Last Post...for a while at least.

This is my last post for what could be a very long time; possibly forever. You see, I may have cancer.

In September, I began experiencing a creeping numbness, beginning with my feet and eventually encompassing both legs and hips. As I type this I feel some of it in my right hand. The MRIs show a mass in the spinal cord in my neck that may or may not be malignant. There is every possibility that in order to continue living, I will have to have micro surgery. Unfortunately, my insurance may not allow me to go to the one clinic that knows how to perform the operation, the Mayo Clinic in Arizona.

Good doctors are leaving Nevada en mass. The primary reason is that the legal community, along with gleeful help from the insurance industry, is driving them away. The only growth industry in Nevada right now is that of the ambulance chaser attorney. Because of that, and a tendency of the courts to not want to hold anyone personally responsible for their own idiotic actions, liability coverage for doctors has skyrocketed in Nevada.

One of the first effects of the doctor exodus is a lessening of options for patients seeking medical help. When you are the only provider, customer service isn't a priority.

Health Insurance is another problem. Most coverage offered in Nevada isn't worth the time it takes to fill out the forms. HPN is the largest provider and the worst in providing coverage. The problem is that those running the company see the premiums their policyholders as a path to personal wealth rather than payment for services rendered. Unfortunately, most insurance companies have this attitude. The loser is us.

In my quest for a medical solution to my problem, I have run into incompetence, corruption, self-serving rapaciousness and laziness that, in any truly civilized society, should lead to jail time for the offenders. In this state there will be no movement from those empowered to protect the populace because they are owned by those reaping the financial rewards of corruption. Assemblywoman Sheila Leslie is chairwoman of the Health and Human Services Committee. During the last legislative session she prevented a bill that would have stopped hospitals from charging a patient for non-delivered products and services. Guess who donates large amounts to Assemblywoman Leslie’s campaign.

Sheila Leslie is only one example. As a Nevada State Assemblyman, I saw literally dozens. Hers is actually less hypocritical than most.

Here is a question for you. Why is it that nearly every power that be in Nevada goes out of state for medical care?

Workers Compensation? Not if you’re the Worker.

NRS 616D.030 Limitation of liability of insurer or third-party administrator; administrative fines are exclusive remedies.
1. No cause of action may be brought or maintained against an insurer or a third-party administrator who violates any provision of this chapter or chapter 616A, 616B, 616C or 617 of NRS.
2. The administrative fines provided for in NRS 616B.318 and 616D.120 are the exclusive remedies for any violation of this chapter or chapter 616A, 616B, 616C or 617 of NRS committed by an insurer or a third-party administrator.

The above provision in the Nevada Revised Statutes is a nasty bit of legislation designed to allow an insurance carrier to lie, cheat, steal, and even commit third-party murder and get away with it. Section 1 says that the policy holder cannot sue the insurance company or any of its agents even if they act in bad faith. Section 2 says that the fines the administration, read insurance commissioner, a politician reliant on the industry for his office, is all that can be done.
So, if a health insurance company or a workers compensation carrier decides that cheating a policyholder is more profitable than paying for desperately needed care, there is nothing the injured party can do. The Nevada Legislature, slave to dishonest business interests, said so.
As a Nevada Assemblyman, I was given a tour of the executive offices of Health Plan of Nevada, the state’s largest HMO. The office of HPN’s CEO was a single room larger than my house and outfitted in a splendor that would have embarrassed royalty. That is where the majority of your insurance premiums go. Why do you think the legal profession has made itself rich by building a business squeezing out a slightly larger award than what the insurance company wants to hand out?
An insurance policy is a contract and in any other circumstance a contract binds both parties equally. Somehow, in this case, the odds have shifted over toward one side. Now insurance is not a promise of coverage but more of a ponzi scheme. The policy holder saves a tiny percentage over what they may have paid for their loss while the CEO of the company issuing that coverage buys a new corporate jet.
One of the most prestigious hospitals in the world is the Mayo Clinic. That clinic is non-profit because those who started it felt that it would be immoral to profit off of peoples’ suffering. I tend to agree. In fact, the medical profession should no more be a path to wealth than being a pastor in a church. Health Insurance and Workers Compensation Insurance should also be non-profit industries. I ran a quick check of the numbers. If health insurance and hospitalization went non-profit and its staff was paid a decent wage, the cost of healthcare would drop by over 50%.
Some claim that if such a program were implemented, we would descend into the same morass that Canada’s socialized system endures. Not true, people would still have to pay, but they would be paying less for more. Not more for less, which is what we have now. All we would be doing is removing the sharks from the pool, and that is not a bad thing.