I received my medical insurance renewal quote the other day: up a whopping 20 percent. When I called the insurance company, I was told — in the middle of hints that “Obama-care made us do it” — that the real reason was that malpractice claims are up: “Doctors have more claims made against them.” In other words, it is the doctors’ fault. Said another way, this is like “the devil made me do it.” Here are a few facts:1. There are 25,000 new lawyers in this country every year. Lawyers retire late (if at all), meaning that there are over 1,440,000 lawyers in this country at any given moment, according to the American Bar Association (ABA) — roughly 1 percent of the workforce. As many as 98,000 of them are in the personal injury business, according to the American Trial Lawyers Assocation in Washington, D.C.2. The fee you (or your insurance company) pay to a doctor is divided up before taxes (and his food bills): At least one-third goes to insurance premiums, and sometimes a premium of 5 percent goes to the affiliated hospital for their insurance costs.3. The insurance person who checks on the payments and need for payment with local hospitals (sometimes one man per 100-bed hospital) gets a salary deep into six figures. Mind you, this person does nothing to help medical procedures or help provide health care. His or her job is to “keep the hospital honest.” Said another way, this job is to lean on the hospital to keep down costs by extorting a reduction in testing and patient care. Overnight stays for major surgery are even frowned upon now. And nurses are being laid off (but not bean counters, of course).4. A lawyer who gets a small, perhaps frivolous, claim for malpractice can file a lawsuit (filing fee? $50 or less) in local court and receive, within the week, a settlement offer from the insurance company. If the claim is “just below the threshold of necessary defense” (to quote a source at the ABA), a check is cut by the insurance company within the month. No trial, no discovery, no meetings, if the claim is just small enough, it’s not worth the bother to go through the motions. Thirty percent or maybe 50 percent go to the lawyer(s) for a $50 out-of-pocket cost. It is obscene.Now, you may ask why, since some of these undefended claims are for as much as $150,000. The answer is simple: The insurance companies charge doctors premiums based on the number of malpractice claims they have to process and pay, not the amount, but the number of claims. Additionally, the insurance companies charge you and I based on the amount of payments they have to make to doctors and hospitals. Hospitals and doctors have to charge us more because they are paying the insurance companies more. It is a great scam, they charge us more and we believe (because we are told doctors and hospitals charge too much) that it is the medical profession that is overcharging, profiteering. The medical profession points to the underhanded lawyers who file suit for a hangnail. The lawyers’ associations say nothing because they know which side of the bread their butter is on: The more they win in “under the wire” lawsuits, the more profit the insurance companies will make. And here is the point: Every time insurance companies pay out for a false or “under the wire” claim, they know they will get it all back, with a small mark-up of course, in increased premiums.Why would you expect the insurance companies to go after the lawyers? They are essentially their allies. The insurance companies are adamant they are not to blame. It is the bad doctors, surely. Doctors who are forbidden under the terms of their insurance policy to defend themselves or ever explain publicly. It is in the fine print. If a patient makes a claim, the doctor is never allowed to defend himself. To you and me, a malpractice payment is proof of a doctor’s wrongdoing; to the insurance company it is a way to make profit, to hell with the doctor’s reputation.Remember that insurance adjuster who covers a regional hospital for just one company? I saw one 10 years ago at Sharon hospital in his mid-20s. He drove up in his shiny new Cadillac. I watched as an eight-year student, now a doctor in ER, left the hospital in his beat-up old Honda. The fine print in an insurance policy coupled with an over-abundance of unscrupulous personal injury lawyers results in a business that has only one aim: Squeeze more money from innocent people: you and I and the doctors. This money would be better spent for health care, as it was intended. Peter Riva, formerly of Amenia Union, lives in New Mexico.
Latest News
HELP WANTED
Carpenters Wanted: Local established company looking for qualified carpenters. Segalla's TurnKey Housing, LLC is looking for a few carpenters with varying levels of expertise to join an established team. Must be able to work well with others performing a varied list of tasks from siding and framing to finish trim. Competitive wages, 401K, paid holidays, vacation and health insurance offered. Please contact us at 860-824-0019.
Wanted: a mechanic to service my small Husqvarna Z254F zero-turn lawn mower. I'm in Lakeville. 860-435-2660.
Full-time Warehouse and Office positions available in Sharon, CT. We're looking for dependable, self-motivated individuals who are ready to work and take pride in doing a good job. Pay is $22 to $30 an hour, depending on experience. Applicants must have reliable transportation, be dependable and on time every day, be self-motivated and able to work independently, have a positive attitude and good work ethic. Interested? Call Mike or Greg at 800-245-8222 for more information.
TAG SALES SALISBURY, CT
ESTATE SALE 76 Factory St. Salisbury, CT. Furniture, Rugs, Household items, Art, Books, & More. Friday-Sunday October 9, 10, 11. 9-3 pm. No Early Birds.
