[speaker001:] Uh, national health insurance, I think, is a problem inasmuch as the quality of health care that people would receive.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] Yeah, because, uh, the articles that I've read regarding national health service in Canada and England has indicated that, uh, what i-, stay, stay in line for, uh, four hours to get an aspirin from a doctor.
[speaker002:] Right. Yeah, I'm, [throat clearing] I'm sort of mixed on this. I think that the, the answer [throat clearing] may lie in, uh, not in so much a, uh, national kind of medical thing that li-, like England has but more of a, um, [throat clearing] national insurance, uh, sort of clearinghouse or whatever. I think that, uh, too many, uh, the problem with, with right now is w-, that we've got too many different health insurances that people have to go through and, and I think that, I think you, you mentioned Canada. I think that they have a system where, uh, they, the government deals with the, with, I mean, you, you go to whoever you want but file through one, one s-, particular,
[speaker001:] Um, I see.
[speaker002:] uh, setup and that way [throat clearing] they, they are able to reduce prices because they've, you know, it's, it's all one, one centralized thing.
[speaker001:] Yeah. Well, I, I think that, uh, again having gone through a period when I was out of work and had to buy health insurance on my own,
[speaker002:] [Very faint] [throat clearing].
[speaker001:] if you don't have a company supporting you in the, uh, picking up the major portion of your health insurance,
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] the cost is p-, almost prohibitive.
[speaker002:] Right. Uh, [throat clearing] I, I was listening, uh, on the radio the other day and they were talking that, s-, s-, something like this, I think they were talking about the fact that, um, the money that could be saved, um, [throat clearing] in administrative costs and so forth nationwide by consolidating into sort of a national insurance provider, um, could, uh, could, they could make it, i-, i-, provide health insurance to, to people who couldn't afford it just by the money they would save.
[speaker001:] Yeah. [lipsmack] Uh, we're currently, where I'm working now, under Blue Cross.
[speaker002:] [Very faint] [throat clearing].
[speaker001:] I don't know what the total cost of the program is but for dependent coverage I'm paying a hundred and seventy dollars a, a month or something like that.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] So I assume that probably the total cove-, cost is probably,
[speaker002:] [Throat clearing].
[speaker001:] three fifty to four hundred. They're probably picking up about half of it.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] And that's a pretty good policy, but if you had something like one of these, uh,
[speaker002:] [Throat clearing].
[speaker001:] health maintenance programs,
[speaker002:] [Throat clearing].
[speaker001:] or one of, whatever the type name is,
[speaker002:] Yeah, H M O.
[speaker001:] H M O, uh, where the, uh, where you go to the doctor and it only costs you ten dollars and the insurance picks up the rest.
[speaker002:] [Very faint] [throat clearing].
[speaker001:] If you tried to buy something like that, I'm prob-, it would probably be five or six hundred dollars a month for just the cost of something.
[speaker002:] Yeah, and they're, [throat clearing] they're fairly expensive. I, I, um, I ha-, I was on an H M O, uh, up until last year
[speaker001:] [Very faint] Yeah.
[speaker002:] and, uh, through work. And it was, I forget how much I paid a month but it was much, you know, is at least twice if not more expensive than [throat clearing] the regular health care.
[speaker001:] [Very faint] Yeah.
[speaker002:] And, uh, the reason I, I quite was because of, uh, not because I didn't like it, I, I really kind of did. Uh, the reason I quite was just because the, the doctor a, a certain doctor that we en-, enjoyed going to was no longer associated with that H M O so we, my wife decided she wanted to, to stay with that doctor,
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] so, [throat clearing] we went to the, to the, the medical insurance that we have at, here at work,
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] and, uh, [breathing] I, uh, I like the, I like the convenience of the H M O in, in a certain respect because it, uh, even though you're, once you find the doctor that you like it's not a problem. You know, a lot of people complain saying well, I don't want to, uh, have to be told who I need to go to but, you know, [NOISE] if you don't have a doctor anyway normally it doesn't really make much difference.
