I'm all for getting rid of insurance, BUT are doctors all for not gouging the patients? Are they down with not making as much money? No kickbacks from big pharma? Are the non-rich going to be able to afford to go to the doctor, or do we just have to do without? Just die and get out of the way, like the government wants?
I would absolutely rather eliminate health insurance and go to a self pay option. Insurance is why healthcare costs are so astronomically bloated. In a perfect world, big pharma and big insurance go kick rocks.
my experience is that it's quite possible to learn to do without, barring extreme situations like surgery.
and since I forced em to use a local anesthetic instead of a general knockout when I had to have a surgery removing a 3/8" piece of work-CNC-lathe-chuck-crushed finger bone, I know full well that in an apocalypse situation I actually already own all the relevant tools needed to do that particular work myself. a little side-cutter plier, needle and floss, scalpel. the only serious issue would be getting to it fast enough for my endorphins to still be active. they did last an amazing 30-40 minutes after that lathe chuck (and admittedly my own early morning related incompetence) smooshed off the end of my finger. usually with more minor injuries like cuts that are deep/long enough to need superglue (cheapo/in the field substitute for stitches) the endorphins only last a few minutes at most.
My guess is the vast majority are no good at handling money and chose to buy into the current system due to ignorance, debt, etc. Sort of like in a Union State where in order to have the job you must join and pay the mordita.
The insurance companies and their lawyers have created a leviathan which virtually guarantees failure to the doctor NOT joining their networks.
Now that insurance is incestuously intertwined with government, changing the system will be a herculean task and will take a real hero to accomplish.
I agree. Also, the public as a whole has been led to believe they need health insurance. They don’t. Beyond a catastrophic plan for something horrible, cash pay pricing is cheaper than insurance premiums monthly.
I remember clear as day that the obamacare medical socialism bill did not pass until the insurance companies agreed to the terms. I remember being surprised at the time that insurance had been coopted, I thought it would be bad for their bottom line. Whatever the terms, they must have involved a good degree of control and a significant opportunity for profit. Just like the government, the medical and insurance systems are getting larger and more centralized, and not for the benefit of patients.
Thank you, Doctor for letting us know about this today.
My doctor was/is part of a small practice (wife & nephew are his doctor-partners). They took geriatric patients from the retiring doctors when the obamination health plan ruined small practices. (Some older docs retired rather than putting up w/ medicare 14mo payments.) Later, he didn't accept Medicaid patients.
Finally, WuFlu complications (?!) had his practice financially forced to link up w/ a multi-county hospital system.
End result: the practice no longer controls fees, payment or insurance.
My cost went from $150-175 per visit (cash at time of appt) to mailed "discount for self-pay" $403 for exact same bi-annual.
Let's not forget how health insurance first came into existence. In 1900, there was no health insurance. It took the hubris of the Centrally Planned Economy for something like health insurance to materialize. That whole New Deal thing that people idolize now was crippling to innovation and a garrote around the neck of freedom. In the run up to WWII (Thanks Europe) all sorts of industries were doing their best to meet the current and anticipated demands of a world at war. As with everything economic, supply and demand were involved. Engineers and chemists in particular were in short supply. The Roosevelt Administration had frozen wages. (Centrally Planned Economies ALWAYS do things better than the free market, ask the Soviets) So manufacturers all had to pay engineers and chemists the same amount. Roosevelt said so. To pay extra would have meant serious regulatory trouble. (I can't see this coming around again. Ha Ha Ha I make me laugh.) So how did the manufacturers or other businesses compete for the limited supply of engineers and chemists? Benefits that did not count as part of their salaries. This was not a thing before the New Deal. A company car was a nice benefit, but company paid healthcare was a real prize! Buying a car and giving it to an employee was easy. Managing healthcare is not. The manufacturers were more interested in manufacturing than managing healthcare so healthcare management was contracted out. Thus the health insurance companies were born. Thank a Roosevelt worshiping Democrat for the current Big Pharma / Insurance furball we are in right now.
Don't get me started on the original version of Executive Order 9066.....
