The State of Washington 'self insurance' Uniform Medical was switched in 2011 to Regence to 'administer' the program. ......... Same thing as this. Regence immediately applied their own rules (and preferred providers network), generally costing insurees a lot more. ... But worse, SOME treatments (like addiction rehab that is not 12 step) were eliminated entirely as 'experimental', regardless of being effective for 50 to 75+ years. ......... Will this state panel help when those denying coverage represent the state ?

So someone else can say NO. We were talking the other day. I called to schedule my annual mamogram and said yes there was a change, but I could wait until May for my actual date. They told me to come in right away that it would be waived. So when I got the 730.00 bill they coded it as a diagnostic and not a annual (which IS covered by my insurance) and couldn't "recode it". I did call up the ladder and still got the NO. I voiced my concern and told them they need to be more up front with that information. Several years ago a family member had cancer. Deductible was 1,100 for the family and the rest was covered. Today that would be 8,400 before it would be covered and the prescriptions would be ridiculous. Too bad they didn't bump up the prescription coverage a couple years, that would have shown a good impact to consumers. They will figure a way to get their money

how Mommy and Daddy Government run our healthcare. See how much it will cost us then..

than it is now.

The State going to Regence to save admin (and benefit) costs is EXACTLY what can and probably will happen with state or federal health coverage. All they have to do is decide a treatment is experimental, and no coverage. ........... You might have treatment for pre-existing conditions - but with blood letting and leaches.

It will all be "FREE"!!!! Owebama said so.

Half Pint

you think it's bad now...keep waiting. I don't understand why people won't let the free market work. You know why health care is a failure now and costs are crazy? GOVERNMENT in BED with CORPORATIONS. And those corporations charge 1000% markup because they know insurance will have to cover it. I've worked in government and vendors for anything in government have a private sector price and a government price. They know governments just write the checks without caring. Looks at lasik eye. It was 10,000 dollars when it first came out, but not considered covered by most any insurance. Guess what, free market prevailed, competition happened, jobs created, and know you can get a pretty amazing treatment for a couple thousand dollars. Imagine if lasik was a needed health coverage. There would be one or two monopolies in bed with government and they would be charging 30,000 dollars for the same surgery. We NEED to let the free market actually work in health care to provide competition on low cost coverage. Competition breeds most practices, breeds, more jobs, breeds better service, breeds better innovation. Why can't people see that? People will say, "we tried that" I say we haven't tried it because we still haven't gotten government and corporations out of the bed together. So frustrating when the solution is out there.

Yeh, the free market will save everyone right... then what about this story above? basically people are being told, pay us a couple grand a month or you're not going to get your meds, why? because they can charge Health insurance companies 2 G's and they'll pay it... oh you don't have coverage or enough coverage? too bad, guess you need to choose between your life-saving medication or being able to eat this month... ... you idiots are all the same, you defend systems that screw people over and care more about profit than people's lives... Medical care shouldn't be a corporation, healing people should not be about strangling the most profit out of somebody leaving them homeless and financially destroyed or dead, that's evil.. that's flat out evil... there's no way to defend it, people like you need to be infected with a disease then told your only cure is going to cost you your entire fortune so you can understand what the Healthcare system has done under the free market.

Come over to my house and say that. If you want, I'll give you my phone number, just ask, we'll see if you spew your hatred in my face. Coward. How do you think medical advancement happens? By the good grace of people? No, it's by people spending 10 years in school and dedicating their lives to finding cures. What you want is to pay these people minimum wage and expect great results. The only way anything in America has ever happened has been a result of free market and competition. And why does everyone expect health care to be free? You budget $100 or month for cell phone. Most pay $100 month for cable. Most people have a new car payment, xbox, etc..etc... So when someone whines about a $2,000 deductible, I don't feel much sympathy. Plan for it. I don't have cable TV, I don't have thousand dollar a year cell phone plans. I set aside a few hundred dollars a month to anticipate health costs. If I have to pay to reach my deducible, that is OK. You know what happens when you offer everything for FREE. The system gets abused by deadbeats and healthcare goes in the toilet. I'm tired of hearing all these one sided stories on how people are getting screwed when most of them have bills in their life that are NOT needed. Shows were the priorities are.

