Insurance Companies are Bozo's

[jnk]

OK. That's it. We're all going to die.

[Gerald]

Velbor......

I think you boiled it out...........to the bottom line.

[Wulfman]

OK. That's it. We're all going to die.

You're right.....SOMEDAY......

(with or without insurance and with or without healthcare)

Den

[Paul56]

They are also bozos when it comes to using their heads or making a simple phone call when evaluating a claim.

I submitted a claim for supplies almost 3 weeks ago and forgot to note the invoice was wrongly dated 2007 even though I had just purchased the items earlier this month.

So, like the drones they are... the claims department simply responds via snail mail informing me that claims older than 18 months cannot be submitted.

I have since had the DME issue a new invoice and I have forwarded that to insurance. Now waiting to see what happens with round 2 of this sage.

[roster]

....... They are making their profits.

........

Velbor,

From that statement I deduce you have never been a successful businessman.

Businesses need profits to remain in business but profits are not the purpose of a business (witness Johnny Goodman).

Many a business has been ruined when management begins to believe that the purpose of a business is to make money.

This faulty premise leads to most grievous business errors including becoming product centric or, even worse, financial statement centric. While product and finance are important and should not be ignored, if these views come to dominate, they make the business vulnerable to clearer thinking competitors. These views can progressively lead to lost customers, lost revenue and, if management doesn't change, stagnation, decline, a forced sale or another business failure.

Most successful business leaders know that the purpose of a business is to fulfill a human need.

Successful business people spend much of their time and energy working on their profit model, finding new or better ways to fulfill that need or expand the repertoire of what needs they can fill.

They spend time improving their systems for three reasons: 1) they want to discourage competitors from entering their market, 2) they want to increase margins by delivering a better product or service and, 3) they want to take cost out of doing business.

Successful business people know that making money is not the purpose of a business, that making money is the way we score how well the business fulfills human needs.

Successful business people never lose sight of the purpose of their business.

Successful business people are customer centric, first and foremost. As a result, they score well.

[jnk]

....... They are making their profits.

........

Velbor,

From that statement I deduce you have never been a successful businessman.

Businesses need profits to remain in business but profits are not the purpose of a business (witness Johnny Goodman).

Many a business has been ruined when management begins to believe that the purpose of a business is to make money.

This faulty premise leads to most grievous business errors including becoming product centric or, even worse, financial statement centric. While product and finance are important and should not be ignored, if these views come to dominate, they make the business vulnerable to clearer thinking competitors. These views can progressively lead to lost customers, lost revenue and, if management doesn't change, stagnation, decline, a forced sale or another business failure.

Most successful business leaders know that the purpose of a business is to fulfill a human need.

Successful business people spend much of their time and energy working on their profit model, finding new or better ways to fulfill that need or expand the repertoire of what needs they can fill.

They spend time improving their systems for three reasons: 1) they want to discourage competitors from entering their market, 2) they want to increase margins by delivering a better product or service and, 3) they want to take cost out of doing business.

Successful business people know that making money is not the purpose of a business, that making money is the way we score how well the business fulfills human needs.

Successful business people never lose sight of the purpose of their business.

Successful business people are customer centric, first and foremost. As a result, they score well.

Roost, baby, why you pickin' on my friend Velbor? He didn't even use the word "business" in his post. He said, "there are many other sorts of names we might call them," he pointed out they were gamesters, and he simply commented that they make money. (Like any self-respecting racketeer makes money, I might add.)

[roster]

I'm not picking on Velbor, just the idea that suggested businesses are only about making profits. That's just a wrong-headed idea and the businesses that take this approach fail soon (if government doesn't bail them out).

[Slinky]

Speaking of self-serving racketeers: I get better odds, win more often and win more money for the amount I spent when I play the numbers w/the "racketeers" than when I buy a state lotto or lottery ticket.