This sounds more like traditional ransomware. What probably happened here, because this is how it works, is some d-bag with root access to the UHC databases, took out his Mac, and went on a Zoom call. Zoom takes control of your devices on a Mac. They used to download a Web Server so that they could do this. Zoom is a Chinese company with an American presence. It was banned at our company. We only have 2 users with root access to our research databases. The idiot at UHC, who probably should never have been granted root access, probably went and signed into the database. Because Zoom has control of his/her keyboard, all keystrokes are downloaded. They probably noticed this was an engineer for a huge corporation and bingo, they struck gold. They easily decrypted his sign in creds. The hackers then signed into the servers, created another root user, deleted all other users and wallah! ... Total exclusive access to DB. They then sent the ransom note, if you want your servers back, pay $$$$. That would seem better than a conspiracy to drive the small providers out of business, but after the last several years, that also seems viable.
I did not realize zoom takes control of Mac’s!!! Being an Apple user……I am not going to Zoom! I have done 2 calls in the past, but I think those will be my last!
There used to be an FBI warning. I just did a Google search, and it appears to have been scrubbed. More evidence of the current administration having to bow to their Chinese masters. Yes, we banned Zoom at my company. Even if a client wants to hop on a "Zoom call", we insist on Google Meet. I know, Google not a great alternative, but they are not at all interested in Ransomware. I believe (with zero evidence) the Colonial Pipeline Ransom was paid by US Government and root access to their DBs came as a result of Zoom on a Mac.
"Part of me suspects this is a great way to close up the little guys. They do not have the capital to continue running with no money coming in."
Consolidation was always central to the rearrangement of choice architecture employed in forcing a single-payer model on the public. Those who took the time to learn about the minutiae of digital record-keeping, were always aware of the destructive outcomes most likely to ensue.
Ultimately, it's almost irrelevant whether cyberattacks are serendipitous or coordinated, given the incentive structure. The fundamentals of human behavior will always obtain.
I wouldn’t put it past the PTB to find a way to destroy private practices because they already found a way to destroy small businesses during the lockdown. Small businesses that sold the same things as big businesses were closed, but big businesses made obscene profits.
And yes it’s way past time to do away with the parasitic insurances.
It is affecting all insurance claims. I fully agree that cash pay can be used. Our office does do cash pay for patients who are not insured. We list our cash pay prices in all of our paperwork, it is 100% transparent and no surprises and no bloated pricing.
references like this article are the only reason I have a clue this kind of thing is happening.
I fully agree that insurance should be removed as a factor in the "healthcare" industry. I've watched them drive up cash prices for medic-related services and products exponentially since the 1990s. fortunately I've mostly watched from a third person perspective, since I have only significantly participated in the medical-industrial establishment less than 15 times since 1990. after 2007 was about 5 of those, but only for on-principle STD testing during the short time I was actually sexually active.
2007 and earlier medic visits were for an impacted wisdom tooth cut out, a few tetanus shots before they added diphtheria and pertussis toxins to em, several amoxycillin prescriptions from mediquiks for strep throat, and a 3/8” end of finger amputation due to a work related injury. I'm including toothsmithing ("dentistry") under medical too.
I stopped going to mediquiks for strep in 2007 when the price went over $100 to get in the door without covering the cost of diagnostic tests and antibiotic prescriptions. it was still around 40$ to cover the entire visit and go home with penicillin or later amoxycillin last time I paid for a medic intervention. Without being able to get pHarmaceutical antibiotics, but still prone to strep every year or two, I had to find alternative methods to make it (and tooth infections) go away without the long wait for the innate immune system to fix em. the time I walked out of the mediquik in 07 for telling me it'd be $100 plus to sign the permission paperwork, I went and got farm supply store penicillin. took out the strep infection in about 3 days, about the same as prescription. after that time, I'd researched more and discovered that olive leaf extract is a pretty effective antibiotic when combined with my own immune system.
fricken medical industry is not only corrupt and turning stupid, but they got too expensive for me to afford nearly 2 decades ago. the only part of the insurance industry I grudgingly support is forced on me by the State for "liability" protection money payments required for the privilege of putting license plates on my vehicle.
I'm all for getting rid of insurance, BUT are doctors all for not gouging the patients? Are they down with not making as much money? No kickbacks from big pharma? Are the non-rich going to be able to afford to go to the doctor, or do we just have to do without? Just die and get out of the way, like the government wants?