TAG SALES LAKEVILLE, CT
ESTATE AND FAMILY TAG SALE 27 Indian Mountain Rd, Lakeville. Saturday, October 10, 8 am-4pm. Rain Date, October 11. Lots of arts and crafts supplies plus artwork old and new, jewelry, games, household items, and furniture. Many items are one of a kind. Everything priced to sell. Cash, Venmo, and credit/debit cards accepted. Easy parking.
HOUSE FOR RENT
2 Bedroom House. Millerton, NY. Quiet. 4 miles from town. No Dogs. $2400 monthly, plus utilities. 518-567-8277.
Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.
Dick Hermans in the Oblong Bookstore on Millerton\u2019s Main Street in 1985.
Provided
For Hermans, the award has prompted some reflection about why he has spent so much of his life involved in community projects.
“I was thinking about it this morning: Why do I do what I do?” he said. “And I think no matter what I’ve done, whether it’s been school board or rail trail, I’m trying to be useful to the communities I’m associated with.”
Hermans is perhaps best known as the longtime co-founder and steward of Oblong Books in Millerton, a business that began almost by accident. He and his former partner, Holly Nelson, were living in Millerton and looking for something to do during the winter. They had been painting houses, including the Grange Hall in Millerton, a job Hermans got through his aunt, who belonged to the Grange.
At the time, Hermans was also working in insurance for his father, doing collections.
“It was fine except I was doing collections, and it really kind of left me cold,” he said.
He and Nelson began thinking about what they might do together. Nelson was an avid reader, while Hermans had studied journalism and had worked in a record store. They noticed a chain of book and record stores operating elsewhere in the Hudson Valley and decided to follow that model.
And so Oblong was born.
Dick Hermans in the Oblong Bookstore on Millerton’s Main Street in 1985.Provided
“We really learned it by the seat of our pants,” Hermans said.
The business would eventually become a beloved and integral part of Millerton’s commercial life. But although Hermans may have learned the book business as he went, his affinity for retail — and for the connections that happen across a counter — had begun much earlier.
As a child, his second-grade teacher operated a little cardboard pencil shop in the classroom, and Hermans still remembers the satisfaction of selling a pencil for a nickel.
“I really liked selling somebody a pencil for a nickel,” he recalled. “I can remember that experience, and it was so pleasant.”
Later, while living in Arizona, he helped establish a food co-op and worked at the counter.
“I kind of knew that I liked doing that kind of thing,” he said. “It’s a nice way to be pleasant with people, but without making too much commitment to them.”
His relationship with Millerton also predates Oblong. His grandparents lived in the village, and he first came to Millerton as a baby. Over the years, he has watched the town change through several generations.
He remembers a Millerton with a much broader array of businesses, when stores such as Delson’s, the Main Street department store that stood for nearly 40 years in what is now Millerton’s Antiques Center, seemed to carry almost everything a resident might need.
“You could find everything from a set of dishes to a shotgun,” he recalled.
The rise of shopping malls changed that kind of downtown retail, he said, but Millerton has remained a lively commercial village.
“For us, it’s been a great place to have business,” Hermans said. “It’s a busy village.”
For Hermans, running a store was never simply about selling books and records. It was a way of being part of a place.
Music has remained another constant. Hermans continues to sell music at Oblong and hosts the radio program “New Harmony” on WKZE. The business of selling music has changed dramatically over the years, particularly with the rise of streaming, but Hermans has adapted.
He was initially reluctant to bring vinyl records back into the store because of their expense. But about four or five years ago, he began stocking LPs again, and they have become the main form of music the store sells.
He finds that many of the customers buying them are reconnecting with music they loved years ago.
“I do best with classic albums that people may have had when they were young,” he said. “And now that they’re retired, they want to hear it again.”
Hermans still reviews between 700 and 1,200 new music releases each week through the store’s distributor, Alliance Entertainment, carefully deciding what belongs on Oblong’s shelves.
That same commitment to place has led Hermans into a wide range of community projects. His work with the Harlem Valley Rail Trail is among the efforts he mentions when reflecting on his years of civic involvement. He has also served on the school board and has been involved with the Millerton Business Alliance and the Irondale Schoolhouse. He is now involved with The New Pine Plains Herald, which he sees as complementary to the work of The Millerton News and The Lakeville Journal.
“I really think that the important thing about this award is that people understand what a newspaper does to connect them to their community,” he said. “And if that means anything to their lives, they gotta support it.”
Hermans knew Mary Lou and Robert Estabrook and remembers them as people who were deeply conscious of their responsibilities to the community.
“They were really nice folks,” he said. “They were very conscious of what their role in the community was.”
There is, in fact, still plenty on his plate. Hermans admits he needs to scale back because he has taken on more than his current abilities can comfortably accommodate.
“To be given this award is very special,” he added. “But I don’t feel like I’m done.”
This article has been changed to reflect that Hermans and Nelson were partners. A prior version states that they were married.
Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.
