Of course I am. And just because that’s how it works out doesn’t make me wrong.
If $700 a month is what it costs, I am all for subsidizing those who earn too little to be able to afford their health care. This would also be true, by the way, if I earned more than I do; I did once, and in that case it would have been me paying for someone else, instead of the other way around.
And again, that’s how taxes work. Currently I pay very little in taxes. My neighbor is paying for the roads, schools, services, legislators, and parks that I am using almost cost-free!
The fact that it costs money and some people will pay more than others is of course a given. I’m not sure how that’s an argument for or against UHC. The whole point of insurance is that other people subsidize your health care costs. Not really any different (which is why, IMHO, UHC may solve the issue of the uninsured, but does not begin to touch upon the issue of the cost of health care).
Our health care costs are only double other countries. It has huge waste and corruption in it. We have corporate health companies that increase profits by denying the care you pay for. The insurers take a huge slice out of health care money We could have fixed it and did not. The system is just plain wrong.
Yep. I’m willing to bet I pay health care tax dollars in that range in Ontario. Health care is provincially run, but mostly funded at the federal level in transfers to provinces.
Of course I don’t know what income bracket others are in here, but taxes at all levels are much higher in Canada. However, everyone pays their share, well except for very low income earners. The beauty of the deal is that you’re covered for any health issue for life. We pay for prescription drugs, but this is a employee benefit just about everywhere, except for self employed or very unskilled work.
In other words everyone* pays, and everyone* benefits. I have hardly at all used ANY health care dollars in my life so I have helped fund the costs of a lot of people in my days, but I’m not getting any younger and I will certainly be requiring more and more services as that happens. I am covered and will remain covered regardless of what happens to me.
How can the UHC model NOT be the best in the world?
Except for caveats mentioned. (Probably a couple more too, like proof of residence, etc.)
A few years ago, I was a naive, healthy young man, but with an existing condition. I took a great job with a start-up company. We were so small that it was not feasible to purchase a group health plan (only 3 of us requiring coverage), so the owner would pay 100% of the cost for each of us to purchase a private plan.
Again, I was naive and have always had insurance. The individual plan would have matched or exceeded the group plan I left at my previous job.
Unfortunately, the insurance company denied my application. Although I was healthy and young, they would not take me on as a customer. Period.
No biggy, right? I could just apply at another insurance company. Unfortunately they were the only provider in my state to offer individual policies. That’s right, THE ONLY PROVIDER IN MY STATE REFUSED ME.
I petitioned them with no luck. My only option was to take a catastrophic policy.
I have since left that great job and now work at a place with a group plan and thankfully have insurance again.
It is because of that episode that I am now 100% against private health insurance. I really wish more people in the US could experience the shock and bewilderment followed by the complete sense of helplessness I felt. Worst than all that, I felt subhuman.
I wish the recent health care bill did more to tear apart the ridiculous system we have in America.
This is it exactly. Since I am an individual I am paying higher rates. One reason individual rates are higher, is that people can buy it at the last minute if they expect their health costs to go up. That is clearly not my case, as I have been covered consistently for the last 35 years by one policy or another.
I also am neing hit by the fact that I took preventative care. I signed up for a sleep study and was diagnosed with sleep apnea. I could have ignored it and now my rates would be lower despite the fact that I’d be at a higher risk. Same with my blood pressure. I’m on the fence, but my doctor suggested I take medication. Now I’ll forever have that as a pre-existing condition.
I’ll check with an insurance agent to see what he can do, but I am not hopeful. Plans with lower rates have high co-insurance rates (20-30%) so that means if I do get really sick and require hospitalization I could end up losing my house - even though I have insurance.
This is exactly why the Massachusetts plan and the new federal healthcare plan requires everyone to be insured. That way individual coverage will be the same as group.
The system is just fucked. Lose your job and your rates go up Take care of your health and the rates go up.
Fuck you, really just fuck you useless piece of shit. I don’t want the govt to pay for my insurance, I want to have the same rates given to business. I’ve been paying for insurance for 35 years. And no looking around? I just told you, you puss-sucking weevil, that I was turned down for other insurance.
I’m getting these figures from memory so I apologize in advance if they may not be correct. I read an article that figured health care costs could be reduced by about 20% if doctors would just coordinate care and quit giving unnecessary tests. Of course, the prescription advertising industry has trained us all to run in and ask for a test/drug every time we get a muscle twitch. Some of that cost reduction would be getting rid of all the semi-private rooms with individual phones and TVs for each bed at the hospital. And a band-aid shouldn’t cost $5.70.
