Basic Healthcare Reform and Bill of Rights, Part 1
The Twinkie Plan
I love these images:
I got these images from http://www.calorieking.com/. It wasn't particularly hard. I just typed in www.calorieking.com, put in Twinkies as a search term and there is was -- ALL the information I needed to make a meaningful choice concerning the biggest decision I had to make in 2006 -- should I buy a package of Twinkies?
Of course, an alternate would have been to go to the snacks section of my local grocer and pick up a box of Twinkies and I could have seen the information there as well. Imagine that there were two easy-to-reach public sources to make such a key decision.
Eating a Twinkie must be the most important decision I have to make this year, because I believe that if things are extremely important then the information must be readily available. If things are unimportant then the information is buried in a sea of bureaucratic Texas horse manure.
Sort of like the decision in choosing health plans. Can't be important. Must not be important. You ask why?
Because no one on the freaking planet has any meaningful information to share about what exactly is in my, or any other, health plan.
If your health plan was a food it would be yanked off the shelves faster than a fly on a horse's behind by the USDA or other such agency for failure to properly label and inform the public about its contents.
I looked at the entire booklet that my own health plan sent me. This is what I learned -- bubkis. (For those outside of my own family not fluent in New York Lower Eastside terms, the definition of bubkis is "nothing.") Actually, it is kind of worse than "nothing." It sort of means lacking in any meaningful substance and lower than the lowest form on earth.
Ergo -- Health Insurance Plans in America.
Let's compare the two:
On the Twinkies label I learned the calories, fat, protein, carbohydrates, fiber, and, of course, the all-important ingredient - alcohol. While dismayed that my Twinkies contained no alcohol, I see that all the other major food groups were represented.
What did I learn from my health plan information? I have a 30-dollar deductible for some things, but not others, and frequently on alternate Tuesdays (except during the Winter Solstice). I learned that some tests may require precertification.
Let me give you the 411 on this tidbit -- if your health plan tells you some tests require precertification it really means that any test that is ordered on YOU will need precertification. I think that the only test not requiring precertification is for Ebola virus titers if you are an original descendant of a single tribe of pigmies in the South Congo. You don't know which test and whom to call.
If you get sick, you don't know which operation is covered and when. You don't know which drugs are on the plans approved list until you need that drug. There is NO published information concerning the day-to-day needs of your health plan.
Next: Mr. Martin's Dilemma
Related Topics: 10 Ways to Make Your Health Benefits Work for You, Medicare Rx Benefits
Technorati Tags: healthcareplans, patientbillofrights, healhcarereform
I love these images:
I got these images from http://www.calorieking.com/. It wasn't particularly hard. I just typed in www.calorieking.com, put in Twinkies as a search term and there is was -- ALL the information I needed to make a meaningful choice concerning the biggest decision I had to make in 2006 -- should I buy a package of Twinkies?Of course, an alternate would have been to go to the snacks section of my local grocer and pick up a box of Twinkies and I could have seen the information there as well. Imagine that there were two easy-to-reach public sources to make such a key decision.
Eating a Twinkie must be the most important decision I have to make this year, because I believe that if things are extremely important then the information must be readily available. If things are unimportant then the information is buried in a sea of bureaucratic Texas horse manure.
Sort of like the decision in choosing health plans. Can't be important. Must not be important. You ask why?
Because no one on the freaking planet has any meaningful information to share about what exactly is in my, or any other, health plan.
If your health plan was a food it would be yanked off the shelves faster than a fly on a horse's behind by the USDA or other such agency for failure to properly label and inform the public about its contents.
I looked at the entire booklet that my own health plan sent me. This is what I learned -- bubkis. (For those outside of my own family not fluent in New York Lower Eastside terms, the definition of bubkis is "nothing.") Actually, it is kind of worse than "nothing." It sort of means lacking in any meaningful substance and lower than the lowest form on earth.
Ergo -- Health Insurance Plans in America.
Let's compare the two:
On the Twinkies label I learned the calories, fat, protein, carbohydrates, fiber, and, of course, the all-important ingredient - alcohol. While dismayed that my Twinkies contained no alcohol, I see that all the other major food groups were represented.
What did I learn from my health plan information? I have a 30-dollar deductible for some things, but not others, and frequently on alternate Tuesdays (except during the Winter Solstice). I learned that some tests may require precertification.
Let me give you the 411 on this tidbit -- if your health plan tells you some tests require precertification it really means that any test that is ordered on YOU will need precertification. I think that the only test not requiring precertification is for Ebola virus titers if you are an original descendant of a single tribe of pigmies in the South Congo. You don't know which test and whom to call.
If you get sick, you don't know which operation is covered and when. You don't know which drugs are on the plans approved list until you need that drug. There is NO published information concerning the day-to-day needs of your health plan.
Next: Mr. Martin's Dilemma
Related Topics: 10 Ways to Make Your Health Benefits Work for You, Medicare Rx Benefits
Technorati Tags: healthcareplans, patientbillofrights, healhcarereform
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