I would absolutely rather eliminate health insurance and go to a self pay option. Insurance is why healthcare costs are so astronomically bloated. In a perfect world, big pharma and big insurance go kick rocks.
my experience is that it's quite possible to learn to do without, barring extreme situations like surgery.
and since I forced em to use a local anesthetic instead of a general knockout when I had to have a surgery removing a 3/8" piece of work-CNC-lathe-chuck-crushed finger bone, I know full well that in an apocalypse situation I actually already own all the relevant tools needed to do that particular work myself. a little side-cutter plier, needle and floss, scalpel. the only serious issue would be getting to it fast enough for my endorphins to still be active. they did last an amazing 30-40 minutes after that lathe chuck (and admittedly my own early morning related incompetence) smooshed off the end of my finger. usually with more minor injuries like cuts that are deep/long enough to need superglue (cheapo/in the field substitute for stitches) the endorphins only last a few minutes at most.
I'm all for getting rid of insurance as well.
Don't blame the doctors.
My guess is the vast majority are no good at handling money and chose to buy into the current system due to ignorance, debt, etc. Sort of like in a Union State where in order to have the job you must join and pay the mordita.
The insurance companies and their lawyers have created a leviathan which virtually guarantees failure to the doctor NOT joining their networks.
Now that insurance is incestuously intertwined with government, changing the system will be a herculean task and will take a real hero to accomplish.
I agree. Also, the public as a whole has been led to believe they need health insurance. They don’t. Beyond a catastrophic plan for something horrible, cash pay pricing is cheaper than insurance premiums monthly.
Agree with you Bandit 1000%!
I remember clear as day that the obamacare medical socialism bill did not pass until the insurance companies agreed to the terms. I remember being surprised at the time that insurance had been coopted, I thought it would be bad for their bottom line. Whatever the terms, they must have involved a good degree of control and a significant opportunity for profit. Just like the government, the medical and insurance systems are getting larger and more centralized, and not for the benefit of patients.
Thank you, Doctor for letting us know about this today.
My doctor was/is part of a small practice (wife & nephew are his doctor-partners). They took geriatric patients from the retiring doctors when the obamination health plan ruined small practices. (Some older docs retired rather than putting up w/ medicare 14mo payments.) Later, he didn't accept Medicaid patients.
Finally, WuFlu complications (?!) had his practice financially forced to link up w/ a multi-county hospital system.
End result: the practice no longer controls fees, payment or insurance.
My cost went from $150-175 per visit (cash at time of appt) to mailed "discount for self-pay" $403 for exact same bi-annual.
Not attributable to inflation, imo.
Let's not forget how health insurance first came into existence. In 1900, there was no health insurance. It took the hubris of the Centrally Planned Economy for something like health insurance to materialize. That whole New Deal thing that people idolize now was crippling to innovation and a garrote around the neck of freedom. In the run up to WWII (Thanks Europe) all sorts of industries were doing their best to meet the current and anticipated demands of a world at war. As with everything economic, supply and demand were involved. Engineers and chemists in particular were in short supply. The Roosevelt Administration had frozen wages. (Centrally Planned Economies ALWAYS do things better than the free market, ask the Soviets) So manufacturers all had to pay engineers and chemists the same amount. Roosevelt said so. To pay extra would have meant serious regulatory trouble. (I can't see this coming around again. Ha Ha Ha I make me laugh.) So how did the manufacturers or other businesses compete for the limited supply of engineers and chemists? Benefits that did not count as part of their salaries. This was not a thing before the New Deal. A company car was a nice benefit, but company paid healthcare was a real prize! Buying a car and giving it to an employee was easy. Managing healthcare is not. The manufacturers were more interested in manufacturing than managing healthcare so healthcare management was contracted out. Thus the health insurance companies were born. Thank a Roosevelt worshiping Democrat for the current Big Pharma / Insurance furball we are in right now.
Don't get me started on the original version of Executive Order 9066.....