[speaker001:] Yeah, that's right.
[speaker002:] Because you can, you know, if, if you find someone you really like and then, we did find several good doctors. And, um, [throat clearing] like you say it's, uh, five dollars an office visit. And, um, my wife was in the hospital had our, had our daughter and I think her total bill was around three hundred dollars
[speaker001:] Oh, goodness.
[speaker002:] for everything. Uh, that included, uh, you know, the doctors, the time, the, the hospital a-, an-, everything.
[speaker001:] Delivery room and everything.
[speaker002:] Delivery room and everything.
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] Include-, including a private room because there was a little extra that she had to pay but that was, that was still included in that pr-, that cost so.
[speaker001:] [Very faint] Yeah.
[speaker002:] [Throat clearing] It's really nice because they, th-, you know, their, their attitude is different than, than a regular, uh, insurance, uh, health insurance, uh, the, in, in a, H M O, you know, they're trying to prevent a problem by, by keeping the cost down at the front end,
[speaker001:] [Very faint] Yeah.
[speaker002:] you know, and have you come in, you know, they, they charge five dollars a s-,
[speaker001:] Yeah.
[speaker002:] you know, pop, you're more willing to go in and try,
[speaker001:] .
[speaker002:] to take care of a problem before it grows big.
[speaker001:] As to a company's benefit,
[speaker002:] [Very faint] [throat clearing].
[speaker001:] to have a program like that because it keeps their employees healthy and on the job.
[speaker002:] Yeah.
[speaker001:] [LAUGHTER] Because they don't have to worry about going in and, and paying,
[speaker002:] [Very faint] [throat clearing].
[speaker001:] uh, seventy-five dollars to have the doctor look at you for ten minutes.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] [Very faint] That's a,
[speaker002:] Yeah, I, I, uh, I, I really liked it. We both, my wife and I both did. You, you don't have to worry about filling out forms, uh, you know, for reimbursement and all or, you know, getting paid eight percent of, of whatever. You just pay the, the five dollars right then and then you're done with it.
[speaker001:] Yeah. But here again the, the doctor's practices in hospitals,
[speaker002:] [Throat clearing].
[speaker001:] have gon-, become fairly sizable businesses under themselves now.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] Uh, you take a hospital, uh, the physical plant itself, you have to pay your share of the operating of that eight story building, uh, when the e-, rooms are empty.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] So, they spread the costs out over, uh, all the patient costs and, uh, that's how you come up with aspirin that costs four dollars apiece and things like that.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] The horror stories that you hear about people going into the hospital for a week and, uh, it being,
[speaker002:] [Throat clearing].
[speaker001:] a four thousand dollar bill.
[speaker002:] Well, they, and you know, they're also p-, take-, they're taking up the cost of people who can't pay.
[speaker001:] Right.
[speaker002:] You know, they, they get a lot of, uh, a lot of, uh, people who are j-, just have to be there and can't afford it and so they, they know they're not going to get pa-,
[speaker001:] [Very faint] Yeah.
[speaker002:] you know, get money from them so they,
[speaker001:] [Very faint] Yeah.
[speaker002:] have to absorb it somewhere else.
[speaker001:] Yeah. My daughter and son-in-law had a baby,
[speaker002:] [Throat clearing].
[speaker001:] here about, uh, what, he-, he'll be three in August.
[speaker002:] Uh-huh.
[speaker001:] And, uh, their insurance plan that they're under encourages you to shorten your stay in the hospital.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] And like she went in, she had the baby and she was out in two days time.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] And it was treated almost like it was an outpatient visit to the hospital,
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] the, the deductibles didn't apply.
[speaker002:] Right.
[speaker001:] And so that's one way, one way the insurance companies are trying to hold costs down is by, uh, okay, if you'll shorten your stay then we will, uh, waive the deductible.
[speaker002:] [Throat clearing] Right. Our, our insurance is, uh, is doing something similar where they're also going [throat clearing] to mor-,