Quick to jump to violence eh? Well it's not my fault you're stupid. By the way i'm a former US Army Soldier served a tour in Iraq and i'm still in fighting shape, i don't think you want what you're asking, unless you REALLY have good health coverage. As per your post, What medical advancement? You mean the thousands of new medications that have worse side affects than what they supposedly cure? When was the last time they cured any disease? Maybe back in the 1950's? It's smarter for them to make meds that help ease the symptoms of diseases than it is to cure anything... and it's obvious which would make them more money... besides... I never said Healthcare has to be free, i'm not even asking that, i think the cost of going to the hospital one time though shouldn't ruin someone financially, i personally have Health coverage, really nice health coverage and it doesn't put me in a bind where i can't have TV or a cell phone... i make a fair amount of money and i pay taxes that i'm sure get put to use helping people that can't afford health insurance... I'm fine with that... but i don't get it twisted, i know dang well that Health care is a rip off and they're destroying people's lives. People that otherwise would be fine... as for your "I'm tired" rant, what i'm tired of is people like yourself believing talking points from idiots... The health care reforms that were passed do not provide free health care, they provide affordable health care options meaning people pay for them... it also makes it so people with pre-existing conditions can get health care... The system is built against the people guy, the insurance companies have worked it so only the people with the least liklihood of getting sick are able to get insurance and those who are more likely to get sick are denied... That's what's wrong with the system, people like you who rant and rave and defend a system that doesn't work... you're the problem.

The reason non-government healthcare is so difficult to understand and why it is so convoluted is that the missing information gap to consumers is on the "Policy" and who writes it. Employer based insurance policies are written between the Employer and the Insurance Company. What is covered, excluded and allowed is based on this fact. It is not insurance companies who make allowance decisions and denials based on some arbitrary set of rules. The employer decides on covereges and exclusions based on an understanding of the formulas that were agreed to in the contract discussions. Just like auto insurance, every policy is different. At year end, an employer/employee discussion on contract inclusion and exclusion is needed. It may be that decisions are made in negotiating based on finance and not company employee needs. A small increase in premiums paid by the employee may add all you need. You'll be surprised what a small increase would cover. It may be 75.00 a month in premiums would lower deductible to 500.00 and add increased benefits that would make you happier.

So help me understand this: you wrote a story about a woman whose coverage changed, and rather than asking whether she should have checked with her insurer before going to the pharmacy, you make the case that some state government panel needs to step in for her? Did this woman have the ability to change her spending habits? Maybe she spends $20 eating out every day. Did you ask any questions about her story?

I'm not sure you really understood the point....... This is a very important story to be told. It's not about one woman's spending habits or checking at the pharmacy...ect.... It's about an insurance company classifying a preventative medication as a chemo treatment so they can charge a ton of money for it.....It's not about this woman's ability to pay or whether she spends $20.00 on dinner (where did that come from?); It's about all the women that may not be able to afford the medication so they stop taking the medication which could increase the risk of cancer returning. What this insurance company is doing is wrong and it should be talked about; IT SHOULD BE PREVENTED. This story was excellent; My sister should be thanked for bringing this story forward and the folks that wrote this story should be thanked.

Besides the insurance companies, Blue Cross, Premera and others who are acting AS doctors (which, BTW is illegal if you don't have a license, right?) how about the rest of us who don't have insurance but are barely and sometimes not scraping by each month, each week or each day... Someone left out those of us who are waiting for a BOGUS Social Security system that lies about someone "going over your medical records" when they have NONE - and they know they have none and yet there it is, a SECOND denial - and they haven't even had my records which grow colder by the day and yet here I sit getting sicker by the nanosecond lol! AH lovely government - aren't our children and grandchildren in for a TREAT?!

