John Swanagon's Blog » Health

Outrageous Aetna

aeroschwany@hotmail.com (John Swanagon) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 01:32:36 +0000

I have had Aetna health insurance for ten years. In 2000, my annual cost was $0, co-pays were $10, and prescriptions were $10. Throughout my ten years of patronage, and yes I am a customer, my use of the insurance has been minimal. Fast forward to today. My policy is exactly the same; however, I pay $1,200 annually, co-pays are $15 or $25 depending on the doctor, and prescriptions costs are determined by claim activity. That's right. Just today, I found out that the monthly cost for my miracle allergy medication just doubled. The exact same medication with the exact same cost is $100 instead of $49. Is that not the very definition of highway robbery? Get someone dependent on a miracle drug and then raise the price. Wow. Continue Reading »

Brown v. Coakley

aeroschwany@hotmail.com (John Swanagon) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 06:43:54 +0000

The special election for the Massachusetts Senate seat previously held by Edward Kennedy is heating up. According to the latest polls posted on RealClearPolitics, the race is now a tossup. Democrat Martha Coakley is, as of the latest poll on Monday, just two points ahead of GOP rival Scott Brown. Just a few months ago, she was thirty points ahead. What happened? Continue Reading »

Healthcare Reform KO

aeroschwany@hotmail.com (John Swanagon) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 19:38:42 +0000

The latest salvo in healthcare reform has pushed me over the edge. I have never, in my lifetime, seen a President and a political party act so cowardly. President Obama has bet the farm on passing healthcare reform. Yes, he is fighting for his political life. As a result, he is willing to sacrifice anything and everything to get something, anything around healthcare passed. As it stands now, healthcare reform will not include a public option nor will it expand medicare. It does, however, put more people onto the rolls of insurance companies. Isn't that wonderful? Welfare for insurance companies, warfare for the people. Continue Reading »

Obama Wrong on Healthcare

aeroschwany@hotmail.com (John Swanagon) — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 21:52:58 +0000

I admire President Obama's tenacity on healthcare, but the plan he is putting forth and the methods he is using to make it law scare me. There are three key problems I have with President Obama's healthcare plan. The first is that this plan will not be deficit neutral. In reality, this plan is likely to add billions if not trillions more to our already sizable deficit. The second is that this plan gives insurance companies a huge windfall without addressing the underlying problems. The third is the speed at which the President is moving. Something this big and this bold should not be passed in a matter of months. There needs to be due consideration and careful planning. We need to make sure that there is a reasonable expectation of the plan succeeding before Congress passes it. Continue Reading »