Insurance crunch time
One week to decide which direction to slit our throats in getting out of the damn HMO.
To the left we have Traditional Blue weighing in at $553 per month. It sports a bulky $3000 deductible, $20 copays and $75 emergency copays. Traditional Blue goes for a minimalist style eschewing included annual exams, paps and the like. Completing the ensemble is a $10/$40 Rx plan and modest mail-in drug plan for maintenance meds. Traditional Blue should strike a nice pose on the tax return.
To the right Community Blue PPO tips the scales at a whopping $899 per month. Community Blue likes to step out in style with a skinny $500 deductible, $15 copays and $50 emergency copays. Community Blue really knows how to accessorize with annual exams including select labs and chem profiles, paps, and all those trendy tests so popular with the over-40 set. A snazzy $10/$20 Rx plan and a very fashionable mail-in drug plan for those pesky maintenance meds. Community Blue is always a show stopper on the tax return.
It seems to me a not a matter of how much we pay them but, rather, when we prefer to pay them. Take it straight out of the check and charge us less when we need service, or leave a little something in the paycheck to buy groceries with and charge us more when we need to use it.
Either way, don't look for too many entertaining travelogues coming from my direction any more. Weekend sexscapes are going to have to be severely curtailed. Those yummy menus featuring fine steaks covered in Stilton and wild mushrooms, those artisan beers and top shelf liquors----yeah, they'll be disappearing, too. However, if you like beans or tuna fish keep tuned in. You're going to see a lot more of those.
To the left we have Traditional Blue weighing in at $553 per month. It sports a bulky $3000 deductible, $20 copays and $75 emergency copays. Traditional Blue goes for a minimalist style eschewing included annual exams, paps and the like. Completing the ensemble is a $10/$40 Rx plan and modest mail-in drug plan for maintenance meds. Traditional Blue should strike a nice pose on the tax return.
To the right Community Blue PPO tips the scales at a whopping $899 per month. Community Blue likes to step out in style with a skinny $500 deductible, $15 copays and $50 emergency copays. Community Blue really knows how to accessorize with annual exams including select labs and chem profiles, paps, and all those trendy tests so popular with the over-40 set. A snazzy $10/$20 Rx plan and a very fashionable mail-in drug plan for those pesky maintenance meds. Community Blue is always a show stopper on the tax return.
It seems to me a not a matter of how much we pay them but, rather, when we prefer to pay them. Take it straight out of the check and charge us less when we need service, or leave a little something in the paycheck to buy groceries with and charge us more when we need to use it.
Either way, don't look for too many entertaining travelogues coming from my direction any more. Weekend sexscapes are going to have to be severely curtailed. Those yummy menus featuring fine steaks covered in Stilton and wild mushrooms, those artisan beers and top shelf liquors----yeah, they'll be disappearing, too. However, if you like beans or tuna fish keep tuned in. You're going to see a lot more of those.