Dana Ellis – 3/15/09

This page was last updated on March 15, 2009.

No health care is a costly proposition; Dana Ellis; Beaver County Times; March 15, 2009.

Note the deceptive title. You will see below the author has healthcare; she just doesn’t have healthcare insurance. This was not an innocent mistake on the part of the Times. It’s been a tactic of “universal healthcare” promoters to equate an absence of healthcare insurance with a lack of healthcare. I don’t have dental insurance, but I buy dental care.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“My husband and I have no health insurance.”

“We make too much money for medical assistance and not enough to afford health care through his place of employment.

“We work hard to keep our bills paid and put food on the table for our six-year-old son.

“It’s a shame when you have no health insurance and something goes wrong and you need to see a doctor and the doctor’s office charges you a $100 upfront fee to even walk through the door.

“On top of that, we’ll be billed for the rest. The doctor was in the room for less than five minutes. Why does that qualify for more than $100?

“Doctors receive money from the people who do have insurance. I’m sure that’s more than enough money to let those of us who don’t have insurance not pay an upfront fee for $100.”

[RWC] I sympathize with Ms. Ellis up to this point, but here she wants those of us who can afford health insurance to subsidize her healthcare. How? The reason doctors charge an “upfront fee” is to at least partially protect themselves against deadbeats. If doctors had to eat deadbeat visits completely, they would have to pass along the cost to those of us who pay. Note, I’m not claiming Ms. Ellis would be a deadbeat.

“They’re already billing us, so why can’t they bill us for the upfront fee, too?”

[RWC] Probably because doctors too often are not paid at all when they don’t insistent on at least partial payment in advance of treatment.

The shame of this letter is Ms. Ellis has the wrong target. A big reason healthcare insurance is expensive is government interference in the healthcare market.