How Will Government Health Care Effect Me?

So, you want to know how will be forced into government health care effect me?  Let me tell you.

First, we have a sort of government healthcare.  We have Tricare.  There are two forms of Tricare.  Tricare Standard is sort of like being on Medicare.  There are doctors out there who will take it, but it does cost you, the consumer, more money than Tricare Prime.  With Standard, you pay nothing for the year, but then you pay 20% of the bill the doctor gives the insurance company.  That's if they allow the whole amount.  If your doctor bills $100, you are responsible for $20.  But if the government only allows $45 for that bill, they will only pay 80% of that.  You are responsible for THE BALANCE.  That means instead of paying $20, you pay $64.  That's the difference between co-pay and cost-share.  Your co-pay would only be $9, but you would have to pay a $55 cost-share.

Now, Tricare Prime is treated like Medicaid by the medical community.  It's great for the person getting it, but since the government reimburses lower than even Medicaid, no one will take it.  I pay a yearly fee, then a set amount every time I go to the doctor.  If they don't reimburse as much as the doctor charges, oh well, doc has to write it off.  That's why no one takes it anymore.  Yes, I've lost doctors. 

So, the government health care program wants everyone to carry "an approved health care plan," which means a cadillac plan.  They want women past menopause to have child-birth coverage.    They claim children up to 26 can be on your plan, and yet my son was kicked off at the age of 21 (last year).  This is the same government that doesn't want women to get mammograms until they're 50 and then for only 20 years, they stop at 70.  I was diagnosed with high stage breast cancer at the age of 41.  I'd be dead.  I may still die because of Obamacare, because now I'm nearing 50 and have been battling it for a year and a half.  They may decide I'm not worth the cost and stop my care.

How do I know what they reimburse at?  I get a statement every month.  I'll share the last one with you.

I had labwork done.  The doctor charged $175 and the government only allowed $22.67.  I didn't have a co-pay on this one because it was done in the office and my office visit co-pay was supposed to take care of both.  They had to write off $152.33. 

Next, I got "Medical Care" (not sure but it must have been a urinalisys).  The doctor charged $892 and the government allowed $216.04 so they had to write off $675.96 (also another in-office procedure that they didn't even get $12 from me for). 

Then I got an infusion and the doctor charged $4,441.  The government allowed $1,755.76 so the doctor had to write off $2,685.24.  I guess you see where this is going.

Next was more lab work that included surgery?  Not sure what that was, maybe supplies.  The doctor charged $116 and the government allowed $29.84 so they wrote off another $86.16.

Then the big one...I got an infusion.  The doctors charged $11,526 and the government allowed a whopping $4,431.75.  Yep, the doctor had to write off $7,094.25. 

So, in case you're thinking that it's because I'm the dependent of a Military member, I also got my husband's statement in the mail.

He went for rehabilitation,  as he's dealing with a broken leg that won't heal.  The doctor charged $346.53 and the government allowed $101.07 which means the doctor wrote off $245.46

Next the combined 2 visits for the same thing.  They charged $420.15 and the government allowed $134.49 so they had to write off $285.66.

Then he saw his doctor.  Doctor charged $100.  Government allowed $42.89.  ARE YOU LISTENING DOCTORS?  The government thinks you ought to only charge about $43 for an office visit.

Next he got labs.  They charged (3 different things) a total of $420 and the government allowed $73.15 so they wrote off $346.85.

Then he saw his primary care physician who charged $179.67 (more than the $100 that the specialist charged) and got paid $94.41 so she only had to write off $85.26.

I can see the writing on the wall, can you?  They want to get all doctors to NOT take Tricare Prime anymore, so that we have to pay more.  Take those amounts that the doctors had to write off, and we would have had to pay it, plus our 20% of what was "allowed."  That's how they're going to pay for health care.  They expect doctors to only make a living wage, you know the same as those flipping burgers at McDonald's?  You really think people are going to go through all that schooling for a minimum wage job?  No, they are not going to lower their prices that much.  We will be paying it.  It may be cheaper to drop insurance and pay the penalty.

We Finally Have Experience with the VA

So, I've written in the past about my husband's scooter accident and his really bad leg break.  He's not healing, so his orthopedic surgeon wanted to send him to a specialist's specialist, as he put it.  We've been having trouble getting him in to see one that actually takes Tricare Prime.

Well, we found one with a private practice as well as working for the VA.  So he sent my husband downtown to get in the system.  First, it took a whole day off work to do it.  He got there and only had part of the information they wanted.  They don't tell you everything you need.  I suppose they expect you to either not have a job, or just want you to miss more than one day.  They wanted to know how much money our family spent on medical expenses.  Really?  When I've been battling cancer for 18 months?  When we have a child with ADHD and glasses and another one who they kicked off our insurance when he turned 21, even though he'll be living with us the rest of his life?

People take note, because this is government insurance.  This is what you'll face if Obamacare doesn't get repealed.  Think it won't happen to you?  Think again.

