Conference 7.286::digital

    My wife also closely manages our medical claims and like you sees a lot
    of errors and "lost claims."  Like you most of the lost claims happen
    when you send in multiple claims.  I am not sure if it is intentional
    or just a very poor process with little to no quality control except by
    the user (ie. us).

In five years, I've had one claim lost that I sent directly, and one that
a provider sent.  When I called about the one from the provider, JH asked
me to fax them the bill.  It was paid within a week.

JH had serious problems when they cut over to a new system a couple of
years ago, but they seem to have got their act together since then.

    I've had one claim lost, and about a 50% error rate on correctly
    sending the reimbursement to us instead of the doctor when we had
    already paid the bill.  I sent a nastygram to DEC's Benefits Manager
    after the claim was lost, and have not had any lost claims since then. 
    I would STRONGLY recommend keeping a close eye on things, and xeroxing
    all receipts before sending them in.
    
    Bob

    re: .3	I've had the same problem of them paying the doctor,
    		even though I've already paid.  I bought a red "PAID"
    		stamp and now use it on all claims I send it.  I
    		has corrected the problem.
    
    re:  conspiracy theories
    
    		Occam's Razor:  when presented with multiple hypotheses,
    		the simpler one is generally the truth.
    
    		Incompetence is much more common than deliberate abuses.

    I doubt there's any conspiracy on JH's part.  DEC pays all the medical
    bills for Plans A + B.  JH administers the program. It does not sell
    any insurance to DEC, so JH stands only to lose from poor claims
    processing performance.  DEC itself would gain from claims underpaid or
    not paid at all.

    Whenever we send multiple claims in one envelope, we make a large note
    on the claim form to that effect.  To date, we have had no problems
    with lost claims.  We do have the problem with payments going to the
    wrong place, but it is normally due to poorly executed forms from the
    doctor.

    After experiencing a run of lost claims when I had submitted multiple
    claims in one envelope, someone at JH suggested that I write my
    badge number on each bill in the envelope. Thus far, they haven't
    lost any more of my claim submissions.
    
    fwiw

I got out of the DMPs a year ago, and not having to deal with JH is
one of the best benefits of my new HMO.
We had to track every bit of verbal and written correspondence.
On many occasions we would call ahead to JH just to make sure we had all
the information documented in a form they needed.  Then a month later, we'd get
a letter saying "We are holding up payment of your claim pending the following
information".  We'd call, explain, ask "Is this conversation sufficient,
or should we send it in writing?" "Oh no, this is sufficient. The check will be
sent immediately."  

You guessed it, another month later, the same letter...

So: 
Put EVERYTHING in writing.  
If its critical, send it return-receipt-requested so you can prove that they
received it.
KEEP A LOG of ALL communications with JH.

Makes HMOs seem downright reasonable!

Kevin

    KEEP COPIES OF EVERYTHING.  That's the sole and only way to
    prevent this kind of stuff from happening with anyone -- insurance
    companies, credit card companies, the phone company, the bank,
    etc., etc., etc.  

    I modified the title of this topic to avoid any confusion with the Car
    Plan B.
    
    Bob - Co-moderator DIGITAL

    We used to have a serious problem with the provider being sent money
    even though the bill indicated that it had been paid. I have since
    started circling the total and writing "Paid by employee" by it. Since
    then I have been paid everytime.

    The big problem now is "coverage". When my wife had Gallbladder surgery
    god ol' J.H. said that over $1300 of the $5000 surgery was above
    reasonable and customary. Having learned that lesson, when my son
    needed tubes in his ears and to have is adnoids removed I called J.H.
    and verified that the doctor was charging what they considered
    reasonable and customary. I verified this using the procedure codes
    given by the doctor and used by J.H. I was told that both procedures
    were below the limit and would be pain in full. Well, when all was said
    and done, J.H. would not cover slightly over $100. When I inquired
    about this I was told by J.H. that since both procedures were done at
    the same time the more expensive procedure (by J.H.'s standards) was
    paid at 100% while the other procedure would be paid at 50%. But to
    make matters more complicated, the formula that J.H. used, was to pay
    100% of what they considered to be reasonable and customary for the
    first procedure (which was MORE that the doctor actually charged) and 
    50% of what they considered reasonable and customary for the second
    procedure (which was more than 50% of what the doctor actually
    charged). Confused? I sure was.

