Preventive care: It's free, except when it's not

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markomalley

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From the AP:
Bill Dunphy thought his colonoscopy would be free.

His insurance company told him it would be covered 100 percent, with no copayment from him and no charge against his deductible. The nation’s 1-year-old health law requires most insurance plans to cover all costs for preventive care including colon cancer screening. So Dunphy had the procedure in April.

Then the bill arrived: $1,100.

Dunphy, a 61-year-old Phoenix small business owner, angrily paid it out of his own pocket because of what some prevention advocates call a loophole. His doctor removed two noncancerous polyps during the colonoscopy. So while Dunphy was sedated, his preventive screening turned into a diagnostic procedure. That allowed his insurance company to bill him.
Got some news for Mr. Dunphry and the rest of you: nothing’s free.

OK, so maybe this procedure should be paid for at 100%. It still isn’t free. His premiums will go up to cover the service. If he lived in Britain or Canada, his taxes would go up to cover the service (or they could do like the US and just print more money…which just causes EVERYTHING to go up because of inflation).

When I get a telemarketer offering me something for free, I tell them “I can’t afford FREE” and hang up on them. Nothing in life is free.
 
As time goes on, little tidbits about Obama care keep rising to the surface. Recently we learned that those over seventy will be given palliative care when they come in suffering a stroke. These patients are called units and a panel will be assembled to see what, if any, care will be afforded these units. Death panels, anyone? There are ways to help those who need medical care and cannot afford their own. But why disassemble the best care in the world to do so? Absolutely not necessary. Nothing in this world is free, absolutely nothing. If you don’t pay for it in reduced services, your neighbors will pay for it.
 
I sympathize with the man in the OP, but unfortuantely, he’s out of luck.

The solution is obvious and easily fixed: close the loophole.
 
I hate to miss another opportunity to bash Obamacare, but in this case the clear winner is the patient who got two polyps removed before they became cancerous and now he has the peace of mind that he is cancer free. $1100 is a lot less expensive than treating a colon cancer that could have developed without the procedure.

Now, if you want to complain that Obamacare was pushed down our throats based on a lot of lies that the majority of Americans did not believe, go for it. A lot of the massive law is worse than encouraging people to get preventative medical care.

It should have been more honest about the cost of high quality medicine and the consequences of ignoring recommended screenings, but Pelosi, Reid, and Obama knew they had no chance of passing the bill if they had been honest. Besides, the idea of being honest with the American public probably never occurred to them. It would have been too novel a concept.😉
 
this didn’t happen with obamacare, it would have happened with most conventional medical insurance regardless, before any “reforms”. If a diagnostic procedure uncovers a problem and that problem is treated in an additional procedure, there will be an additional bill for the extra procedure(s). The same with an HMO that covers all preventive care, if the policy bills a percentage for treatment, then if a treatment was done at the same time as the (free) diagnostic test, there would have been an additional bill.
 
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