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The great American health insurance scam
The Most Boring Swindle of the Century
America is a capitalist country built on the false promise that everyone has the capacity to earn millions. For obvious reasons, a national health service (meant to support the sick and the vulnerable) is utterly falling apart if it only supports those lucky dogs that have the millions to pay for it. Torrey Meeks attacks the US health insurance scam, the most boring swindle of the century.
by Torrey Meeks
- The health system in America is in a state of miserable failure. This is not a new concept as it's been this way for quite awhile. Much like social security, the vast majority of the population believes the problem will simply disappear if we squeeze our eyes shut and shake our heads while chanting, "La-la-la."
- Before we get into all the stupid idiosyncrasies that pop up in a failing system, I'll explain how the system operates and why it's fundamentally flawed.
- As it stands now we regard health care in America as the sole responsibility of the individual. The 'each man for himself' philosophy lends itself well to our economic model, capitalism, which states that the individual has unlimited capacity to earn.
- This next statement is incredibly important so pay attention: capitalism is exceedingly good at doing one thing. Generating money.
- Let me say that again: generating money. Not ensuring fair and equal health care.
- So should you find yourself stranded on our crumbling shores, crawling with the gargantuan concrete turds we call modern day hotels, here's a quick primer in acquiring the health care you surely won't be eligible for.
- First you have to get insurance. There is no walking into a hospital ER, getting treatment, and walking out easy and carefree. Technically you can do the above, if you're able to pay for the entire visit in cash. An ambulance ride, visit to the Emergency Room, blood work, and end of day discharge without being admitted for an overnight stay can easily cost $3,000. Any of you have $3,000 laying around in your savings account? Didn't think so.
- To avoid expenses like this, you get insurance. Over here, public and private corporations are the only issuers of insurance. With few exceptions, it's the only route to seeing a doctor and not paying full price.
- Paying for health insurance is like paying any other kind of insurance, only astronomically higher. You pay a 'nominal' monthly sum to the corporation, called a premium, against the day that catastrophe befalls and the corporation reimburses you for your monthly fealty.
- Sounds simple enough, right? Wrong.
- Remember, corporations exist for one overriding principle, to increase profits. If more people aren't signing up for a corporation's insurance and the doctor's unions are all demanding a better rate, it doesn't make more money by being nice. It does that by putting the screws to the people writing monthly checks.
- Don't believe me? General Motors, that car making behemoth, spends more on health insurance for its employees than it does on steel for its cars. Those employees are lucky, because their company still offers them health insurance. Most don't anymore.
- In an earlier draft of this article I covered the myriad ways a health insurance corporation goes about cranking that giant screwdriver handle in the sky, but you know what? It's boring as sin.
- That's right. The sheer volume of ways in which shriveled snakes in dark suits smash and grab the fuck out of the general public's trust puts most people to sleep. It's the most boring swindle of the century.
- All you need to know is that when it comes time to collect on your health insurance, it probably won't do you much good. The company will most likely find a way to make you pay enough out of your own savings to send you into bankruptcy.
- That is the essence of a failing system. Think about it. Insurance is part of a much larger social contract that states should worst come to worst, your insurance will protect you from these sorts of calamities.
- Since I've established that it doesn't do any good to be insured unless you're stinking rich, I can let you in on this little secret: it doesn't matter. Even if you are stinking rich, if you need health insurance, you probably won't be able to get it.
- Here's why. More than just failing to protect those it does insure, in order to generate profit and be competitive in capital markets insurance corporations have come up with an entirely ludicrous silent dictum:
- If you need health insurance, you are by default uninsurable. Only if you do not need health insurance will an insurance company grant you coverage.
- This is no joke. Everything you tell a health insurance company is squirted through a statistical model by a bored sales monkey in front of a computer. If the model comes back and says you have too high a probability of actually needing its insurance, you'll be turned down. You won't even have an option to pay.
- That means if you have AIDS, diabetes, any sort of autoimmune disorder, a past cancer, a blood deficiency, a history of depression, you'll be turned down as an 'unsafe bet' to claim health insurance, even though you need it. The list goes on. Sounds like, hm. Pretty much everyone, doesn't it?