    Alpharetta employees beware. The big book that J.H. uses to calculate
    "reasonable and customary" charges includes all of metro Atlanta and
    Athens. Even they ask you for the zip code of the doctor, Surgeons,
    G.P.'s, clinics, etc. from both these areas are put together to come up
    with the average. Bottom line is that if you have anything done in
    north metro area, it will not be completely covered.

    Frank Mueller

    JH is terrible! They lose 2-3 of my claims each year. I've become
    accustomed to their lousy service and I always keep copies, notate
    dates, and call back to check up.
    
    JH is what 'Best-n-Class' is all about, NOT!

    
    	I have NEVER seen JH so bad as this last year.  They lose 70% of
    the forms I send in.  I spend way too much time chasing them down and
    getting the mistake solved.  I save all my receipts and only submit
    them when I am owed money.  It saves my stomach.  And did you notice
    they can no longer solve the problem on the phone anymore, stating they
    will call back and never do.  If I had a cruise missle....
    
        I think KAOS is involved
    
    Mark

JH was just plain "too hard" to deal with for us.  Fortunately, all our 
regular doctors (cardiologist, OB/GYN, and GP) were all in Tufts, so we
opted for this HMO last year.  You talk about hassel free.... what a change!
My wife ended up having a hysterectomy (sp?) this year... our cost=$3.00.
And better yet, not a single hassel-filled phone call or form to fill out!

Unfortunately, I still use JH for Dental (wife has Delta thru her work).
I recently had just under $600 worth of Perio.. work done.  The dentist sent
in the required pre-op evaluation and request for estimate, but after waiting
far too long, decided to go ahead.  JH finally came back after all the work 
had been done with coverage of less than $300.

"Best in Class" NOT.....  In spades!

    Gee, I'm almost afraid to add this, but I have a chronic condition
    that necessitates at least 1 visit a month to my doctor.  In almost
    10 years of continuous submissions, JH has only messed up twice (and
    sent the payment to the doctor). 
    
    Now I highlight the portion of the statement that says "paid in full"
    and I haven't had a problem since. I submit each bill as soon as I
    pay the doc.  Earlier this year however, I was out on STD and dealing
    with several specialists and did submit multiple bills in one envelope;
    JH didn't mess up once :-)
    
    Frank Mueller's experience does concern me though; this doesn't bode
    well for the employee or DEC.  Twelve years ago I had surgery; my
    OB/GYN suggested that both he and the urologist operate in conjunction
    with one another.  This saved me from having to out on STD twice; at
    that time both their fees were covered totally - a win-win situation
    for me and DEC.  After reading about Frank's recent experience, if
    presented with the same set of circumstances now, it would appear that I
    would be better off having the hysterectomy first (go out on STD and
    recover) and at some later date have surgery by the urologist <----
    this would also require a hospital stay and STD.....this is getting
    goofy!!  Not only would I have to undergo surgery twice, but DEC would
    lose my services twice; how can this be cost effective?
    
    Karen
    

    
    OK! Time for action!!!!
    
    Hancock has lost dozens of claims of mine. 
    
    I have escallated this in Hancock and have told me on several
    occations:
    
    	- They know they lose claims, their mail opening machine
    	  loses some claims.
    
    	- If you send more than one claim in an envelope, they
    	  will probably lose one. (Told by a supervisor at Hancock)
    
    	- I was denied payment on a claim for 2 years because
          they needed information about the 'accident'. There
    	  was no accident. Though I wrote them several times,
    	  nothing happened.  Finally, I threatened to take
    	  legal action, and I received the check the next
    	  day.
    
    
    I think it is time to inform Hancock that we are on them, and
    to file complaints with the authorities, and yes, sue. Nuisance
    suits will take the rewards out of losing and delaying claims.
    
    Damn it, we pay the premiums, we are entitled to the benefits.

    	They seem to have a habit of "forgetting" to issue Health Care
    Reimbursement Account payments to cover deductibles and not-covered
    charges. Watch this carefully. When I've called to point out the
    errors, they conceed. What's so annoying is that the reimbursement is 
    conveniently delayed another month. Meanwhile, the provider sends yet
    another statement. The winners in this are the uninvolved: the phone
    co. and the US mail....
    
