By Gerald E. (Ted) Connally
Healthcare is going to change, and the change will be rapid and dramatic.
Regardless of your political view, costs will continue driving up; health insurance will not easily adjust to the results of legislative action now and over the next 18 months. Medicare will cover less and be less welcome, and non-Medicare policies as well as Medicare supplemental policies will cover less and become more expensive. Public insurance, to the extent it evolves, will drive the system into processes and procedures apparent in other countries but not seriously understood here. That’s reality.
Healthy people may or may not applaud the change. Sick people will be in for a major shock. And elective procedures, even ones we take for granted like joint replacement, will become very hard to get the older that patient becomes. Horror Forecast? I think not, and there isn’t a knowledgeable observer who disagrees, other than the advocates of universal insurance who have no concept of the reality of those systems that have the equivalent.
So what do you do? You keep in touch with your insurance agent, even if you are an advocate for the “so-called” reform. You’re going to need her or him. And you would be well advised to start funding for necessary major health care events off shore – literally – in places like India and Thailand. Ask around a bit – that’s happening now.
Now as never before, sound financial planning to meet health care needs is vital. And now as never before, working on your own “preventive health plan” is critical. Especially for older people, the rationing of health care is very real, and very inevitable. If you can prevent it, PREVENT IT. And that makes your family physician about the most important partner in you planning you will truly need.
An old friend of mine, a Canadian, died a few weeks ago. He was waiting for a surgical procedure in Ontario. He was very proud of the fact that during 2 years of serious illness it had only cost him $45.00 Canadian. He could have driven to Detroit and obtained the procedure on 72 hours notice.
Gerald E. (Ted) Connally is a management consultant with 40 years experience. Ted has been in Ft. Myers since 1987. He no longer travels, but is available on a selective basis locally and works with human resources issues.
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Looming Changes in Healthcare
By Gerald E. (Ted) Connally
Healthcare is going to change, and the change will be rapid and dramatic.
Regardless of your political view, costs will continue driving up; health insurance will not easily adjust to the results of legislative action now and over the next 18 months. Medicare will cover less and be less welcome, and non-Medicare policies as well as Medicare supplemental policies will cover less and become more expensive. Public insurance, to the extent it evolves, will drive the system into processes and procedures apparent in other countries but not seriously understood here. That’s reality.
Healthy people may or may not applaud the change. Sick people will be in for a major shock. And elective procedures, even ones we take for granted like joint replacement, will become very hard to get the older that patient becomes. Horror Forecast? I think not, and there isn’t a knowledgeable observer who disagrees, other than the advocates of universal insurance who have no concept of the reality of those systems that have the equivalent.
So what do you do? You keep in touch with your insurance agent, even if you are an advocate for the “so-called” reform. You’re going to need her or him. And you would be well advised to start funding for necessary major health care events off shore – literally – in places like India and Thailand. Ask around a bit – that’s happening now.
Now as never before, sound financial planning to meet health care needs is vital. And now as never before, working on your own “preventive health plan” is critical. Especially for older people, the rationing of health care is very real, and very inevitable. If you can prevent it, PREVENT IT. And that makes your family physician about the most important partner in you planning you will truly need.
An old friend of mine, a Canadian, died a few weeks ago. He was waiting for a surgical procedure in Ontario. He was very proud of the fact that during 2 years of serious illness it had only cost him $45.00 Canadian. He could have driven to Detroit and obtained the procedure on 72 hours notice.
Gerald E. (Ted) Connally is a management consultant with 40 years experience. Ted has been in Ft. Myers since 1987. He no longer travels, but is available on a selective basis locally and works with human resources issues.
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