Comparing Health Reform Bills: Democrats and Republicans 2009, Republicans 1993

I was at a health insurance product seminar the other day and someone asked a question about billing/claims-paying. The company rep answered the question by asking us "back": how many ways is there to code something like a colonoscopy? The correct answer was 37 IIRC. Since claims are processed based on "proper" coding, you can understand the administrative, bureaucratic twilight zone being entered.

 

I agree on that government hasn't done a good job of controlling cost but that seems like a poor excuse for essentially advocating for the status quo.

 

Right now Health Insurance Companies aren't monopolies as much as they are oligopolies. They are like the mob, or cable companies. They collude and divvy up regions of the country, agreeing not to compete and thus allowing each company to act as a regional monopoly.

 

That's a big part of the answer to giddy's "question," but his response is apt to be either another question or another anecdote. Rinse and repeat until he hears what he wants to hear. I hate saying something like that about giddy, but several years of reading his political posts have made me come to expect it. A frustrating bummer, because I think he's a nice guy, when you get past this particular thing he does.