4
0

Healthcare


 invite response                  
2010 Sep 24, 5:03am   6,984 views  72 comments

by EBGuy   ➕follow (0)   ignore (1)  

This is my first post, so let's try and take it easy. I work for small company (less than 10 employees) and Aetna is trying to jack up our premiums by 33%! To add insult to injury, that price increase would also qualify our insurance as a Cadillac plan (which faces a 40% excise tax come 2018 -- see above link for details). I'm wondering if other individuals or companies are facing similar increases? Call this an informal survey (please try to hold off on the mud slinging for a while). It looks like we'll be going to a plan with higher co-pays to try and reduce the premiums to a more reasonable level. The one third increase, though, still seems ridiculous. We had actually jumped ship from a different insurance company last year as they had tried the same thing. I'm assuming the insurance company can't just jack up our rates (thinking we are 'locked' into their company), but has to offer the same rates to all customers in their small business pool. I'm seeking comments from others on their plans. Is Kaiser facing similar increases? Or are they going to gain share as a reasonable alternative? Or are HSAs becoming more prevalent? What is happening to your overall premiums? Is the company picking up the increase or does it all fall to the employee?

« First        Comments 41 - 72 of 72        Search these comments

43   WookieMan   2024 Dec 16, 12:04am  

gabbar says





It's administrators that are sold drugs and the docs are told what to prescribe. Having had a seizure all they did was give me anti-anxiety meds. Put me to sleep 12 hours a day. Wake up and I got nothing done and had MORE anxiety. They don't know what the fuck they're doing.

First time in about 20 years I gave docs a chance since my gall bladder failure. They failed again. ER docs are good by me though. It's not long term treatment. It's today treatment.
44   stereotomy   2024 Dec 16, 12:50am  

WookieMan says

It's administrators that are sold drugs and the docs are told what to prescribe. Having had a seizure all they did was give me anti-anxiety meds. Put me to sleep 12 hours a day. Wake up and I got nothing done and had MORE anxiety. They don't know what the fuck they're doing.

First time in about 20 years I gave docs a chance since my gall bladder failure. They failed again. ER docs are good by me though. It's not long term treatment. It's today treatment.

I've had the same experience - trauma doctors are competent, but it's everyone else that are corporate-controlled fucktards.

It sucks living today in that you have to monitor and double check EVERYTHING - the food you eat, what your sawbones sez you should do, schools, etc.

Doctors, if they don't have their own independent practice, are shit, period. They are forced to follow a script, and if you don't agree, they tell you lies and try to scare you.

Doctors hate me because I always ask "Why should I do this?" Instead of explaining, they threaten me. I'm just being an asshole to assholes.
45   WookieMan   2024 Dec 16, 8:54am  

stereotomy says

Doctors, if they don't have their own independent practice, are shit, period. They are forced to follow a script, and if you don't agree, they tell you lies and try to scare you.

Not on topic but dealing with it now with building. 120 days to get 6 signatures for an easement. Then about 60-70 days to get a permit for roughly $11k now that my wife gave me the final numbers on it. We're over $20k deep without a hole in the ground. I'm fucking irate.

Doctors are the same. Our builder is solid. Just the village and this damn inspection company. $10k? For what? 4-5 site visits throughout the build for something I would double check anyway? So what, $1,500 per visit plus for something a guy looks at and has no experience building? He's an "inspector" bull shit. No different than teachers. If you teach engineering, why aren't you an engineer? Because you suck at it.

Any time the percentage of administrators gets above 20% of the people doing the actual work, major red flag. My boss would help with a few things, but I ran a real estate brokerage with 20 agents in my 20-30's. Probably could have handled up to 50 agents. Some of these place would need 5 of me. There was an accountant, but I did all the day to day accounting, he did year end. I did all the quarterly shit. Payroll. Marketing. MLS entry. Inspections. Showings.

Point being there are too many hands in the cookie jar with more admin. The people doing the actual work just say fuck it. I'll do whatever you tell me coming for 15 directions. That's what doctors do.
47   Blue   2024 Dec 17, 12:42am  

Employer sponsored health insurance drives prices higher. Now most individuals can’t afford to compete and buy insurance for themselves.
Both gov and employers should quit their support to make it affordable again for everyone.
48   RWSGFY   2024 Dec 17, 8:27am  

The_Deplorable says






Yeah, and I also saw a 100ft tall gorilla climbing a skyscraper and swatting fighter planes out of the sky like fucking flies. It was in the movies therefore it's true!
49   clambo   2024 Dec 17, 11:11am  

Doctors moan about insurance companies; ever wonder why?
They like to know what they're paying for, and how much.
Doctors are like lawyers that way; "How dare you ask me how much I am charging!"
Ever meet a doctor who didn't make megabucks? neither have I.
My father was a psychiatrist (a low paying specialty in Medicine); he said his big problem was people tended to NOT have insurance if they have mental problems.
Of course not; how does a nut hold down a job to have insurance?
56   HeadSet   2025 Apr 10, 1:25pm  

The_Deplorable says





Glucose is used by most cells in the body as well as the brain as a whole. By using that meme's logic, it would be stupid for a diabetic to takes steps to reduce glucose in the blood.
57   stereotomy   2025 Apr 10, 4:31pm  

HeadSet says

The_Deplorable says






Glucose is used by most cells in the body as well as the brain as a whole. By using that meme's logic, it would be stupid for a diabetic to takes steps to reduce glucose in the blood.