They will deny you until you get a lawyer. But then, if you have a valid claim and get approved, you will get paid back to the date you first applied, minus your lawyer's costs which are quite reasonable. So depending on how long you have waited, you will have a nice lump sum coming. That is, if you have a qualifying condition. Also be aware, once you are approved, you will be up for review once every few years. The review process is much simpler, but getting on SSDI is no guarantee of staying on it. And finding doctors that take Medicare has become almost impossible since Obamacare passed. I've had 4 doctors drop me, wait times to get in to other doctors can be up to two months for specialists, and I have to drive an hour to get to one of them because nobody closer is taking on Medicare patients. It's better than no insurance, but not by a whole lot in some cases.

Disabled and elderly people face this every year with the infamous "donut hole." I'm now paying over $2,000 a month for my prescriptions. That's $800 more than I get from Social Security a month. If I weren't married, with a good income from my husband, I'd have to go without the medicine I need to keep me alive.

Maybe if we weren't raping Medicare to pay for Obamacare, we could do something to help people who actually can't help themselves. I'm fortunate, but there are many people out there who just go without their medication because it's simply too expensive.

I fail to see how this article is even close to newsworthy.

That's what the Dimocrats want. You are no longer productive and cost money. Sorry...

This is what I am hearing: Leave my Medicare alone, how dare Obamacare try to bring healthcare coverage to people who had none. I don't want to subsidizing for anyone (but other can subsidizing for medicare) "A study last December by Milliman Inc., an independent consulting firm, commissioned by America's Health Insurance Plans, found that underpayment by Medicare and Medicaid accounted for nearly an 11% increase in the health care costs of private plans. This means that on average a privately insured family is forced to pick up about $1,800 extra every year of the government's slack. Private plans, all in all, are subsidizing government programs to the tune of $90 billion annually."

You are mishearing. Medicare is generally paid into by people who worked for a living but no longer can. In many cases (for retired folks) they worked for 65+ years and paid into the system. For those who are disabled, they are unable to work and get healthcare any other way. In many cases, they did work for as long as they could and they too paid into Medicare.

Doctors who take Medicare were already paid much less than taking traditional patients. After Obamacare kicks in, they will be losing money on us. Would you *pay* to do your job? Most people wouldn't. That "subsidy" you are talking about is just going to go up because doctors will be getting less money from Medicare and will need to get that money from somewhere.

We aren't just talking about bringing healthcare coverage to people who had none. We are taking coverage from people who had it and have no other option, to sell coverage to people who could be working at jobs that provided it, or buying it on the free market. For whatever reason, they aren't doing so. So we are taking from those who can't to sell to those who don't/won't.

Whenever you get a prescription for pain meds, get as many as you can and sell them to Ryan Leaf at street value. Then use the profits to subsidize your other meds. Win!

If you get too greedy, you'll just make the poor kid break into more houses than a normal former sports hero/jerk can handle.

Love seeing it all over this blog, idiot right wingers trying to Say.. OH YOU JUST WAIT!!! IT WILL GET WORSE!!! ... IT's HORRIBLE RIGHT NOW!!! ... How can you fools sit back and try to tell the American people that Health Care is a fair system as it stands. you people are ridiculous, you may not agree with Obama's Healthcare ideas but you should have been looking to reform the system yourselves not trying to Defend a system that basically says, if it's profitable or you can afford it you can live. if not, later dude DIE SUFFERING! ... You tried to say the Gov would have death panels? THERE ARE DEATH PANELS ALREADY YOU !@#$ING IDIOTS!!!! every time an underinsured person has a critical long term condition.. the hospital is judging whether or not they should let the guy die or give him proper care... you are sick freaks... you defend a system that denies kids health care because their parents are losers... seriously? I wish they'd make you watch them die, then you can tell me how good the current system is and how it didn't need to be reformed. You want to blame anyone for "Obamacare"? You should blame your own party for not trying to do ANYTHING to reform the Healthcare system.

