One big issue we see is that health care costs get run up because people are intimidated to discuss their treatment with their doctors from a financial persepective. For example – this guy – who had a procedure on a fractured hand that was covered by insurance, but anesthesia was not.

Talk about a punch in the gut when he got the bill! Could this have been avoided? Well, we can’t say for sure, because we don’t know all the circumstances.  We’re not here to judge doctors, insurance companies, or patients.  We DO know however, that he very likely would have been better off to discuss EVERY aspect of his treatment with his physician before the procedure.

As a consumer – you wouldn’t buy a car without test driving it, doing some research, and maybe swinging by a mechanic you trust to check it out. You might even try to lean on your salesman a little bit and get a better deal.  One key to true and long lasting health care reform is going to be transforming the mindset of Americans into full-on consumer mode when it comes to health care.

Folks – your doctor works FOR you. Not the other way around. DEMAND to know fees, procedures, the preceived need for those procedures, and who will be performing them. VERIFY that those procedures are going to be covered by your insurance BEFORE they are performed.

If you find a medical care provider that won’t work WITH you to manage your cost – and it’s not an emergency, go somewhere else. The only way to improve your experience as a patient and consumer is to demand you be treated like a valued customer.

From the CNN Article:

He noted that consumers currently pay higher health insurance premiums due to the costs run up by hospitals and other facilities providing care to uninsured people.

My concern with this approach, however, is that the costs aren’t only driven up by folks without insurance, but they are also driven up by people who take advantage of their health insurance plans. For example, people who go to the emergency room for non-emergency services (bad colds, ankle sprains, etc..).

We are quick to chastise the insurance companies as we debate the causes of our health care crisis – but we also need to make sure we look at ourselves when discussing ways to make the health care system work better.