- What this has done to our society on a much larger scale is drastically decrease the overall health of the population. In Britain you're twice as healthy as us Americans, and this was proved in a recent study.
- Since things that are entirely preventable with regular health maintenance have become uninsurable contingencies in this country, everything is only fixed, or patched up more like, when it's thoroughly broken. If you know anything about vehicle maintenance, you know how ludicrous this concept is. Not only is it vastly more expensive, it rarely works. It's easier to keep something from breaking. Once it's broken, if it's bad enough, you need a new car.
- Only, human bodies aren't cars. And when they break, that's lights out folks.
- Here's how this plays out day to day. Because it's well known that you become effectively uninsurable if you've ever taken an antidepressant, which shows up on your medical dossier, it's easier to not ever take an antidepressant. Instead, it's much more attractive to say, eat your troubles away by stuffing your face with Cheetos and Pepsi an out of control obesity epidemic ring any bells--figuring if you ever need health insurance, it's still there waiting because, as of now at least, you don't have any 'documented' health problems.
- As long as your health problem isn't on paper, you don't technically have it, making the illusion of good health care via insurance a plausible one.
- If this isn't a failing system, I don't know what is. It doesn't protect its populace from financial ruin while promoting unhealthy lifestyles and choices.
- Next week, gay marriage. This week, take pity on us poor, stupid Americans who still think our way is the best way of doing things.
About the author
Torrey Meeks lives to write and writes to live. He also writes to pay the bills and to buy the gas for his motorbike.Read his American Newswire column
Related Links
MORE: Alternative opinion... »
Mission statement
Mookychick believes that climbing trees and riding giant turtles is more fun and girly than worrying about make-up. But if you want to worry about make-up instead of turtles? Fine by us. Be you feminist, kitten, punk, emo, indie, goth, witch, vegan, horror junky, intellectual, christian goth, corset queen, geek, unicorn, sea monkey... be you into alternative style, alternative health, spirituality, comics, manga, j-pop, harajuku or jock culture... we will always love you.
The great American health insurance scam
The Most Boring Swindle of the Century
America is a capitalist country built on the false promise that everyone has the capacity to earn millions. For obvious reasons, a national health service (meant to support the sick and the vulnerable) is utterly falling apart if it only supports those lucky dogs that have the millions to pay for it. Torrey Meeks attacks the US health insurance scam, the most boring swindle of the century.
by Torrey Meeks
- The health system in America is in a state of miserable failure. This is not a new concept as it's been this way for quite awhile. Much like social security, the vast majority of the population believes the problem will simply disappear if we squeeze our eyes shut and shake our heads while chanting, "La-la-la."
- Before we get into all the stupid idiosyncrasies that pop up in a failing system, I'll explain how the system operates and why it's fundamentally flawed.
- As it stands now we regard health care in America as the sole responsibility of the individual. The 'each man for himself' philosophy lends itself well to our economic model, capitalism, which states that the individual has unlimited capacity to earn.
- This next statement is incredibly important so pay attention: capitalism is exceedingly good at doing one thing. Generating money.
- Let me say that again: generating money. Not ensuring fair and equal health care.
- So should you find yourself stranded on our crumbling shores, crawling with the gargantuan concrete turds we call modern day hotels, here's a quick primer in acquiring the health care you surely won't be eligible for.
- First you have to get insurance. There is no walking into a hospital ER, getting treatment, and walking out easy and carefree. Technically you can do the above, if you're able to pay for the entire visit in cash. An ambulance ride, visit to the Emergency Room, blood work, and end of day discharge without being admitted for an overnight stay can easily cost $3,000. Any of you have $3,000 laying around in your savings account? Didn't think so.
- To avoid expenses like this, you get insurance. Over here, public and private corporations are the only issuers of insurance. With few exceptions, it's the only route to seeing a doctor and not paying full price.
- Paying for health insurance is like paying any other kind of insurance, only astronomically higher. You pay a 'nominal' monthly sum to the corporation, called a premium, against the day that catastrophe befalls and the corporation reimburses you for your monthly fealty.
