The Final Count Down -- Are You Ready?

[Brewdawg1181]

I'm all for paying for my own health insurance if it isn't so unreasonably high-priced that it reduces my quality of life making me wish I were dead.

Health care should never have been a benefit of employment, really. And makes even less sense today than when it started. I spent the last 2 days poring over hundreds of resumes, and just about the only applicants with more than 5 years with a recent employer appeared to be those in their 60's. Why should anyone have to go thru the nightmare of Cobra, and pick a place to work based on the company/plan available with the employer. Just doesn't make any sense to me.

Okay, done ranting on that. Sorry for being off topic.

 

[Bronze]

Well, I’d like to refute some of the things I’m hearing but I also suspect we could all agree we are derailing this thread and should probably get back on track. No?

 

[UncLeJunkLe]

and just about the only applicants with more than 5 years with a recent employer appeared to be those in their 60's

So what's wrong with that? Are older folks supposed to flip burgers just because they lost their job late in life?

Don't just blame the government. America's flavor of capitalism leaves much to be desired for the average folk and the older folk.

 

[Brewdawg1181]

(looking over shoulder...) In most cases profit motives align really well with desired outcomes. However, in others the profit motive actually runs counter to desired outcomes. Prime examples include healthcare, prisons, and schools. And setting up largely unaccountable corporations to suck on the public teat is just not smart. (okay guys, running for cover now...)

Okay, one more. Profit motives serve the public better than any government. If you provide a product/service that is not what people want, at the price they want it, you're no longer in business, and you've hurt no one. Government doesn't care if it's a product/service wanted, or if it's at a price that people are willing to pay. When they become this involved in commerce, it's mostly based on motives other than serving the public.

I'm not an anarchist, and not even a pure libertarian. There are roles for government, but they've gone beyond that a century ago, and are increasing the speed of going beyond their constitutional mandate.

 

[UncLeJunkLe]

Profit motives serve the public better than any government.

Sorry, that only works in theory. In reality, it really doesn't work that well.

 

[Brewdawg1181]

Well, I’d like to refute some of the things I’m hearing but I also suspect we could all agree we are derailing this thread and should probably get back on track. No?

Yeah, well...it'd been kind of slow around here.

 

[Bronze]

Yeah, well...it'd been kind of slow around here.

True. And if I thought arguing would change people for the better I’d put both feet forward. But we both know that’ll never happen.

 

[Brewdawg1181]

True. And if I thought arguing would change people for the better I’d put both feet forward. But we both know that’ll never happen.

Yeah, I know. But sometimes you just see statements that (channeling Shatner) just can't .......go......unchallenged!
You don't change anyone's mind but feel better for just a minute. It's cathartic.

 

[englishmick]

edit: Oh, and since the government "helped" with Obamacare, and I don't qualify for subsidies, my annual healthcare cost (premiums+deductibles) have literally tripled since.

My wife's insurance was sky high for the same reason. On the other hand she lost her work insurance when the company shut down, and without that expensive ACA policy she would have had nothing at all. There's never going to be a world where you can make a profit selling health insurance to people in their 60's at rates they can afford.

Defenders of the private insurance system need to understand that people who don't have access to health care are going to make a fuss, and saying how much worse it is in some other imaginary country isn't going to make them go away. The number of people for whom the current system doesn't work has reached a level where they can't be ignored any more. If the other side don't want ACA or something like it then they need to actually come up with something better. Better as in being able to get health care.

 

[Bronze]

Yeah, I know. But sometimes you just see statements that (channeling Shatner) just can't .......go......unchallenged!
You don't change anyone's mind but feel better for just a minute. It's cathartic.

I was just thinking about Shatner the other day.

 

[Rossum]

Well, I’d like to refute some of the things I’m hearing but I also suspect we could all agree we are derailing this thread and should probably get back on track. No?

Correct. This is not the place.

There is pre-existing 470 page thread in The Outside for anyone who'd like to discuss just how socialized health care should be.

 

[kross8]

I had to hospitalize my husband a few years ago,, my income is good but no insurance. (i did have to pay $250 right then & there for them to look at him) the bill came to $55,000. We were both smokers at the time,, so I had to approach every dr & the hospital for a reduced bill,, 2 points helped immensely,,, I approached the worst dr first,, he was an As*s. He agreed to a reduced rate but I had to pay him off in 3 months,, &if i was 30seconds late then I owed him everything. I paid him off first fast and early. (As*shole training complete) next I went to the hospital,, the girl looking over the bill ran some numbers and told me if I will agree to direct debit monthly for payment she could knock my bill down to what the state & insurance companies actually pay- that was a 80% discount!!! I set up the direct debit form,, 1 year later the hospital was paid off,,, (learn the insider secret math-done),, next I had a couple of minor Dr s & lab to work with,,, each were very good to work with.

