"F.O.A.D." wrote in message
m...

On 8/16/13 4:43 PM, Mr. Luddite wrote:


"Califbill" wrote in message
...


"Mr. Luddite" wrote:
In article ,
says...


Exactly. I am not sure when we decided price was more important
than
service and quality (probably around 1980-90) but things have gone
down hill since then.

---------------------------

That's about the same time frame that health insurance plans
introduced
"HMOs". People loved the fact that they could just pay $5 for a
doctor's office visit. Look what happened.

People looking for cheap deals usually get exactly what they want
and
eventually they pay the price.

HMO's were a lot earlier than 1980. Kaiser System was probably the
original.

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I am sure HMO's were around but as I recall, it was early in the
1980's
when they became popular in general. Before them we had basic,
Major
Medical health insurance that was very affordable. Covered
catastrophic
injuries and diseases but didn't cover running to the doctor with a
runny nose .



HMO's...many of them have a terrible rep, which they have worked hard
to
earn. My union's "provider" is a PPO, which seems to work pretty well.

----------------------

I lump them together in terms of causing an escalation in health care
insurance costs. It was the consumer who really screwed it up,
looking for "cheap" doctor visits in the form of $5 co-pays.

HMOs begat PPOs and the consumer interest in "cheap" health care
continued. There was nothing wrong with having a major medical
insurance plan to protect against financial disaster due to a serious
injury or illness. You paid a reasonable fee for checkups and the
occasional visit to the doctor with the flu. Now-a-days people run
to the doctor with a hangnail and he orders up a series of MRIs and CT
scans to make sure the hangnail hasn't caused any other problems.