Rush just makes things up as he goes along. When he gets called on this, he pretends he doesn’t hear. Same old story.

I agree – this is what Limbaugh does but if he wants to compete with Beck he’s going to have to become even more goofy than usual. Good luck Rush!!

So he didn’t use insurance of any kind? Whoa. That’s amazing. I mean, we all know he can afford it, but it seems like a poor financial decision. I’d like to hear a lot more specifics about how he saved 35% by paying cash.

Still absent from Rush’s statement is any kind of acknowledgement that most people in the country aren’t multimillionaires like him, and actually need insurance to avoid catastrophe in case they get sick, and have to worry about conditions disqualifying them from coverage, and skyrocketing premiums, and their insurance going away or becoming unaffordable if they lose their jobs.

A few months ago I paid $44 for a consultation and a prescription for an antibiotic. I suspect the charge to an insurance company for the same exam, etc., would have been more. When i said I was paying cash, the clinic reduced the charge because they did not have to waste time with paperwork or waiting for reimbursement.

Hospitals, doctors, and clinics are not the only ones that offer discounts for cash. So why should it be difficult to understand why this might be so?

I could give some actual numbers from my own experience, but if he got 35% off of the inflated top line, then he probably still paid more than an insurance company. I’m not going to overshare like Rush, but a quick calc on my own recent hospitalization shows that my insurance company received a 40% discount.

That’s right Rush, stay away from the actual facts and try to claim that system wasn’t part of what the healthcare bill is attempting. Delusional, dimwitted, and just plain stupid! I love it when you bitch slap them with facts they retreat.

That’s probably because you have an insurance company. Something many Americans don’t!

He tries to politicizes everything. When I saw his interview I almost puked. I just wanted him to talk about how much he values life or his family or something Disney-Channelish.

I find it funny that he would say “theres nothing wrong with the health care in this country” when he was in Hawaii. Is Rush really a closet liberal?

@roxsteady: I don’t know if that last comment was directed at me, but if so and because I accidentally reversed my numbers, so I compelled to file a correction.

My insurance company actually received a 60% discount and I was left paying less than 2% of the insurance company’s negotiated rate, or about three-quarters of one percent of the inflated top line.

IOW: Yes, I have insurance and BTW, I favor reform.

…or, if Rush got a 35% off of the top line, he paid 25% more than my insurance company.

Vidiot says:
January 6, 2010 at 2:52 pm

I’d like to hear a lot more specifics about how he saved 35% by paying cash.

Well, I would assume there are two reasons for that. If you don’t buy insurance, you don’t have to pay monthly premiums… which, of course, add up over a while (I did that for my dental insurance… it was easier to spend $100 a year out of pocket to get my teeth cleaned, then to spend $20 a month). Additionally, I wouldn’t be surprised if hospitals gave discounts (I think I’ve heard about this) for people paying in cash. A cash payment means less paperwork and discussions with insurance companies, so less cost to the consumer. Not sure how Rush’s math works out… but certainly not an improbable scenario.

Still absent from Rush’s statement…

I think Rush, like myself, believes that the problem isn’t “insurance,” rather it’s the actual costs of healthcare. Like I said above… $100 for a teeth cleaning, and that’s with a big discount because we’re family friends, is a lot of money! Does it really need to cost that much for someone else to brush my teeth? If we could bring healthcare costs down (which this bill doesn’t), we could help a lot more people. Furthermore, Rush, like many who’ve analyzed the bill, talk about how it’s projected ability to help the uninsured is minimal… only a few percent more will get coverage. So while it’s not in this statement, or this particular quote, Rush has talked about it previously.

@ImNotBlue: It’s all a scam. Hospitals, doctor and pharmacies jack-up prices so that once the insurance company gets their discount, they still get more than enough to make a profit and because the system isn’t fair, they also give a discount to those without insurance.

Magister says:
January 6, 2010 at 3:56 pm

I agree… and think that’s the area our government should be focusing on.