Throckmorton
Lifer
- Aug 23, 2007
- 16,829
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You can have pre-existing coverage without a mandate if it is handled like corporate policies. Pre-existing condition coverage kicks in slowly over a couple or three years, so that taking a shit job with good insurance just to handle that problem you've been putting off doesn't work so well. What you can't do is mandate that a pre-existing condition has to be covered completely from day one, 'cause then the fine is still cheaper until you need it. Right now the people suffering from pre-existing conditions are screwed forever if they have to buy individual insurance.
That doesn't solve the problem of someone getting cancer and having no possible way to pay for it. What are they gonna do, wait 3 years? The fact is, everybody needs health insurance because everybody is at risk of serious illness. And insurance companies need to take in more in premiums than they pay out. The only real solution is public "insurance" that automatically covers EVERY citizen, just like FEMA helps everybody whose life is destroyed by a natural disaster. Anything less means healthcare rationing, death panels, and avoidable deaths.
I disagree. Insurance should cover everything 100%, or possibly have a nominal co-pay, and be priced accordingly. Percentages make no sense. I'm sure most people have chosen not to treat a serious health problem because of the cost. I put off a hernia surgery for almost a year because it would cost $4000 even with my insurance. Then I finally did it because I had to do a physical for a new job and would have failed with the hernia. If I didn't have a credit card I wouldn't have been able to pay at all...Personally I think the biggest advance in health care coverage would be to rid ourselves of this notion that our regular health care should be paid for by "someone else." Insurance - any sort of insurance - should be for the unexpected.
If I had a choice there is no way I would have paid that much. Not until it became a life or death issue. I self-rationed and put myself in danger.
Now, thanks to my debt from that surgery and big moving expenses, I have $50 worth of credit, and $500 in the bank which will be gone in 3 weeks. I noticed the other day I have 4 cavities, but I can't afford the copays for my dental insurance. So I won't get my cavities fixed until it becomes a serious problem. A lot of people are in that boat, and it makes no sense for our overall health as a nation.
The term "insurance" needs an asterix next to it.
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