This sounds more like traditional ransomware. What probably happened here, because this is how it works, is some d-bag with root access to the UHC databases, took out his Mac, and went on a Zoom call. Zoom takes control of your devices on a Mac. They used to download a Web Server so that they could do this. Zoom is a Chinese company with an American presence. It was banned at our company. We only have 2 users with root access to our research databases. The idiot at UHC, who probably should never have been granted root access, probably went and signed into the database. Because Zoom has control of his/her keyboard, all keystrokes are downloaded. They probably noticed this was an engineer for a huge corporation and bingo, they struck gold. They easily decrypted his sign in creds. The hackers then signed into the servers, created another root user, deleted all other users and wallah! ... Total exclusive access to DB. They then sent the ransom note, if you want your servers back, pay $$$$. That would seem better than a conspiracy to drive the small providers out of business, but after the last several years, that also seems viable.
I did not realize zoom takes control of Mac’s!!! Being an Apple user……I am not going to Zoom! I have done 2 calls in the past, but I think those will be my last!
There used to be an FBI warning. I just did a Google search, and it appears to have been scrubbed. More evidence of the current administration having to bow to their Chinese masters. Yes, we banned Zoom at my company. Even if a client wants to hop on a "Zoom call", we insist on Google Meet. I know, Google not a great alternative, but they are not at all interested in Ransomware. I believe (with zero evidence) the Colonial Pipeline Ransom was paid by US Government and root access to their DBs came as a result of Zoom on a Mac.
"Part of me suspects this is a great way to close up the little guys. They do not have the capital to continue running with no money coming in."
Consolidation was always central to the rearrangement of choice architecture employed in forcing a single-payer model on the public. Those who took the time to learn about the minutiae of digital record-keeping, were always aware of the destructive outcomes most likely to ensue.
Ultimately, it's almost irrelevant whether cyberattacks are serendipitous or coordinated, given the incentive structure. The fundamentals of human behavior will always obtain.
Thank you Jennifer. Peace.
Just because you are paranoid….
I wouldn’t put it past the PTB to find a way to destroy private practices because they already found a way to destroy small businesses during the lockdown. Small businesses that sold the same things as big businesses were closed, but big businesses made obscene profits.
And yes it’s way past time to do away with the parasitic insurances.
Eerie the timing of the “cyberattack” being 4 years to the month of the “lockdown scare tactic”.
Is the hack affecting all insurance claims? I think there should be a catastrophic option with cash pay for routine.
It is affecting all insurance claims. I fully agree that cash pay can be used. Our office does do cash pay for patients who are not insured. We list our cash pay prices in all of our paperwork, it is 100% transparent and no surprises and no bloated pricing.
How about another conspiracy. Get rid of the incriminating data: https://hiddencomplexity.substack.com/p/chinese-government-orders-the-destruction?utm_source=cross-post&publication_id=597993&post_id=142271553&utm_campaign=1032096&isFreemail=true&r=z6l70&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
references like this article are the only reason I have a clue this kind of thing is happening.
I fully agree that insurance should be removed as a factor in the "healthcare" industry. I've watched them drive up cash prices for medic-related services and products exponentially since the 1990s. fortunately I've mostly watched from a third person perspective, since I have only significantly participated in the medical-industrial establishment less than 15 times since 1990. after 2007 was about 5 of those, but only for on-principle STD testing during the short time I was actually sexually active.
2007 and earlier medic visits were for an impacted wisdom tooth cut out, a few tetanus shots before they added diphtheria and pertussis toxins to em, several amoxycillin prescriptions from mediquiks for strep throat, and a 3/8” end of finger amputation due to a work related injury. I'm including toothsmithing ("dentistry") under medical too.
I stopped going to mediquiks for strep in 2007 when the price went over $100 to get in the door without covering the cost of diagnostic tests and antibiotic prescriptions. it was still around 40$ to cover the entire visit and go home with penicillin or later amoxycillin last time I paid for a medic intervention. Without being able to get pHarmaceutical antibiotics, but still prone to strep every year or two, I had to find alternative methods to make it (and tooth infections) go away without the long wait for the innate immune system to fix em. the time I walked out of the mediquik in 07 for telling me it'd be $100 plus to sign the permission paperwork, I went and got farm supply store penicillin. took out the strep infection in about 3 days, about the same as prescription. after that time, I'd researched more and discovered that olive leaf extract is a pretty effective antibiotic when combined with my own immune system.
fricken medical industry is not only corrupt and turning stupid, but they got too expensive for me to afford nearly 2 decades ago. the only part of the insurance industry I grudgingly support is forced on me by the State for "liability" protection money payments required for the privilege of putting license plates on my vehicle.