The article also stated that health care cost could be reduced by a further 20% if health insurance companies quit dinking around trying not to make payments on time, rejecting bills electronically that have tiny errors (thus forcing the dr. office to resubmit, which rachets up labor costs and delays payment), etc. Understand, it is in the in the insurance companies best interests to delay claim payment. The longer they keep the money, the more time they have to earn investment dollars off it.
RR. We don’t all enjoy your spectacular health. You’ll be lucky if you keep it as you age. Even for those of us who do have good health, age rachets up our insurance costs. As soon as a woman hits 45, she is put in a “menopausal” category that practically doubles her insurance cost even though she may be in the best of health. That seems unfair. But so does punishing DanBlather with high insurance rates because he inherited a health condition or has permanent injuries caused by a drunken driver (in the case of a friend).
RR, imagine you have a child who was born blind and with severe Downs syndrome. He won’t ever be able to work for a living. Suppose that child of yours becomes old enough to roll off your family health insurance just when you reach retirement age. How is he going to pay his health care costs? Or are you just going to send him down the railroad tracks to fend for himself? Please answer realistically RR.
Don’t answer him – he’s only here to piss people off.
-Guin, who yes, still lives at home with her parents, and is still unemployed. (And who is ALSO uninsured, and not likely to be insured, since she too has a pre-existing condition)
This bears repeating. I suspect that anyone who insists that our current system is not broken has ever had to deal with buying and using individual insurance policies (or, for that matter, administering group policies). It’s amazing how puny you feel when you realize your life and well being depends on the whims of a for-profit corporation.
“Shock and bewilderment” is a good way to put it. From personal experience, I can tell you just how fun it was to not only have to deal with the diagnosis of a very real and potentially life-threatening chronic condition, but at the same time worrying about how I was going to pay for it, whether or not my insurance company would come through with paying their fair share or (worse) try to drop me, and also realizing that I was now a second-class citizen as far as the health insurance companies were concerned and none of them would sell me a new policy. It’s great to have to worry about all that stuff in addition to the health issues.
Perhaps Ontario is beautiful, but things I’m not covered for in Alberta include dental work, optical work, mental health issues, physiotherapy and therapeutic massage. Much of this used to be covered, but the Conservatives elected to throw money away rather than be conservative.
But I still wouldn’t trade for the American system of paying ludicrous amounts of money for the privilege of not being covered when the time comes. Despite the conservatives’ best efforts to change my mind, I still prefer Us to Them.
Obama was on TV today talking about a heath care company that jacked rates to those who pay their own insurance by 40 percent. Their costs did not go up. But he suggested they were preparing for next year when 85 percent of premiums must go to providing health care.
This is a very good point. I am taking a statin to control cholesterol, which is now a very respectable 150. But the insurance quote included $76 *per month *because I was on a cholesterol maintenance medication. WTF? Why would they want to charge more for people who are taking preventative action? Why is insurance cheaper for people with uncontrolled high cholesterol?
It’s not. If you were diagnosed with high cholesterol, that was left untreated, you’d see a changer added to your bill for that.
Either way you’re a higher risk for the insurance company. And since that’s driving up the cost of my policy I’d appreciate it if you and your cheese-eating, yolk drinking, family would get off my group plan! Or eat some oatmeal like the rest of us. Rich delicious oatmeal, swimming in a pool of heavy cream and brown sugar.
This sounds inaccurate. Unless you consider 90-120 days last minute. When I purchased my current policy, there was about 90 days between the time I applied and was accepted while I waited for them to deny me outright, or find some reason to jack my rates up over thee advertised rates. Then there was another period of 30-60 days until the insurance went into effect.
What do you propose I do to make myself more palatable for insurance companies? I am survivor of thyroid cancer, which means no one will touch me with a ten foot pole, despite the fact that most thyroid cancer survivors live out the rest of their lives with no recurrences and some blood tests every six months.
How would you propose people take precautions against developing thyroid cancer? The major risk factors are being white and female. Do you propose sex change operations? Tanning?
Here’s the thing: everybody likes to think that everything that happens to other people is the result of some misbehavior or miscalculation. Those people suffering over there are stupider and more careless. If we’re all very careful and behave exactly right, everything will be fine. It’s utter crap, my friends. Yeah, we should all try to take care of ourselves. But that doesn’t mean we’ll all be safe. Bad things happen, and often for no reason at all. The fact that we’re able, but unwilling, to take a little care of the people suffering doesn’t say anything very nice about us.