They wanted to know his sources of income.  Now if this is a Veteran's hospital, and they serve veterans, shouldn't it be more important to offer up your DD214 (proof of service).  Plus they claim it was the wrong DD214.  Ummm, it's the one you gave me, Uncle Sam, how can it be the wrong one?  They wanted to know how much money he had in his bank.  Of course, they don't care how much money is put on a credit card.  We show a higher balance than we actually have because we pay our credit cards off each month.  Wow, what a concept.  Right now we're carrying a balance for the second time in 10 years.  We just sold a house we owned with his parents, and knew our mortgage was going to be higher than half what we cleared.  So we had to have some money to make up the difference...$2336.26 to be exact.  That's a couple months on the Discover card.

He was actually "lucky."  He got to see his new primary care physician (had to get one in order to get a referral to the new Orthopedic surgeon) and get in to the xray machine to prove he wasn't lying about his leg.

I had tried just about 3 years ago to get into the system and was told that during the Clinton administration they made it where you had to be indigent in order to get any services.  I suppose that's one thing Obama did right.  My husband now qualifies.  I don't know if it's because I only had 4 years and was trying to get seen for a childhood trauma that was causing PTSD, and my husband did 20 years and has an injury, or what.  But I could hear the lady in the background and she sounded totally illiterate.  He called me to verify what we had in the accounts and ask what we paid in medical bills.  I said I'd have to go through the checkbook registers going back a year to find that out.  I may do it just to see what we actually paid.  But he complained that it wouldn't matter because Clinton changed it to income based.  This woman actually said no, Reagan did it, in 1996.  How little history do you know?  I know Reagan wasn't in office in 1996, because he signed my discharge papers in 1988, and that's when he was in office the last.  My husband said that all the employees he met barely had a high school education.  He said they all had the Taker mentality.

So, these inept employees are going to be the same brand of people running all the health care systems if Obamacare doesn't get repealed.  How would you like the doctor you go to asking you how much money you make?  I thought this was supposed to be free health care?  Maybe not if you make above a certain amount, huh?

How to Answer Those Who Say You're Going Against God to Prep

I had the question posed to me recently of how do you answer people when they say you aren't trusting God when you stockpile food?  They always give the verses in the Bible that talk about trusting God for what you eat and what you wear, that God will provide.  It's funny, but I've noticed that people who use Bible verses to say you're doing something wrong usually never consider using Bible verses to point out what they themselves are doing wrong.

So, I have the answer, if you want to use the Bible.  First, God gives us a brain.  He also gives us eyes to see with.  If we, as Christians, see someone about to run off a cliff are we to ignore them?  No, we try to stop them.  It's the human thing to do, as Kirk would tell Spock.  But by the same token, if we see calamity coming are we not also supposed to warn people?  You first have the verse that's on my blog about the watchmen on the tower.  You can read it above, so I won't repeat it here, but in a nutshell it says that if you see, from your vantage point on the watch tower, someone coming to destroy the land you are to warn the people, put out the alarm.  If someone doesn't listen to you, it's on their head, because you warned them, even if they lose their life because of it.  But if you don't warn the people, and someone dies, you are to blame.  Because you stood by silently and said nothing.

But even more than that, we have Jesus' life story.  In Matthew, chapter 4 it talks about Jesus' temptation in the wilderness.  He had fasted for 40 days and was beginning to hunger.  Satan came and said he should just turn the stones into bread.  Jesus answered that man should not live by bread alone, but the Word of God.  So Satan took him up to the highest point in the city and said that Jesus should just throw himself off and if he really was the Son of God, the angels would save him, so that not even his foot would be bruised.  Jesus answered, "On the other hand, it is written, 'You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.'"

If you see a disaster coming, and know there is the possibility of an economic crash where money will be useless and food will be outrageously expensive, by NOT stocking up, you are putting God to the test.  It's just like throwing yourself off the top of a skyscraper and saying, "Catch me, Lord, I trust in You."  How can you be that presumptuous?

But for those who don't want to stockpile: Maybe God hasn't given you eyes to see the impending disaster because either 1) You don't know God or 2) He doesn't intend you to survive it.

As for me and my household, we will stockpile food, weapons and ammunition.  We will also learn skills that will help us in troubled times to come.  I was always a pre-tribulation person, but now I'm beginning to wonder.  I know where I'm going when Jesus comes back for us, but I also know that Jesus said no one would survive if he didn't cut the tribulation short.  We will have tough times ahead.  My family knows how to hunt, trap, shoot, and other skills necessary to survive.  I can cook with no electricity, I own 2 different sizes of dutch ovens as well as cast iron skillets.  I can cook with a wood fire if necessary.  I also know how to sew, knit, quilt, crochet, and can basically figure out how to make anything I need.  BUT, if you are not willing to prepare as much as you can on your budget, don't come to my house when you can't find food.  I know it's not actually in the Bible, but God does help those who help themselves.  If you've been putting away as much as you can, and you only have a couple weeks, I might help.  But it's like a friend of mine said, it may come to the point where you will have to barter with skills to get food.  I need something done, if you can do it, I might pay you in food.

Don't tempt the Lord and expect him to take care of you when you eat, drink and are merry now, not seeing what's coming.