Skipping Health Care

Due to the economy, people are skipping health care, says the NY Times. No surprise. People simply can't afford the care they need, even if they have insurance.

I got a letter last week saying out of network services are going to be using a new fee schedule. I pay $1165/month for my insurance. That's $14,000 per year in premiums. The letter said "try in network doctors." I have. They almost killed me. The letter said "use preventive care." I would like to have a preventive colonoscopy, but nobody in network can get a scope through me, so it costs me thousands of dollars to have scopes. So I put it off. Just like everybody else. And that's with insurance that costs $14,000 per year.

I keep hoping that, when reform is in full swing in 2014, prices will come down and some sanity will return to all of this. Jennifer