    Phil

    I, too, have found JH to be very forgetful and/or sloppy in not paying
    things automatically through the HCRA that they should have, and in not
    paying claims properly. I created a simple spreadsheet to track the
    progress of claims and to ensure that they do get paid as they should.
    When they don't, I call Hancock and haggle with them until they see
    things properly. Sometimes they JH rep argues about things, and then I
    ask for a supervisor, which generally gets the proper results. I ALWAYS
    keep copies of everything I send to JH. I think they are so screwed up
    they should be dumped for somebody that is competent.

    Why don't we extract this note and all of its replies (or at least
    those replies that complain about Hancock) and send it to the person in
    Digital responsible for administering Hancock?  Anyone know who that
    is?
    
    Just-an-idea-from-someone-who-really-doesn't-give-a-damn-because-he-is
    opting-out-of-Digital's-sorry-excuse-for-a-medical-plan-to-join-a-real
    -medical-plan-that-provides-good-benefits-at-a-reasonable-cost
    

    I haven't had claims lost - but have had a terrible time with them
    paying! I get a lot of collection notices because it is taking them 4
    to 6 months to pay. I have has a few paid Very quickly - but that is
    not the norm. You do have to watch them though! I usually send a
    duplicate of the bill if they haven't responded within a couple of
    months. Sometimes it help - sometimes it doesn't. Frankly I think the
    response is  horrid. I tried calling them a couple of times - but gave
    up after wainting for 30 minutes on hold. I can only take so much!

re .10:

You should have scrapped the "Plan B" part of the title.  The DMPs are
1 and 2, not A and B.  There's nothing in this string that's unique to
plan 2 either.

re .*:

It's very strange that there's such a wide range of experience here.
I often send in multiple bills, and they've never lost one of the batch.

I too have had problems with HCRA.  They've twice forgotten to reimburse
me for the copayment of DMP submissions (I have the automatic option).

    re: .21
    
    Done.
    
    Bob - Co-moderator-DIGITAL

It is amazing what we have to go thru to get things done right

We, too, have had problems with JH paying the doctor and not reimbursing
us, when we paid the bill.

I went out and had a large stamp made (about 1/2 " letters)

It says

		REIMBURSE EMPLOYEE
                  BILL IS PAID

We use red ink and stamp it at the top of the form, usually works.

Apparantly they can't figure out their own forms otherwise, or bother
to read them when it indicated you have paid the bill and have a zero
balance due.

						Sue...

    I'm not going to call the wife in and say "Check out this topic", She
    goes ballistic about John Hancock. My 15 year old daughter has had a
    history of asthma/allergies since age 2 or so, and we have a pretty
    steep total at year's end (and I pay more and more every year |^(. )
    
    I think the root cause is as stated previously, sheer incompetance. I
    also think that this is the REAL casue of spiraling medical costs in
    this country. The morons at these kind of places.
    
    I like the idea of the giant "I PAID IT ALREADY, YOU MORONS!" red
    stamp. Probably won't work though.
    
    .mike.

    I am currently tracking down a lost medical form at JH.  The people
    there said that they appreciate us trying to save them money, but their
    mail opening & tracking methods just aren't set up to handle it.
    
    - New topic-
    
    I just got the numbers for our site for next years medical plan costs. 
    We are going to be incorporated into the HMO-Elect program for the
    first time so they are trying to get us information early to plan with.
    
    I have had bad experiences with our HMO in the past so I have had my
    family (5) on Plan 2 for the past year.  I expected the Plan cost to
    increase (double or so) with the introduction of HMO-Elect but the
    increase was out of site.
    
    Family Coverage	 1992	 1993
    
    Plan 2 		$23.92	$83.03
    
    That's an increase of almost 250%   !   $3073.72 per year increase.
    
    Is this the size of increase that other sites experienced when they went 
    HMO-Elect.  
    
    I seen no real choice here as the HMO-Elect option is about what I
    paid last year for Plan 2.    

    Does anyone know if DEC has even looked into other dental plans
     (ie:DELTA) for some corporate savings and maybe even better coverage
    for us (the employees) JH  I feel doesn't really show any competivness
    in this field.
    
     Bill -

re .25

Same thing happened to us when HMO-Elect was made available in our area.

Neat way to "encourage" you to use the new HMO-Elect Plan, huh?

Bob.

    
    You want to talk about a REAL conspiracy...
    
    I saw a special on TV last night that talked about a "risk pool"
    that the HMO's put a pile of money into.  At the end of the year,
    whatever money is left over is divided between the doctors.
    
