I love the tea party, they kill me

[sailorkh]

Or they would if I didn't have health insurance...

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la ... ?track=rss

[RussellK]

If you can afford the insurance and make an informed decision not to purchase insurance I'm not sure society should owe you care. That may be harsh but shouldn't there be a consequence to persons decision? The problem we should be discussing is how do we make the care affordable and available to all who want it.

[ruckman101]

An option of food for the kids or insurance isn't an option.


neal

[hambone]

No shit. I am there right now.

[BellePlaine]

That may be harsh but shouldn't there be a consequence to persons decision? The problem we should be discussing is how do we make the care affordable and available to all who want it.

Would your insurance premiums go down if opt out or not select certain kinds of coverage? Say you are a sterile woman, could you not pay for maternity coverage or does that already happen?

[RussellK]

An option of food for the kids or insurance isn't an option.


neal

I absolutely agree but that wasn't the example given. It always seems like the discussion dances around the real crux of the issue and that is people having to make choices about whether they can afford or even get the coverage for their care. The discussion jumping to what to do with a guy that games the system is just a smokescreen.

[ruckman101]

Some folks have been opting for jail time to get health care. Now that's gaming the system.


neal

[RussellK]

That may be harsh but shouldn't there be a consequence to persons decision? The problem we should be discussing is how do we make the care affordable and available to all who want it.

Would your insurance premiums go down if opt out or not select certain kinds of coverage? Say you are a sterile woman, could you not pay for maternity coverage or does that already happen?

Hard to say. Coverages vary from state to state and also between group coverage to individual. It'd make sense though if you could. My 25 year old son will soon be transitioning to his own coverage. He works as a wildlife research technician. He moves around the country from project to project. He doesn't get insurance through his work. He can't afford much and nationwide coverage is sky high. He doesn't need a fancy policy with all the perks just a basic policy to cover him if he got really ill. Walgreen's can take care of the little stuff. There just doesn't seem to be any basic policies that are affordable and he's a healthy person.

[RussellK]

Some folks have been opting for jail time to get health care. Now that's gaming the system.


neal

Anyone that doesn't think we still have a healthcare problem in this country has their head fully buried in the sand

[BellePlaine]

My 25 year old son will soon be transitioning to his own coverage. He works as a wildlife research technician. He moves around the country from project to project. He doesn't get insurance through his work. He can't afford much and nationwide coverage is sky high. He doesn't need a fancy policy with all the perks just a basic policy to cover him if he got really ill. Walgreen's can take care of the little stuff. There just doesn't seem to be any basic policies that are affordable and he's a healthy person.

What do you mean by "nationwide" coverage? Does it have something to do with having to work in different states?

The way that I understand it is that some of the state sponsored plans include coverage for everything, some of it may be clearly unnecessary. A premium on a person like your son ought to be no more than a $100 - $200 per month. Take the amount that it costs to treat say 10000 random healthy 25 year olds and divide that sum by 10000. Add a small and reasonable amount of costs and profit and that should be what he should pay. I suppose that would screw the newborns and the elderly though...

[Sylvester]

49.9 MILLION uninsured in this country. I think they opted out, let em die. Heaven forbid we have a HUGE catastrophe that hits a few of those million at once. Do they not see we are all carrying those 49.9 million?

Why not take away any chance of the uninsured who cannot pay the bill up front any kind of coverage? Turn them away in droves starting tomorrow. Let them pile up on the curbs, on your porches, in the alleys. I bet the garbage men would start complaining real quick first.

[hambone]

That is a staggering amount of people, I didn't know it was that high. Our life expectancy will start to drop unless something is done.

[RussellK]

My 25 year old son will soon be transitioning to his own coverage. He works as a wildlife research technician. He moves around the country from project to project. He doesn't get insurance through his work. He can't afford much and nationwide coverage is sky high. He doesn't need a fancy policy with all the perks just a basic policy to cover him if he got really ill. Walgreen's can take care of the little stuff. There just doesn't seem to be any basic policies that are affordable and he's a healthy person.

What do you mean by "nationwide" coverage? Does it have something to do with having to work in different states?

The way that I understand it is that some of the state sponsored plans include coverage for everything, some of it may be clearly unnecessary. A premium on a person like your son ought to be no more than a $100 - $200 per month. Take the amount that it costs to treat say 10000 random healthy 25 year olds and divide that sum by 10000. Add a small and reasonable amount of costs and profit and that should be what he should pay. I suppose that would screw the newborns and the elderly though...

Because he is at the worksites for over 90 days he technically shouldn't be in a plan that offers only local networks. His alternative is a nationwide plan that has an extended network but of course those are considerably more expensive. Chris I know you don't mean any disrespect but $100 - $200 per month is a lot of money for some people. I doubt my son clears $800 per month so you could be talking 25% of his income just for health insurance. We've become insurance poor in this country. I'm not sure what you mean by state sponsored plans. We did price bare bones plans and plans that included office visits for him and the price differential is minimal. And you lose the advantage of the negotiated in network fee the doctors charge.

[Randy in Maine]

Most employers I know would love to have a universal coverage single payer health insurance option.

[RSorak 71Westy]

How Obama went from supporting single payer during the campaign to ditching it afterwards, IMHO is one of his greatest failings in my eyes.