I am an owner of a medical billing firm and medical claims processing trends are my passion and expertise. I have NOT seen SICKO (Michael Moore's newest documentary), but I have read MANY reviews and commentaries about the film. There has been one pressing question on MY mind...
WILL THIS SEND OUR COUNTRY CLOSER TO SOCIALIZED MEDICINE?
What I have always "learned" is that socialized medicine is a disaster. I am wondering if this was simply a message generated by the US government and for-profit insurance carriers to, in turn, guarantee a steady flow of high premiums for our coverage. What do you think?
In Massachusetts, there is a new law that no person can even "choose" to be WITHOUT health insurance. If, at tax time, a person is "caught" not maintaining coverage, tax penalties will apply. This simply does not make any sense to me. Most of the people that do not have medical insurance are FORCED into that predicament - they cannot afford the high premiums. Family plans are hundreds of dollars per month (more times, over $1,000 per month). So, not only does the uninsured person struggle to simply AFFORD the insurance, they'll NOW have tax penalties for NOT being able to afford it.
I watched an interview on the news early Sunday morning about this very situation and mandated change effective this July, 2007. I watched in disbelief! In the same breath, it was explained that if an individual shows up at the ER for care, they will not be refused treatment regardless of their insurance status. It is such a double-edged sword!
I am looking forward to seeing Michael Moore's movie SICKO. I am curious to see if it will change my "learned" opinion about socialized medicine.
For more dialogue and information about this and other topics, visit www.MedicalBillingFoundation.com.
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2 comments:
What will this do to OUR jobs as MB's if our current healthcare system changes? It may not go "totally socialized" for example, but don't we sort of rely on the chaos to stay employed; job security? If medical billing, coding, and tracking wasn't such a painfully difficult process, all the private practice owners would probably do it themselves... no? OUR service offer is to take over that chaos on the doctor's behalf. If there wasn't any chaos, what would I be taking over?? I, too, am looking forward to finding the time to see Michael Moore's SICKO, but I am concerned for myself and for my profession... I'd love to get some feedback. Thanks. -Suzanne
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