Health insurance - why bother?

[Dexenthes]

That worked for me until my exploding appendix trick back in early 2000. Emergancy surgery and a two week stay in the hospital. Totally messed up my credit and a few restaurant ventures.

I'm sorry to hear that.

I can only hope that that does not happen to me!

And swords, I'd rather just get sick, (well not really) than pay money for health insurance.

I don't feel it's right to pay monthly towards the chances of something happening to one's body.

People get sick, people get injured, they die or they don't. I'll just be another one of those people. But I will not be contributing a dime to insurance companies.

[swords]

Thing is with the insurance money funded senators having written the new health care bill the way they did, you will either have to pick up some kind of insurance policy or face a tax fine of around $1000. My useless insurance is about $500 per year in premiums if I don't ever go to the doctor so I'm still $500 ahead in the new for profit health care racket they've setup.

[Dexenthes]

I will not pay. They can fine me all they want. I will not pay the fines.

[Taargus]

The guy doing the presentation said we insurance holders need to start using the internet to self diagnose and treat ourselves and they gave us a number of some over the phone doctor who will supposedly write non-narcotic prescriptions for and fax them to our local pharmacy.

What? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Please don't do this, that's terrible and dangerous advice. I don't care how smart you are at deciphering reliable info from bad, or how good at googling you are... disease, infections, illnesses, etc. are not black and white enough to self diagnose from what any website says. Otherwise I'm just as good a doctor as any out there Who did this guy represent?

[Not a Number]

You gotta love the mandate. Since the Nixon Administration the Republicans have been trying to pass a health insurance mandate. Ted Kennedy was the one mainly responsible for blocking it. So the Republicans whine, piss, moan and throw tantrums that a health bill won't pass without it. Kennedy dies and a bill passes with a mandate. Now guess which party is the biggest critics of the mandate.

They'll just deduct it from your tax refund if you don't pay the penalty.

[swords]

What? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Please don't do this, that's terrible and dangerous advice. I don't care how smart you are at deciphering reliable info from bad, or how good at googling you are... disease, infections, illnesses, etc. are not black and white enough to self diagnose from what any website says. Otherwise I'm just as good a doctor as any out there Who did this guy represent?

Yeah, that's what I thought too! LOL

I had my own go around with self-diagnosing online, last xmas I was convinced I had mouth cancer cos that's what all the websites said when I did my own research on this tiny bump I discovered on my gum. I filled up a credit card going to numerous doctors and dentists thinking they were all insane and stupid cos according to the numerous internet sources I definitely had cancer and these guys just were too stupid to see it. So it'll be a good way to get more of these untested drugs out into the market if people are looking stuff up and able to call in for a prescription on something they imagine they have...

I'm not on any meds but my mom is on a lot and she's very touchy about them, if a med has a bad side effect she'll show symptoms so she can't be guessing and taking wild stabs with prescriptions like these guys seem to be suggesting. I can't imagine she's alone in having bad reactions to meds.

[Taargus]

Hey if the penalty is cheaper than the mandated insurance you'll see me paying it too. I don't agree with government regulating health care, but something needs to happen as this is clearly out of hand. I don't think any mandates should be directed at citizens though. If anything the insurance companies should be the focus of any government involvement for health care restructuring.

There was a doctor in NYC a few years ago that ran a clinic and tried to skirt the whole insurance issue altogether. It was $75-150 a month if I remember right. If you need it you used it all you wanted. The people that paid, but rarely needed anything essentially paid for the chronically ill to show up more often. Everybody wins and the doctor made his money too. Of course he was shut down, why wouldn't he be. The sad part is insurance hurts doctors, nurses, etc. as much as the people who need them. No med school grad wants to be a general practitioner anymore because insurance takes such a bite out of what they should be making.

[swords]

Hey if the penalty is cheaper than the mandated insurance you'll see me paying it too. I don't agree with government regulating health care, but something needs to happen as this is clearly out of hand. I don't think any mandates should be directed at citizens though. If anything the insurance companies should be the focus of any government involvement for health care restructuring.

So far the penalty is double what a year of crap insurance is with my policy so I'll keep the crummy insurance to avoid the extra $500 loss.

I don't think there is any way to rein it in without a government option like a medicare buy in for poor & middle class people to pay a small monthly premium to have it and be able to actually use it.

The senators in their wisdom suggested and immediately rejected an employer mandate, meaning if you have employees you must cover them with insurance. So the guy making $54 dollars a day flipping burgers three days a week has to try a find his own insurance or face a fine... Totally brilliant!

I completely fail to see how Obama can say this is anything but a travesty of his intention. He could have written these things into law instead he let congress play ball with their lobbyists and this is what we ended up with.