Congress investigates mini-med plans-they are aiming at the wrong target, again

So-called mini-med plans are in the news once again.  This time Congress is conducting an investigation into these plans with minimal benefits that leave the insured paying the bulk of the medical bills they incur. Well, duh!  Do we need a Senate committee to tell us that these policies are only slightly better than no coverage at all and that an employer who provides this type of plan and claims to offer health insurance should be ashamed?  Oh wait, that is the purpose of calling them before Congress, right? 

An article in the November 30 Wall Street Journal contains a quote that

“They (mini-med plans) have the pretense of providing coverage that is unreal. But, unfortunately, virtually all consumers of these products don’t realize it until it’s too late.”   

The article should have continued, “Because we know that virtually all consumers are uninformed boobs who do not pay attention to anything they buy nor do they care when it comes to health insurance.” 

However, the real point of all this is contained in the last section of the article and it reads:

Darren Pound, who lives in Mooresville, N.C., bought a limited-benefit plan from Cinergy Health & Life two years ago after the resort where he works dropped its health-insurance coverage. On Labor Day, Mr. Pound shattered his leg from the knee down while wake-boarding behind a speedboat.

His two-week hospital stay, which included surgery and blood transfusions, ran up a tab of more than $200,000. He is checking exactly how much his insurance will cover, but he estimates “it doesn’t even make a dent.”

While politicians go chasing after the insurance company bogey man, nobody asks, “Why did a two-week hospital stay cost $200,000 (plus physician charges most likely)?”

It is the costs stupid; it has always been the costs!

Related Articles

• Panel Widens Probe of Bare-Bones Health Plans (online.wsj.com)
• McDonald’s, healthcare reform and the idea of ‘mini-med’ (medcitynews.com)
• Obama administration rolls back ‘mini-med’ insurance requirements (medcitynews.com)