[Today’s run: white house 3.4 miles]
politics!
I have a good employer. My salary is not as high as it would be if I were working in a high-pressure environment. But a moderate salary is offset by lower pressure, and good perks, including a pension and a pretty good heath insurance coverage.
We found out yesterday that they changed our prescription coverage this year. An expensive prescription that last year cost us $75 out of pocket will cost $320 this year. Ouch! I talked to our benefits person in the HR department and she said they were trying to control costs. Makes sense. Lower the outlay and keep the premiums down.
But there’s a lesson in it, I think.
Insurance companies make money. They have buildings and telephones and all of the costs of a business. But they produce no widgets. The only money they “make” is by trying to find efficiencies in other people’s management practices. They may group doctors together, or get special deals on generic drugs, whatever. There’s no factory producing kewpie dolls, so that big insurance building comes from premiums which come from people who mostly don’t get sick paying just in case they do get sick. (They also make money through investing premiums in the financial markets, making interest on it until the day it is needed.)
My family was getting a pretty nice deal, paying less per month. Our usage of the system was depending on the system being constructed a certain way. Everybody does that. If they make hospitalization treatment “cheaper” to me than outpatient, then I’d be glad to lay up in the hospital. That’s not rocket science.
I was looking in our plan document. They have coverage for acupuncture. I’ll bet if everyone at the office started to use acupuncture that would change. They couldn’t afford it anymore.
People form their usage of the system in response to the system. And the system changes because of the usage.