Thread: About healthcare.

Mike Rodgers speaking on the floor of congress. Great speech! I couldn't say it better.

I thought they were just adding the government option, not forcing everyone onto it. Granted, I don't exactly know how US healthcare works, except that is apparently not that good, but here in Australia we have public and private healthcare.

One of the private companies is run by the government. Everything seems to be running OK here. I haven't heard that the private companies are complaining that it is unfair that there is a government-run private health insurer and we don't have "death panels" either.

Originally Posted by Hydaral

I thought they were just adding the government option, not forcing everyone onto it. Granted, I don't exactly know how US healthcare works, except that is apparently not that good, but here in Australia we have public and private healthcare.

One of the private companies is run by the government. Everything seems to be running OK here. I haven't heard that the private companies are complaining that it is unfair that there is a government-run private health insurer and we don't have "death panels" either.

US health care works well for those that it work for.
However if you get disconnected from it for some reason
like moving to another state, changing employers (pre-existing clause)
or get unemployed things go down hill in a hurry.

My X was a nurse working for the health care industry... she had
a major health problem and the company dumped her to a disability
status as fast as they could terminating her insurance. The hospitals
turned all her assets upside down and emptied them leaving her
dependent on the state.

All in all she is still alive which is good but "insurance"
was not the big payer in her care. It is like Vegas,
if you win too much they try to get you drunk and stupid
and if that does not work they will ask you to leave or
at least never let you play on a different table (black book).

I think the major problem in the US is that health insurance is linked to your job and determined by your employer. Does your employer handle your home or car insurance (I don't think they do in the US). Isn't your health more valuable than either of those? Shouldn't it be managed by the individual?

Originally Posted by Wildtim

Great speech! I couldn't say it better.

Great? Passionate - yes, manipulative - yes, logically wrong assertions - yes.
But at the end of the day if policy gets decided based on which talking points sell best, nobody should expect the result to be anything more than a caricature of a good solution.

We have both public and private health care systems here. They work together ok. I'm not sure if there's any extra value in private system, except in some rare cases. Maybe it is good business for the insurance companies.

Without knowing the speakers affiliation its obvious he's a Republican. Just more negatives and no to this and no to that. The usual trying to scare the public. I'm surprised he didn't bring up the death panels.

Originally Posted by Hydaral

I think the major problem in the US is that health insurance is linked to your job and determined by your employer. Does your employer handle your home or car insurance (I don't think they do in the US). Isn't your health more valuable than either of those? Shouldn't it be managed by the individual?

It should be managed by the individual. However, individual health insurance for many many people is utterly unaffordable in the U.S. and for others is a huge monetary burden. That's why so many people try as hard as they can to get insurance through an employer health plan. The EMPLOYER is not recruiting employees for the health plan.

I pay for individual health insurance out of my own pocket. There are five of us in our family. Just last week, I applied for coverage through another private health insurance company. If we're accepted, we'll be paying $460 per month for all of us. On that plan we'll also have a $10,000 family deductible (once the $10,000 is met, it's met for all of us). And.....we'll have no maternity or birth coverage whatsoever. Should my wife and I have another child, we'll have to find some way to pay the $10,000-$20,000 for a birth out of our own pockets.

Our current health insurance DOES cover maternity and birth. And, it only has a $1,500 per individual deductible. Our current health insurance costs us $950.....per month. Those are real dollars. That's the actual amount; it's not a joke.

Chris L

Good lord, Chris...that is terrifying.

Add to that the fact that even if you DO get sick, the insurance company will do everything in their power to deny coverage, and it sounds to me like a wee little bit of hell. It's a freaking crime.

Originally Posted by JimR

Good lord, Chris...that is terrifying.

Add to that the fact that even if you DO get sick, the insurance company will do everything in their power to deny coverage, and it sounds to me like a wee little bit of hell. It's a freaking crime.

Agreed. Vehicle insurance is enough of a PITA, Health insurance must be an absolute black hole of small print.

Figures like that make me extremely grateful for the NHS.

I have to say, I thought there was a lot of noise in that video. Lots of assumptions. Completely missed the bigger picture.