You really are a useless human being, aren’t you, Rand?
Wow, thanks for offering that interesting bit of insight right there.
Why would you say that?
Sure, no problem.
But really, it just pisses me off how people treat health insurance so much differently than everything else they buy. This OP has done absolutely no research or looking around. He’s just all pissed off that his rate went up. Well, there are lots of options, the foremost of which being to join (or form) a group plan. But he hasn’t looked into any of them, he’s just mad so he wants the government to pay for his health insurance.
The fact that the OP doesn’t want to spend $700 on his health insurance doesn’t automatically mean that we need to upend a system that the vast majority of people are extremely happy with. The number of people that like their health insurance is about twice as big as the number of people that like Obama. And if we do upend it, moving it in a more government-dependent direction is absolutely the wrong way to go for obvious reasons that many European countries are demonstrating for us this very minute.
Oh really?
Can you point at the surveys showing them demanding to get a system like the Americans have?
Because even the conservative rulers in Europe still say something different:
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France just increased its retirement age. It is finally realizing that you can’t have a bunch of liberal douche entitlement programs forever. France also has huge permanent unemployment, massive immigration by poor people with its attendant cultural problems, and huge national debt.
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Sarkozy is wrong about how the US system works, as that quote shows (no US hospital demands a credit card before treating someone who’s collapsed on the sidewalk).
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You quoted a liberal douche who is in favor of liberal douche policies. Congratulations. Must have been hard to find that one.
Because no one who has a pre-existing condition should expect to be self-employed or <gasp> an entrepreneur who wants to start his/her own business, right? Those options disappear with any sort of health issue.
That’s not true, at least, not in all areas of the US. Some states have high-risk pools that will take anyone, but many of those don’t accept new applicants without a wait or they provide such sub-standard care that they’re more or less a waste of money. If you need insurance right now, and have a pre-existing condition, unfortunately in a lot of cases it’s impossible or so expensive that it might as well be impossible. And we’re not talking about only cancer or major heart issues or other such deadly conditions - many manageable diseases such as diabetes and epilepsy put you in the “automatic denial” pool.
It’s nice to have the input from the “I’m OK so fuck you” faction of the board.
So insightful…
Useless retort.
That was not the point, and you know it.
Another useless retort. And a fallacy to boot.
I know that you are a certified moron but you are batting 0 in related replies, nothing what you said deals with what I requested.
Gigo, just stick to mindlessly posting links. You aren’t so good at the actual argumentation thing.
Since when is Sarkozy liberal? That’s news to the French!
I feel for you Dan. I am without health insurance due to a layoff. It was either the health insurance or the house that was going to take the hit. I did find some contract employment for a few months but couldn’t afford the health insurance because my contractor pay was too low for insurance that covered my pre-existing condition. I like contracting. But I now must try to find a regular employer instead of being an entrepreneur simply to get affordable health insurance. God forbid I get sick.
Even **carnut **did notice that it is you who does not know what an argument or even a pertinent point is.
And yes, everyone can notice that you are still avoiding dealing with my question like a coward.
I avoided answering your question to save you further embarrassment. It’s a stupid question. The fact that the masses in Europe are not clamoring for a US-style system does not mean that UHC is better than a US-style system. Europe is having huge issues now related to bloated governments caused by huge entitlement programs (UHC being one of them). The actual facts show the economic problems entailed by bloated governments, so the input of the people in Europe isn’t necessary.
Ever since I became politically aware in the late 1960s, I’ve noticed that there is a segment of U.S. politics that expects Europe to fail at any moment.
I’m still waiting.
Yeesh. Every time I mention that Europe is doing worse than the US, some idiot (usually Euphonious Polemic) asks why it hasn’t failed. I never said it would fail ever, much less imminently. It’s possible to do worse without ever failing.
I don’t believe that it’s ever “impossible”. For example, Lloyd’s of London will take some rather odd insurance “bets”. You could probably even use a bookie if you were willing to offer good odds. 
I certainly do believe that it can get expensive, but “I don’t want to pay the market price” is different from “I’m uninsurable”.
Besides, TS already has insurance. He just wants to pay less.
That’s not what a little googling tells me. What happens is that the pre-existing condition is not covered, or in other cases only covered after a wait, like you mentioned. (If you’re talking about policies created solely for people with no pre-existing conditions then yes, obviously pre-existing conditions will mean automatic denial.)
If someone is worried about a minor condition worsening then I don’t understand why there aren’t companies offering specific policies for that. Surely there’s a market for it? Or does some sort of government regulation prevent it perhaps? 
Well, I guess our definition of “worse” varies. Big surprise there.
I will let others to be the judge of that as you are so unreliable.
Now that was a stupid thing to say.
And **Frank **already explained, suffice to say that what Europeans want to do is to reform their systems, not to eliminate them or turn to the reprehensible way we are still doing it in America. Even the last holdouts in Europe, like Switzerland do not want to return the way it was before:
“I can’t pay the market price,” is effectively the same as “I’m uninsurable.”
A worker who collects the U.S. minimum wage makes–before taxes–$1257 a month. Take $700 a month out of that, and explain to me how that worker should be able to afford health insurance.
Consider yourself lucky. My COBRA ends in September, and the best I have found is $1325 per month, for one person. By jacking up the deductible and co-insurance to $9000 per year and excluding preexisting conditions, mental health and a bunch of other restrictions, the price came down to $763. I am only looking for catastrophic insurance, but if I have an emergency hospitalization and have to pay over $18,000 per year in premiums, copays and coinsurance, that is a catastrophy to me, and I will be bankrupt. Such a policy does me no good at all; it might as well be $18 million a year.
So, come September, I will start rolling the dice, and if it comes up snake eyes at some point in the future, I will become a burden on society, just one more dead beat who can’t pay his hospital bill.