- Sounds simple enough, right? Wrong.
- Remember, corporations exist for one overriding principle, to increase profits. If more people aren't signing up for a corporation's insurance and the doctor's unions are all demanding a better rate, it doesn't make more money by being nice. It does that by putting the screws to the people writing monthly checks.
- Don't believe me? General Motors, that car making behemoth, spends more on health insurance for its employees than it does on steel for its cars. Those employees are lucky, because their company still offers them health insurance. Most don't anymore.
- In an earlier draft of this article I covered the myriad ways a health insurance corporation goes about cranking that giant screwdriver handle in the sky, but you know what? It's boring as sin.
- That's right. The sheer volume of ways in which shriveled snakes in dark suits smash and grab the fuck out of the general public's trust puts most people to sleep. It's the most boring swindle of the century.
- All you need to know is that when it comes time to collect on your health insurance, it probably won't do you much good. The company will most likely find a way to make you pay enough out of your own savings to send you into bankruptcy.
- That is the essence of a failing system. Think about it. Insurance is part of a much larger social contract that states should worst come to worst, your insurance will protect you from these sorts of calamities.
- Since I've established that it doesn't do any good to be insured unless you're stinking rich, I can let you in on this little secret: it doesn't matter. Even if you are stinking rich, if you need health insurance, you probably won't be able to get it.
- Here's why. More than just failing to protect those it does insure, in order to generate profit and be competitive in capital markets insurance corporations have come up with an entirely ludicrous silent dictum:
- If you need health insurance, you are by default uninsurable. Only if you do not need health insurance will an insurance company grant you coverage.
- This is no joke. Everything you tell a health insurance company is squirted through a statistical model by a bored sales monkey in front of a computer. If the model comes back and says you have too high a probability of actually needing its insurance, you'll be turned down. You won't even have an option to pay.
- That means if you have AIDS, diabetes, any sort of autoimmune disorder, a past cancer, a blood deficiency, a history of depression, you'll be turned down as an 'unsafe bet' to claim health insurance, even though you need it. The list goes on. Sounds like, hm. Pretty much everyone, doesn't it?
- What this has done to our society on a much larger scale is drastically decrease the overall health of the population. In Britain you're twice as healthy as us Americans, and this was proved in a recent study.
- Since things that are entirely preventable with regular health maintenance have become uninsurable contingencies in this country, everything is only fixed, or patched up more like, when it's thoroughly broken. If you know anything about vehicle maintenance, you know how ludicrous this concept is. Not only is it vastly more expensive, it rarely works. It's easier to keep something from breaking. Once it's broken, if it's bad enough, you need a new car.
- Only, human bodies aren't cars. And when they break, that's lights out folks.
- Here's how this plays out day to day. Because it's well known that you become effectively uninsurable if you've ever taken an antidepressant, which shows up on your medical dossier, it's easier to not ever take an antidepressant. Instead, it's much more attractive to say, eat your troubles away by stuffing your face with Cheetos and Pepsi an out of control obesity epidemic ring any bells--figuring if you ever need health insurance, it's still there waiting because, as of now at least, you don't have any 'documented' health problems.
- As long as your health problem isn't on paper, you don't technically have it, making the illusion of good health care via insurance a plausible one.
- If this isn't a failing system, I don't know what is. It doesn't protect its populace from financial ruin while promoting unhealthy lifestyles and choices.
- Next week, gay marriage. This week, take pity on us poor, stupid Americans who still think our way is the best way of doing things.
About the author
Torrey Meeks lives to write and writes to live. He also writes to pay the bills and to buy the gas for his motorbike.Read his American Newswire column
Related Links
MORE: Alternative opinion... »
Mission statement
Mookychick believes that climbing trees and riding giant turtles is more fun and girly than worrying about make-up. But if you want to worry about make-up instead of turtles? Fine by us. Be you feminist, kitten, punk, emo, indie, goth, witch, vegan, horror junky, intellectual, christian goth, corset queen, geek, unicorn, sea monkey... be you into alternative style, alternative health, spirituality, comics, manga, j-pop, harajuku or jock culture... we will always love you.