Have you applied as a speech writer for Obama ? You're scoring a lot of points with personal attacks and SHOUTING. .............. BTW, all that's going to change between the current system and Obamacare is different people will decide what's covered and who lives or dies.

What is going to change is people who don't have it now who can't afford health coverage, they'll be able to get health insurance... oh and by the way.. i said this in an earlier post... the average health cost per person in the US each year is $1100 Health insurance costs way more than that... the profits are huge... to sit back and defend a system that ruins people's lives... well that makes you pretty much evil... Love the morality behind this... "We Republicans represent the religious right" ... hmmm wonder how Christ would feel about Republicans figuring the poorest of us should simply die or suffer if they can't afford health insurance.

If an employer finds the Obama plan cheaper, that likely will be what's provided - which could provide LESS coverage than you get now. ... But like I stated earlier with Regence taking over Uniform Medical, even the best plan can be degraded by cost cutting - and there will be a LOT of pressure to Obamacare to be funded as cheaply as possible. ... My view is that 'evil' (and charity) are pretty well distributed between both the right and the left. No more saints and no more sinners on either side. ... Catholic Charities DOES care for the poorest of the poor and, while it will accept insurance, does not require it for care. ... But that's neither right nor left either - except in the eyes of whoever disagrees with Church doctra.

Seriously dude, the Republican party has ran for decades claiming they are the religious right... Yet somehow every time something comes up regarding the poorest of us, Repubs are ready to stomp on the poor's heads to stand taller... you're a bunch of hypocrites... You hate this Obama plan because it allows for the poor to get insurance? how is that right? How is that Moral... maybe ya'll should start reading the bible?

FIRST, Evangelical does not necessarily equate to Christian. But, secondly, it is apparent you failed to read past my first sentence above. .................. Where am I telling the poor to stand taller ? ... and where have I said I 'hate' Obama's plan 'because it allows the poor to get insurance' ? ... And simply reading the Bible make no one 'moral' - you need live what is good. .......... But I did just now think another major problem with Obamacare. Just WHO provides and pays the health insurance of the chronically unemployed ? , and of the homeless ?, and of the self employed barely eking out a living in a poor economy ? .. .............. I suspect that their health care then, as now, will revert to the Franciscans and others who do read AND LIVE the Bible.

Stop taking it then. Its proably unnecessary

It's only ignorance that would have a person say what you've said. It's obvious to me that you've never sat by the bedside of a dying friend that made the choice that you are suggesting.

oh, that ship sailed a long time ago.

that's rich

So basically your saying there is "death panels now" Maybe true for some, but healthcare is not black and white. Should I pay for someones long term care who does't take care of themselves, did drugs, and smokes? Heck no, make better choices. You can't argue that these same "death panels" aren't going to apply under obamacare, people are going to slip through the crack just like before. Guess what, life isn't a utopia. So, Your basically arguing that let government healthcare prevail and let them decide who lives and dies. The point is, there is not perfect answer for health care. The world doesn't work that way. We can all agree there is no way possible to provide free healthcare to everyone for everything. Doesn't work. Your best best is to live the best you can, treat your body the best, and go from there. I can't control anything after that. In my experience, just like welfare, there are an awful lot of people on "disability" for lifelong ilnesses that are either ridiculous or self imposed. It's the way the world works.

Seriously? that's your argument? No you're right, we shouldn't pay for someones care who didn't live a healthy lifestyle... and I shouldn't have to pay taxes so Children can go to school... Nor should i have to pay taxes that go to improving roads that i don't use... and i shouldn't have to pay for the Defense of the United States unless i get a soldier assigned to sit outside my house... This is crap... I should not have to pay for Medicare or Medicaid or antyhing... all those old people should have thought about the idea that medical costs would go up a few hundred percent in 10 years and knew they'd be hosed by the time they were older... We should basically reform the Government into a pay for services type of deal right? And we can eliminate anybody that drains the system... like those pesky elderly that built this nation... and those pesky poor people... how dare they exist... ... yeh you're right about all of it... oh wait... no... you just basically described Nazi Germany.