Many Nebraskans (1/3) skip health care to save cost

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=10345938

Published Thursday May 29, 2008
Many Nebraskans skip health care to save cost
BY MICHAEL O'CONNOR
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

As health care costs rise, many Nebraskans are skipping or delaying medical treatment, a new survey says.

It's a problem among both those who have insurance and those who don't. That was among the findings of the survey commissioned by the Nebraska Medical Association.

The statewide survey of 504 adult Nebraskans was released today during a health care summit in Omaha.

The survey indicated that 31 percent with insurance postponed or skipped care to save money in the past year, while 66 percent of the uninsured did so. The type of care included doctor's visits, filling prescriptions and undergoing hospital procedures.

Dr. Richard O'Brien, co-chairman of the medical association's Health Care Reform Task Force, said those with insurance are delaying or skipping care because they are having trouble meeting their deductible or making co-payments for doctor's visits.

"If you don't have the money," he said, "what are you going to do?"

FULL story at link.

but my dental plan is a whole other ball 'o wax.
I haven't seen a dentist in 8 years and I really need to, too.
But I simply cannot afford the co-pays...I guess it's gonna be a set of choppers for me down the road...
Meanwhile, I'm huntin up that bottle of vicodan.

Simply put, my actual health care costs are less than 10% of what I would have to pay to buy insurance. I simply could not afford market rate on insurance, I don't have an employer paying for it - I'm self-employed.

If something really bad happens to me, I'm screwed. So I do my damn best to make sure nothing happens to me.

Let me preface this by saying a broken clock is right 2x per day.

Many many Republicans tout the major-medical and FSA approach. Have you considered that? There are $5000 deductible hospitalization policies that are fairly reasonable, and you could guesstimate your actual spending and put it in an FSA tax free.

It is a sucky solution, but it beats nothing.

when I'm saying I pay 10%. That's the figure I pay 10% of. I take reasonably good care of myself and need little medical care. I simply cannot pay for even the cheapest health insurance plan. My health insurance plan is to look out for my own self, because it has been made plain and clear to me that nobody else is going to do it.

I'm really exactly the kind of person any insurance pool wants to participate... I demand very little. But as structured, the health care system in the US punishes me for not consuming 10x as much health care as I actually need.

And on the other side of things, it rewards reckless disregard for one's own health.

It's bad enough in the cities, but at least hospitals, clinics, and doc-in-the boxes are readily available, and I'm guessing there are higher percentages of jobs with benefit packages. How are, for example, feedlot workers in places like Broken Bow or St. Paul getting their care? In many cases, just getting to treatment, much less affording it can be a challenge.