    This is causing "some" HMO doctors to delay and/or ignore things
    so they can get a "bonus" (of sorts), at the end of the year.  They
    had one lady on the show that was told (by her HMO doctor), that she
    had a sist, and should wait for 4 (or more), months before doing
    anything.  She didn't like the answer and went to another doctor.
    This doctor told her she had cancer and needed surgury NOW, as in
    yesterday.  She had the surgury and it was cancer.
    
    There were several other people (doctors included), that bad mouthed
    the risk pool idea.
    
    Did anybody else see this?  
    
    Has anybody had a case (HMO), where they were discuraged from
    treatment?
    
    

    re.-1
    Yes, delayed/mistraetment to death. My neighbor died with Breast Cancer
    because a local HMO delayed/postponed/ignored the need for surgery!
    
    Also, a friend who needed mental health assistance was refused 
    hospitization by same local HMO. She committed suicide 2 hours
    after they decided sho didn't need hospitalization.
    
    My experience as a general rule is that most HMO's that I am aware
    of do a poor job at best in the area of mental health.
    
    I don't knoe if it is appropriate to list the organization here, so I
    won't
    
    Mike

    A friend's husband has a chronic condition requiring (in the past)
    monthly checkups. Under an HMO, the same doctor cut the visits to 
    every two months, saying that they didn't pay him enough money for
    the monthly visits. Of course, it is also possible that the doctor 
    was seeing him more frequently than necessary to create more revenue, 
    and that the patient should be seen every six weeks.
    
    
    Linda

HMO == Healthy Members Only

  (Howland Owl said that, not me)

    re: .31
    
    
    I agree with that !!!!!
    
    
    Ken
    

    One reason that HMO's seem to get away with this kind of thing is that
    patients seem to think that they are TRAPPED by the HMO system.  If you
    have a problem you are concerned about, you should *always* get a
    second opinion, even if it comes out of your own pocket.  When dealing
    with an HMO cutout-type, let them *know* you'll get a second opinion,
    and that you'll raise the issue with both your employer and your lawyer
    if you think you're getting the shaft.  The staff doctors are not gods,
    and if you question their judgement, don't just slink off, do something
    about it.
    
    Times have changed from when you had to worry about greedy doctors
    who did too much to you to get the insurance money; now you have to
    worry about doctors who do too little.  But it's a fallacy to think
    that at anytime you could ever entrust your health to a third party
    without being *informed* and *diligent*.
    
    Geoff Unland in Austin

    Regarding Hancock being worse than HMO's, it depends on the HMO you
    are in.

    I xerox all paperwork, periodically have to resort to writing three
    page "synopsis" letters in 12-pt fonts with threatening undertones,
    and sometimes even resort to recording phone calls (announcing the
    fact since this is MA).

    The only thing which has made things slightly better is to be very
    careful about getting the name of a contact, and asking for that
    contact for followup conversations.

    I am quite pleased with my HMO, Healthsource NH.  I've always been
    able to get referrals, tests and treatment I needed.  I recommend
    them highly.
    
    				Steve

    Likewise.... my family and I are please with TAKE-CARE COLORADO.. As we
    were please with Harvard Community Health Plan when we lived in Ma.
    
    We have NEVER had a problem with any areas of treatment.!
    
    By the way, HMOs are not just for "Heatlh members only"... My oldest
    son has been rather sickly since the age of 2 years.... The HMOs have
    always been there for him/us...!! 
    
    Smile... it's the only life you have!
    
    Bob G.
    

Well, before HMO elect in MA area, I had an HMO.  When my son nearly stopped
growing, we had to get an outside-the HMO referal as they had no pediatric
endocronologist in the area.  After waiting 3 months for the appointment, the
specialist we were referred to ran many tests, then recommended a 6 month trial
of growth hormone to see if my son would respond.  The HMO balked and demanded
additional tests.  These tests were less than pleasant for my son and required
that he loose 3 days of school.  When one of the tests came in normal, inspite
of the other abnormal tests, treatment was denied. The doctor and I tried to
fight the HMO, but the bottom line was that 6 months of treament was $12,500
just for the medication.  At this point in time, my son was now being subjected
to the humiliation of being smaller than his brother who was 4 years younger in
the same school.  The HMO then also declined my request for pyscho therapy to
help my son deal with these issues. After many hassles and foot dragging with
the appeal process, and paying for a second opinion out of my own pocket (that
agreed that the trial was likely to be successfull), open enrollment came around
and picked up John Hancock.  It became effect Jan 1, and Jan 2 my son started
treatment.  By the end of the 2nd month, it was obvious my son was responding
well to the treatment and growing.

