need to happen and when it does maybe we can get rid of these managed care companies altogether. What? A man can dream, can't he?
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