Michigan conned its residents into approving a lottery saying the money would go to the schools. Yeah, uh huh, SOME of the money goes to the schools and less goes to the schools from the general budget that USED TO support our schools. And it not just overhead costs and the schools the lottery money goes to.

Michigan conned its residents into passing a 2% raise in the state sales retax in return for a reduction of property taxes. Yeah, uh huh, the reduction we got was so minimal it was a joke and w/in two years our property taxes were higher than before!

Housing values are dropping around the country, including Michigan and our house and property, yet our property taxes have gone up last year, this year, etc., etc.

We had one Republican legislator who proposed a 1 cent per dollar reduction across the board in ALL state expenditures - instead the crooks in the legislature passed and raised enough "nuisance taxes" to choke a whale!!! For instance: a REQUIRED life-time license for trailers, horse trailers, boat trailers, utility trailers, etc. So you buy this high-priced "life-time" license for your trailer. BUT - its not transferrable. You sell that trailer, the buyer has to buy their own "life-time" license. You buy a replacement trailer, you have to buy a new "life-time" license for that replacement trailer.

These politicians couldn't see in a straight line if they were in a tunnel w/a light at the other end.

[jda1000]

The magic of medical profiteering is in the confusion....

I tried last month to sort through my just my 2009 medical bills...OSA is the only thing for which I am treated.

I put all the papers in order by date, set up an Excel spreadsheet, and started entering data. For each portion of the treatment, I made a column for the date the treatment was received, a column for a description of the treatment (or item)...and then came something like ten columns - cost of treatment, allowable cost, insured cost, co-pay, blah, blah, blah.

It is completely insane. There is no principle, pattern, or logic.

I set it aside after spending most of a rainy Northwest Sunday on it.

Now I have a $1000 invoice from my DME waiting to be dealt with. My DME is a three-headed corporate beast, each head has a different name and each head sends me paperwork, invoices and bills. It is almost impossible for me to tell whether the bill is legitimate, what aspect of the treatment it was for, why insurance didn't pay it.....

[roster]

....... It is almost impossible for me to tell whether the bill is legitimate, what aspect of the treatment it was for, why insurance didn't pay it.....

I have the same experience with my mother who is in a nursing facility.

To my discredit, I have to ignore a lot of paperwork that comes to my house because I can't understand it.

When I get a repeat billing notice saying I need to pay, then I go on the offensive. Then it is amazing how some things disappear from the billing notices without a check being sent.

Hardly a month goes by that I don't find an error in the billing. Always to my mother's disfavor.

With Medicare and Medicare Part D Supplement and BCBS top level medical insurance, my mother has only a few hundred dollars to pay out of pocket. Too bad for someone who has to pay much of their own when the paperwork can't be understood.

Eliminate the insurance industry and things will get better!

[Slinky]

I wouldn't consider that a discredit to you, Rooster. After all, given the situation your mom is in she doesn't need an A-1 credit rating but she does need to conserve her money to continue getting decent care! Whatever it takes to keep these billings on the straight and narrow!!!

[Babette]

This weekend I asked a cardiologist friend what would happen if the insurance industry disappeared and everyone became self-pay.

His response was, "The cost of a quadruple by-pass surgery would fall from $100,00 to $25,000. I would enjoy my work even more and there would be no reduction in my real income."

Did you hear the story on NPR a few weeks back about the doctor who ditched insurance entirely changed her whole practice to cash only? She lost a few of her patients, but most are happier with the new system, SHE's much happier, getting paid better, and is increasing her practice.

I know a chiropractor here in my town who did that. He went one step further - he charges a flat annual fee. You pay the annual fee, and you can see him ANYTIME YOU WANT, AS MANY TIMES AS YOU WANT. Really a money saver for patients, and makes his life so much easier.

I really think this is the way of the future for all medical expenses. Heck, those of us already paying primarily out of pocket for CPAP supplies are already on the band wagon.

Cheers,
B.