The following year, I was shocked by the HMO elect options, what it was
going to cost me to maintain John Hancock, etc.  So I queried the
available HMO's and the Elect plans about continuing coverage for my son.
(Given the short time to make this decision, it was not easy and the
amount of time I spent in this effort affected my abitlity to work)

Anyways, several HMO's flat out said no way. Current cost of his medication
was $25,000 per year.  Others said he would have to be reviewed if I joined
the plan, but would not maintain his medication until the review was done -
upwards of 3 months time.  Since he can only take this medicine before
he reaches full puberty, a 3 month delay can have a serious affect on the
overall results.  So, given I couldn't be sure he would be covered, and I
can't afford the medication out of pocket, I stayed with the more expensive
DMP but decided to take the risk of no hospitization and took the lower plan.

Now I'm faced with the same scenario again this year.  I sure didn't get the
raises to cover those increases.  Since info is not available yet, I don't
know if any HMO will cover my son's medication.  When I called Corporate
benifits to complain, I started getting the party line about "you folks with
idemnity insurance can pick and choose doctors, go whenever you like,
etc." as the cause for the major increase costs.  I then had to justify WHY
was with the Digital Medical Plan because the HMO would NOT appropriately
deal with my son's problems.  I got a lot of "I understand", but no solutions,
no way of getting the HMO's to deal with expensive medical issues, etc. At the
end of this year (1992), DMP will have shelled out close to $30,000 just for
my son's medications.

When talking with corporate benefits, I also requested, as I did last year,
that they poll the DMP folks in the HMO elect areas and find out why they
chose to pay more money for medical coverage.  I know of 4 people in my
building alone that have the same problem I do - the HMO options DO NOT
cover our medical needs and are therefore not an option.  I truely believe,
tho I cannot prove, that DMP has become so cost prohibitive in the HMO elect
area's because it must bear the expense of inadequate HMO policies and coverage.

To add insult to injury, service from John Hancock, Plan Adminstrator, has
deteriorated seriously.  I had several claims that were paid incorrectly
this year, and I still have 2 outstanding claims from 1991 that they
have managed to screw up and not pay as of yet.  Additionally, I now pay
more money to the post office for return receipt regestired mail so I
can prove they recieve the claims - their current track record with me
is  45% claims filed that they say they never recieved.

In short (pun intended since that is WHY I must deal with John Hancock!!),
I have a choice of taking my chances with the $$$$ oriented HMO's in
this area or spend and exorborant amount of time getting John Hancock
to do their thing, all the while making my pay check less than it was
last year... (Oh yea, the disabilty insurance raise didn't help much, either!!)

Feeling_like_I'm_stuck_between_the_proverbial_rock_and_hard_place

Alice

    Re .-1
    
    I'm very glad to hear that your son is now getting the appropriate
    treatment. But I'm somewhat confused as to why you're upset that DMP
    costs more than HMO. You said yourself you got over $30,000 of medical
    treatment for your son last year. I'm sure your DMP payment was nowhere
    near that.
    
    Your family due to no fault of your own has higher than average medical
    costs. You are thus forced to pay higher than average for your medical
    coverage. HMOs pick and choose as to what procedures they cover. That's
    WHY they are cheaper than DMP.
    
    What it sounds like you are asking for is Universal Healthcare ie same
    price for all. This is what most Americans deride as "socialized
    medicine". The tiered system is what American society seems to want. Up
    until now companies (like Digital) have been able to spread the cost
    evenly over all their employees. Today that is just not financially
    possible to do for a private corporation (especially one like Digital
    that is in serious financial difficulties). Your problem is with the
    way medical coverage is set up in the country not with the DMP costs
    from Digital.
    
    The one thing that I feel you should have a case on is that I find it
    totally unacceptable that when you're with an HMO they refused to cover
    the treatment for your son and you had no immediate option to pay more
    and go to DMP. You finally were able to go to DMP. Now you have to live
    with the cost because that's how medical coverage works whern you don't
    have a National Health Service like there is in my country (England).
    If you don't like it complain to your legislators not Digital. It is
    not their fault.
    
