$39,000 per month...

[orwell]

...I did some IT work for a local Fire Department in a small rural area in Northern Calilfornia. The secretary told me that she writes a check for $39,000 per month to cover medical insurance for the employees. They have between 35 and 40 employees.

Do the math...

Heath care costs are going to bankrupt this country, no matter what happens in the HCR legislation.

Medical costs are completely out of line with reality.

[Catshrink]

1. Hey, yachts cost money.

[MNDemNY]

2. no shit.

But rest assured , with just a little prodding, the for profit sector will get this all straightened out, just wait, you'll see. We don't need no stinkin' Public option!

[dysfunctional press]

3. does that also cover their families?

just wondering.

but- you're right about it bankrupting the country.

it's time for the people to take their country back.

[orwell]

5. I'm sure it does...n/t

[orwell]

8. The coverage costs are insane...

...but they reflect the insane costs of medical bills. Drugs, hospitalization, office visits are unbelievably expensive. I have a high deductible so I see these costs. It is $150 for a short office visit. It cost me $550 for a small cyst removal because it was in office. Blue Cross negotiated it down to $175. A routine blood draw for 3 basic tests (cholesterol, sugars etc) was $300.

How is anyone supposed to pay for this stuff?

It's cheaper to die...maybe that's the point...

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

4. Mine costs my city $250 a month and me $60 a month.

Family coverage would push it into that range though and we have a pool of employees much larger than 40.

[LiberalFighter]

6. Are they volunteer or full-time?

[orwell]

9. Both...

...but I don't think the volunteers are included in the health plan.

[mike_c]

7. just out of curiosity, which county?-- if you don't mind revealing that....

I live in a rural norcal county-- Humboldt-- so I'm curious. Thanx!

[orwell]

10. I can't get too specific...

...north of San Francisco but south of Humboldt.

[truedelphi]

11. This is why I was very happy when Obama said that the reform measures

Had to be deficit neutral.

At last, thought I. At last we will evaluate exactly what the American people have been paying for.

However the discussion of health costs never came about. "Cost containment" became a term that involved examining how mcuh in the way of procedures, drugs and services we the consumers used.

One single pill that my friend Y. takes costs her $11. it octs the manufacturer 2 cents for 300.

In Marin County California, an ER visit can cost you 3,000 bucks. But in Lake County it will cost you perhaps $ 700.

If we nationalized health care, so that the cost of having an MRI was very little, and the cost was only to pay back the cost of that piece of equipment, plus the cost of housing it, and whatever cost is involved in having a radiologist etc, we might find abnother way to have a big savings.

Whuile costs to us consumers have gone skyward, the care we receive has gone into the basement. Women who have nmasectomies are sent home soemtimes the same day, and told to change their own wound dressings. And for this a middle aged woman can be paying $ 1,100 a month for her insurance!

Band aids at Marin General Hospital that were only ones available were labelled "Sterile." But since the day they had been manufactured was a date ten years earlier, they were NOT sterile.

As long as so many in Congress and in the Executrive Office OPENLY do the bidding of the lobbyists for the Big Medical People, we are screwn.

[orwell]

15. You got it...

...seven days of hospitalization for a friend's daughter with a uterine bleeding problem, no surgery...$70,000.

10 days of hospitalization for my old aunt who was having a blood sugar problem, no surgery...$100,000.

Even though the final costs are "negotiated down" by the insurer to possibly 1/3 of that, even those prices are insane.

Where is the base cost containment in any on this legislation. We are constantly focusing on insurers, but that misses the larger point. The base costs of getting sick are astronomical. Even wellness testing is pricy. Colonoscopies are insane.

I guess that's what happens when you have an effective monopoly.

So much for the "free market."

[underpants]

12. EmployERs typically spend twice what employEEs do

so that seems about right

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

13. That's true for family coverage in my city.

[bemildred]

14. That is what "protection" costs. nt

[orwell]

16. Ah the old...

..."protection racket"... ;)

[anigbrowl]

18. No, this is not a protection racket

In a 'protection' racket, you buy insurance from me or else I send someone round to break your windows. With insurance they're not going to come and burn down the fire station just because you bought from company A rather than company B, are they?

Without endorsing this particular insurance policy, would you expect the cost of insurance for firefighters to be very expensive? It's particularly dangerous work, after all. I imagine cops and ambulance drivers also cost a lot to insure. And the point of this insurance is to limit the burden on the taxpayer when someone is injured in the line of duty, by passing that risk onto a private company. Otherwise you might save some money on the premiums but it would cost a fortune in injury claims later on.

[bemildred]

20. All protection rackets are more or less fake.

The fact that the "threat" here is fake too does not make it special. What makes it a protection racket is precisely the fact that they take your money without undertaking any real commitment to protect you.

[anigbrowl]

22. yes, but that's not the point

The point is that not all insurance is necessarily a protection racket. Think about it.

[anigbrowl]

17. Well...does this include the firefighters?

Because I could see how in that profession you'd pay much higher premiums, given the much higher risk of burns, smoke inhalation, exposure to toxic chemicals, and physical injury. Not to give the insurance companies a pass, but I don't think firefighters are a good guide to insurance costs for the general population.

[orwell]

21. Of course it does...

...and you have a good point. It still seems way out of line with their total budget. These costs are eating them alive.

And it just moves up the food chain to the county and state levels.

How are they supposed to keep their equipment in good shape, pay the salaries, and perform upkeep on the facility.

Everything else is falling apart. Insurance costs, primarily due to exploding medical costs, are rapidly consuming the budget.

This doesn't bode well for all businesses in the United States, and for the country as a whole.

[orwell]

19. By the way...

...the station these men and women work in is in great disrepair. There are bursting water pipes and falling ceiling tiles. I am nursing along their old computer equipment because they can't afford to make major improvements. They are the only ambulance service in the county because the for profit service pulled out because they couldn't make enough money.

They are expected to save lives, put out fires, be the front line responders for homeland security, and do hazmat work. The EMS people are grossly underpaid. They might do better at a fast food joint. These are the people who are saving your life.

They do this all with good cheer and exemplary comradery. We are lucky to have them.

It is sad that I feel like I have to do a bake sale to help them replace the whining fans in their computers...

$39,000 buys a lot of improvements...