Q. Now, I've read posts on this board where people claim that they have excellent health insurance. My question to those of you that do, do you have to pay a portion of the premiums or does your employer pay for it all. ALSO, do you have anyone in your family who has a chronic or life threatening illness or disability? You don't have to say what it is, but how is that working out for you and your family?
A. Yeah, I work for the state. They do take out some for health, but not a crazy amount. I also get dental and a great pair of eye glasses each year. It's really a premium plan. That said, I earn a few bucks less than I did in the private sector, so it all evens out.
Why do people insist on mixing up the concept of universal health 'insurance' with health 'care'?
Q. I've noticed that whenever the question of universal health insurance comes up the usual answers are, 'socilism' or 'Canada'. Health insurance is a totally different thing than 'health care'. Private, or employer based health insurance leaves a massive number of Americans uninsured. As we all eventually pay for the uninsured anyway, why not charge everyone something instead of charging a lot of people nothing and everyone else a lot more?
A. There's a mistaken belief that Canada's health system is free, the fact is that premiums are paid by everyone, it is anything but free.
And it is in dire financial straits, the waiting lists are horrendous, if not demonically cruel as people have to put up with their pain while awaiting their openings.
I live right across the border from the US and when visiting a large medical complex 20 minutes across the border, half of the license plates in the parking lot were from Canada.
The notion that 40 million people in the USA are uninsured is both derived and contrived, based upon the information coming from Census data. It's great political sport to make things sound much worse than they are and to make promises which we couldn't hope to keep. It has becme accepted fact with no more foundation to it than that.
I spent an entire career working in the health care delivery system, all aspects, including management in Medicare/Medicaid and can assure you that the well intentioned goals of our government is directly responsible for creating an out of control escalation of costs that were being satisfactorily met before they began in the middle 1960's. The overzealous politicians who "invented" a crisis which did not exist, grossly underestimated the downstream effects that bureaucracy would bring to the greedy doctors and hospitals.
Let me asssure you that, all over the country, fees for hospitals and doctors dramatically increased the day after Medicare began, and that's the truth of the matter.
So we've unleashed a systemic disease process and it has gone so far that our politicians don't really know how to solve it. Their remedy is to add insult to injury or to attempt to compare the USA, with a population near 300 million people to other much smaller countries who seem to have successful delivery systems, an unrealistic comparison when juxtaposed against all of the other benefits and international responsibilities of the USA.
There's no solution that I can offer because mine don't involve political considerations. But getting government out of the system would be the first volley in a dramatic return to an earlier time.
And it is in dire financial straits, the waiting lists are horrendous, if not demonically cruel as people have to put up with their pain while awaiting their openings.
I live right across the border from the US and when visiting a large medical complex 20 minutes across the border, half of the license plates in the parking lot were from Canada.
The notion that 40 million people in the USA are uninsured is both derived and contrived, based upon the information coming from Census data. It's great political sport to make things sound much worse than they are and to make promises which we couldn't hope to keep. It has becme accepted fact with no more foundation to it than that.
I spent an entire career working in the health care delivery system, all aspects, including management in Medicare/Medicaid and can assure you that the well intentioned goals of our government is directly responsible for creating an out of control escalation of costs that were being satisfactorily met before they began in the middle 1960's. The overzealous politicians who "invented" a crisis which did not exist, grossly underestimated the downstream effects that bureaucracy would bring to the greedy doctors and hospitals.
Let me asssure you that, all over the country, fees for hospitals and doctors dramatically increased the day after Medicare began, and that's the truth of the matter.
So we've unleashed a systemic disease process and it has gone so far that our politicians don't really know how to solve it. Their remedy is to add insult to injury or to attempt to compare the USA, with a population near 300 million people to other much smaller countries who seem to have successful delivery systems, an unrealistic comparison when juxtaposed against all of the other benefits and international responsibilities of the USA.
There's no solution that I can offer because mine don't involve political considerations. But getting government out of the system would be the first volley in a dramatic return to an earlier time.
What if recently recieved health insurance and were pregnant but didnt know? Coverage void?
Q. My question is what if you recoently purchased health insurance and you were only a few weeks pregnant and found out after the fact. Will the health insurance company void coverage on maternity care?
A. That's why there are waiting periods for maternity riders.
Normally, when you purchase a private maternity policy in the US, it won't actually cover any maternity expenses for a specified waiting period (usually 10 months to a year). This is to prevent any possibility of covering a pregnancy that existed when the policy was purchased.
So, the health insurance portion of your policy should still be valid. But you wouldn't have coverage for maternity expenses.
You should review your policy and/or contact your insurance company to confirm what the waiting period on your policy is.
Normally, when you purchase a private maternity policy in the US, it won't actually cover any maternity expenses for a specified waiting period (usually 10 months to a year). This is to prevent any possibility of covering a pregnancy that existed when the policy was purchased.
So, the health insurance portion of your policy should still be valid. But you wouldn't have coverage for maternity expenses.
You should review your policy and/or contact your insurance company to confirm what the waiting period on your policy is.
Need to target health insurance clients, do you have a good model?
Q. I am currently trying to drill down on the best way to target personal health insurance clients, by demographical and psychograpical data. What were the questions you asked to get you to that point. I'm in the Georgia area, so if you are out of state, I won't be competing with you. I have some ideas, but am working on some test marketing pieces and want to make sure I'm hitting the best sample. Thanks for your help.
A. I don't mean to be rude and I hope you don't take it as such... but I think your reasoning is... askew. The whole point of marketing is to find some association with the client on an EMOTIONAL level. Then use education and numbers to make sure the association reaches them. Let's look at it that way for a moment. First off, everybody needs health insurance. Then, if you want to sell private health insurance, the only people who will want to buy are the people who don't have it through some other source (work, government aid... etc.) At this point, you will probably find lots of single parents who have a job and make too much for government aid, but don't have health insurance through their work. Then, when you look at their household incomes and household expenditures, you will see why selling private health insurance is so difficult. They don't have very much left. You have several advantages actually. Everybody knows they need it. Everybody wants it and they will search out the most unlikely and far-fetched rumours they hear, trying to get it. But they can't afford it. Now we have your demographic target and your hook (technically called the "emotional recall cue") Now it's time to use the brains and the numbers. What if, instead of your psychographical data... you worked with the accounting dept. to figure out some way that LOW income people could afford your plan. Yes, I know, management wants you to recruit middle class clients. But if you change your program to accomodate lower class clients, you will actually be recruiting the people they want because government subsidy (so to speak) has thrown off your demographic net worth numbers. So, now we have our emotional hook. Amazingly simple... health care that the working single parents can honestly afford. If you can make that happen, you will dominate your industry. I promise you that they will beat a path to your door. You could have the crapiest marketing material on the continent (I wouldn't advise it, but you could) and you will still see double digit growth rates... quarter after quarter. Your problem will be this: the risk of serious illness will be hard for your management to gamble on. They will balk at the idea... I promise that too. The question is: do you want to succeed in your industry or do you want to be a great salesperson. If you just want to sell then throw all that data and all those formulas away and work with a creative marketing consultant on a fantastic viral campaign.
Powered by Yahoo! Answers
No comments:
Post a Comment