I explained to all of these providers, that obviously my husband cant work to pay the bill,,, & I smoke & with extreme stress to the point I'm kind of surprised I'm still alive,, but I guarantee if I die you won't get paid because he would just pack up and go back to family home in another state
At the end on 1 year I had them all paid off at $14,000

What did I learn: stand up for yourself,, contact the providers &work out a deal, you will get better making the deals as time goes on

What did I really learn about my views on healthcare,,, well 90% of it is your life style,, clean that up & save myself a lot of worries. My grandparents lived long lives & they didn't bow down to the healthcare industry. So I made changes to my life, diet, stopped smoking, picked up hobbies to make my body stronger, gym/biking/walking.

Part of me doesn't want to 'buy' medicare when the time comes,, I know I wont be buying 'part A B C D E F G,,,,,'.. A Bare bones package only in case I get in an accident or something,, part of me doesn't want to buy anything at all. I have an HSA I fund religiously.

 

[Don29palms]

My wife's insurance was sky high for the same reason. On the other hand she lost her work insurance when the company shut down, and without that expensive ACA policy she would have had nothing at all. There's never going to be a world where you can make a profit selling health insurance to people in their 60's at rates they can afford.

Defenders of the private insurance system need to understand that people who don't have access to health care are going to make a fuss, and saying how much worse it is in some other imaginary country isn't going to make them go away. The number of people for whom the current system doesn't work has reached a level where they can't be ignored any more. If the other side don't want ACA or something like it then they need to actually come up with something better. Better as in being able to get health care.

It isn't the government's responsibility to provide healthcare or health insurance for anyone.

 

[Bronze]

Correct. This is not the place.

There is pre-existing 470 page thread in The Outside for anyone who'd like to discuss just how socialized health care should be.

Psst. ^^^^

 

[Brewdawg1181]

I was just thinking about Shatner the other day.

Ok, I'll be off topic for a moment in a less divisive way.

How can you not think about him? Flip channels, dude is still around, selling something all the time. I'll admit, late 60's, he was so cool...he, and movie Elvis, Dean Martin (Matt Helm), Clint Eastwood, Steve McQueen, et al. That's how cool I wanted to be when I grew up. Pretty sure I didn't achieve that!

 

[stols001]

I go back and forth on this one: philosophically opposed to a tax on harm reduction.

However., as a smoker who needed to start vaping I really don't think I would have done t he research to buy and learn to vape on the black/grey market.

Vaping is NOT that easy to start@ I remember my early fumbling's.

Sigh. IDK.

Anna

 

[stols001]

My insurance could be a lot worse. I mean, it's UMR so it could be lo BETTER.

22 years ago, I had my kid. About. it cost me: ONE FIVE DOLLAR COPAY at the OBGN office, the rest was all free.

My sister's last kid, along with the hospital stay cost her like 10k She also has "decent" insurance.

Obama should be drawn and quartered if you ask me, what I TURD of a thing that was.

It really was. Yeah, I stayed at a job I no longer enjoyed for 5 years for the insurance. I was waiting for the fervor to die down.

Anna

 

[LoveVanilla]

Favorite game of the propagandists is to conflate ideas in the minds of the public. We saw this strategy used by ANTZ in conflating black-market THC with nicotine vaping. Everybody does understand that this was not by accident, right? In the same way, we have seen the conflation of healthcare and health insurance. Again, not by accident, this is strategy.

However, I don’t give a crap about health insurance. Indeed, want it banished from earth. Almost non-existence twenty-odd years ago, and now they take our money hand over fist. Ever seen who owns all the large buildings in downtown America?

On the other hand, I need healthcare. And I like my doctor. Yes, he makes a good living but is a smart man and works hard.

Effective healthcare virtually requires the sharing or pooling of risks. Every man for themselves will not work. Yet we don’t need to further enrich what are now near-monopoly insurance companies. What this nation needs is healthcare for its citizens.

BTW, Obamacare was not healthcare; it was a plan for health insurance.

 

[Uncle]

Just thought this post by @Rossum NEEDED to be repeated . . .

Correct. This is not the place.

There is pre-existing 470 page thread in The Outside for anyone who'd like to discuss just how socialized health care should be.

Just Sayin' . . .


.

 

[Bronze]

Just thought this post by @Rossum NEEDED to be repeated . . .





Just Sayin' . . .


.

I tried.