    Dave

>     <<< Note 2180.38 by SMAUG::GARROD "Floating on a wooden DECk chair" >>>
>            -< Companies can't implement National Health Services >-
                ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^  agreed.
.
.
>    treatment. But I'm somewhat confused as to why you're upset that DMP
>    costs more than HMO. You said yourself you got over $30,000 of medical
>    treatment for your son last year. I'm sure your DMP payment was nowhere
>    near that.

The cost of DMP in HMO ELECT areas have been driven up faster than the
cost of HMO's because they have created a pool of people with HIGH medical
costs that the HMO's have been not dealt with.  My DMP payments plus
reaching maximum out of pocket expenses every December is a fairly
substantial percentage of my income.  This year, because the high cost
pool DEC has created for me, my premium goes up again, my benefits remain
the same, and my cash flow goes down and service from John Hancock
continues to deteriorate..  I resent the PR hype that is thrown
in my face the HMO solve the medical cost problem, that those of us with
DMP drive up the costs of things indiscrimantely using medical services.
THIS IS NOT THE CASE.
    
>    Your family due to no fault of your own has higher than average medical
>    costs. You are thus forced to pay higher than average for your medical
>    coverage. HMOs pick and choose as to what procedures they cover. That's
>    WHY they are cheaper than DMP.

The problem is not just HMO's vs DMP.  The problem in this particular case is
that pharmacutecal companies run a business with a captive audience with limited
choices. My son's medication is very expensive because the company wants to
recoup it's r&d quickly before patent expirations allow competition. Goverment
regulations allow and promote this! This is like DEC charging $200,000 dollars
for a lowend ALPHA station because there is no competition.  If DEC were the
only computer manufacture, they could get away with this, but they are not. 
However, in this case, the goverment allows the pharmacutecal company an
effective monoply time frame for which the customer has no choices or say in the
matter.
    
>    What it sounds like you are asking for is Universal Healthcare ie same
>    price for all. This is what most Americans deride as "socialized
>    medicine". The tiered system is what American society seems to want. Up
>    until now companies (like Digital) have been able to spread the cost
>    evenly over all their employees. Today that is just not financially
>    possible to do for a private corporation (especially one like Digital
>    that is in serious financial difficulties). Your problem is with the
>    way medical coverage is set up in the country not with the DMP costs
>    from Digital.

My real goal was to let folks know that all the PR hype that DEC is
publishing is not necessarily true and that HMO's are not the cureall
that folks may think they are.  I do not know what the answer to the
problem is.  The entire medical system, from pharmacutecals to clinics
and hospitals and doctors, and the insurance companies needs a major
revamping here.  Patients are a captive customer, many times with
their lives on the line, while current medical care seems to be a business
with the almighty $ being the driving factor.  Given the discord between
the patient's needs and the business's goals, no one is a winner here.
    
>    The one thing that I feel you should have a case on is that I find it
>    totally unacceptable that when you're with an HMO they refused to cover
>    the treatment for your son and you had no immediate option to pay more
>    and go to DMP. You finally were able to go to DMP. Now you have to live
>    with the cost because that's how medical coverage works whern you don't
>    have a National Health Service like there is in my country (England).
>    If you don't like it complain to your legislators not Digital. It is
>    not their fault.

I had recourse - a lenthy appeal process that would have taken away much of the
time my son needed to be on the medication or switch during open enrollment.  My
gripe with Digital is that they have deliberately created this high cost pool in
certain areas of the country (HMO elect areas).  I have filed complaints with my
legislators regarding health care delivery system here in the US. 
Unfortunately, my word doesn't bear as much weight as the medical business
lobbies or the AMA...

I don't know what the answer is, but I sure feel the affect of the problem.

Alice

    re: .38
>    What it sounds like you are asking for is Universal Healthcare ie same
>    price for all. This is what most Americans deride as "socialized
>    medicine". The tiered system is what American society seems to want.
    
    Dave, Mr. Englishman Abroad,
    
    Read the newspaper once in a while.  American health care policy has
    been a hot political topic this year, and changes will come.  Whether
    Digital Equipment is contributing to a solution or to the problem is
    the topic here; public policy is not.
    
    Wes

re .37:

>                                           I stayed with the more expensive
>DMP but decided to take the risk of no hospitization and took the lower plan.

The risk you take with taking DMP1 rather than DMP2 is that the 20% copayment
for hospital/surgical expenses will be more than the money you're saving
by paying lower premiums.  Since both plans have the same out-of-pocket
maximum, I suspect that DMP1 is a better deal than DMP2 for most people.