This is about massively suppressing normal cholesterol production via statins, not trying to bring back into regulation an unregulated condition known as diabetes that is invariably fatal.

Watch it, your straw man is on fire. . .
58   HeadSet   2025 Apr 10, 7:04pm  

stereotomy says

This is about massively suppressing normal cholesterol production via statins

People are doing that? I thought was more that some doctors were proscribing statins for patients that had a very high LDL. Those with high enough LDL to have significant risk of heart attacks or strokes. I agree that lifestyle changes are better than statins, but for some that is not enough, and the risk of a heart attack (or a second heart attack) is worse than a potential side effects of a statin.
59   stereotomy   2025 Apr 11, 6:38am  

HeadSet says


stereotomy says


This is about massively suppressing normal cholesterol production via statins

People are doing that? I thought was more that some doctors were proscribing statins for patients that had a very high LDL. Those with high enough LDL to have significant risk of heart attacks or strokes. I agree that lifestyle changes are better than statins, but for some that is not enough, and the risk of a heart attack (or a second heart attack) is worse than a potential side effects of a statin.


You're assuming what the doctors say is true. The fact is "healthy" cholesterol levels have been dialed down time and time again over the past several decades. What was considered normal in 1980's is now "OMG you're going to die of a heart attack RIGHT NOW unless you start taking statins!"

The huge assumption underlying this scrutiny about cholesterol is false. Cholesterol doesn't cause heart disease. Inflammation causes heart disease. Reduce inflammation and you reduce heart disease.

https://www.midwesterndoctor.com/p/why-are-statins-so-dangerous


Why Are Statins So Dangerous?
Unpacking one of the largest scams in medicine

Story at a Glance:

One of the biggest misconceptions is that cholesterol causes heart disease and that statins, which lower cholesterol, prevent it. Not only is this untrue, but the highly profitable statins are also among the most harmful pharmaceuticals available (and share many eerie parallels to the COVID vaccines).

Despite growing evidence that lowering cholesterol does not reduce heart disease, the medical industry continues to push statins. Studies have shown that the benefits of statins are minimal, with data manipulated to exaggerate their effectiveness.

Statins are aggressively promoted, not because of their efficacy, but due to financial interests in the pharmaceutical industry. Guidelines on cholesterol and statins are often created by experts who have conflicts of interest. Many doctors and patients are penalized for not adhering to these guidelines.

Statins cause significant harm, with side effects like muscle pain, cognitive issues, and even life-threatening conditions such as diabetes and liver dysfunction. Despite widespread patient reports of these injuries, the medical community often dismisses them, attributing them to a "nocebo effect" or imagining the problem.
60   Maga_Chaos_Monkey   2025 Apr 11, 8:45am  

stereotomy says

Cholesterol doesn't cause heart disease. Inflammation causes heart disease. Reduce inflammation and you reduce heart disease.


I heard someone say it this way: About 50 years ago when studying car accidents we noticed at each accident there were fire trucks and ambulances. So we deduced that those damn fire trucks and ambulances cause car accidents.

I think statins are good for unlucky people who are genetically pre-disposed to have hypercholesterolemia.
62   stfu   2025 Apr 17, 2:32am  

I deep dived on Statins long ago (after a doctor wanted to put me on them and I wasn't even in my 50's yet) and IIRC I discovered that Statins' only became 'enemy number one' to your heart health AFTER Merck found a compound that could lower a cholesterol data point. To go from that point to an approval by the FDA and new guidelines from the AMA was a class in marketing and statistical manipulation.

I'm Gen X and I associate mostly with other Gen X and we all watch our silent and boomer parents taking boxes of pills every morning, noon, and night and we won't be having any of that. I don't think I'm alone.

I look at my PCP as my enemy and no longer do the annual testing because all they are trying to do is create new revenue streams. My healthcare consists of visits to urgent care for stitches, steroids, and ointments that I regularly require as a result of maintaining my home and land.

This will end badly for me, but I'm pretty sure I'm a goner anyway. "On a long enough time line ...."
67   AmericanKulak   2025 Apr 26, 10:00pm  

stereotomy says


. What was considered normal in 1980's is now "OMG you're going to die of a heart attack RIGHT NOW unless you start taking statins!"

And what was considered dangerously low levels of testosterone went from like 400 to 200 in the USA.
69   Glock-n-Load   2025 May 5, 6:40pm  

The_Deplorable says




https://x.com/nicksortor/status/1915771350137897215

Is this how all those hood rats are buying Escalades?
70   PeopleUnited   2025 May 5, 8:25pm  

The_Deplorable says





And Pfizer, big time.

« First        Comments 41 - 72 of 72        Search these comments

Please register to comment:

api   best comments   contact   latest images   memes   one year ago   users   suggestions   gaiste