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<\/a>By Diane Batshaw-Eisman, M.D. FAAFP<\/strong><\/p>\nThis week, the old Curmudgeon had a mental bloppo.<\/p>\n
I seemed to remember that great gentleman, Ben Franklin, saying something about insurance not meant to cover every penny of everything.<\/p>\n
After fruitless hours of searching, I could not find that quote.<\/p>\n
I did know that, in addition to being one of our Founding Fathers, he was the Father of mutual insurance.<\/p>\n
I was hoping that, being a certified curmudgeon, I could channel him on that point, but he must have been busy as there was a huge waiting line. I did meet a few other curmudgeons, but that’s for another column
\nSerendipity is an interesting muse, because in the course of searching, I found an unrelated quote which I feel compelled to post here:<\/p>\n
“No man’s life, liberty or fortune is safe while our legislature is in session”
\n* * *<\/p>\n
My door was partially open. As I sat in my office, getting chocolate crumbs on my keyboard, I heard goings-on at the front desk.<\/p>\n
Assistant (a smile and gentleness in her voice): “Ms. Difficult, your co pay is twenty dollars. Would you prefer to pay by cash or credit card?<\/p>\n
Patient: (With no smile and no gentleness in her voice): “What? Twenty dollars? I thought my insurance paid for everything? I don’t have time for this. I’m catching a plane for my vacation.”<\/p>\n
There are many, many, many who believe that insurance must cover everything. But, to insure is to cover against catastrophe, not every single dime or penny or pence or ha’penny.<\/p>\n
Where did we lose this concept?<\/p>\n
I do remember my parents having insurance and I remember them paying what the insurance did not cover. It was so simple then.<\/p>\n
If they were short of cash, they could always discuss this with the hospital or physician and make arrangements to pay it off and, quite often, get a decrease in the amount owed.<\/p>\n
And along with that old fashioned concept of what insurance is meant to be, there are precepts that have disappeared:<\/p>\n
Don’t expect something for nothing.<\/p>\n
Take responsibility.<\/p>\n
Have respect for others.<\/p>\n
Honor those who have done their best for you.<\/p>\n
As has been discussed and railed against and cried over and ranted about many times and coined by someone else (I would give credit and attribution but I do not know the individual who first used the word), we live in the age of “Entitlementiasis.”<\/p>\n
The generation of “gimme, gimme” has metamorphosed into the age of “Entitlementiasis.”<\/p>\n
And, I am sorely grieved by this. As, I believe, dear old Ben Franklin would be, if I could only channel the man.<\/p>\n
Doctor Curmudgeon\u00ae is Diane Batshaw Eisman, M.D., a physician-satirist. This column originally appeared on SERMO, the leading global social network for doctors.<\/p>\n