rylan1
Active Member
Originally Posted by rudedog40
I'm assuming you either own your own business, or are an independent contractor to pay that much for health insurance. Although my medical insurance rates have gone up at least 15% every year for the past 5, they still aren't that bad. Last year my comapny took $300 per month, or $3600 for the year for my insurance. For that $3600, they gave me a credit card with $1200 on it to spend on any medical services I needed. If I have a recurring prescription, I can do a mail order for a 90-day supply of the medicine, irregardless what the
[hr]
price is, for $10 per precription. My out-of-pocket maximum was $4500. Last summer, my wife had to have a major surgery where all the bills totaled close to $80,000. I paid my $4500, and the insurance company either ate the rest, or negotiated with the doctors and hospital for the remainder. Do you think any national health program can beat that?
National healthcare has its pros and cons, but I don't think it's a solution. Go talk to people in Canada and see how great their 'National Insurance' is. Sure they pay little or no money for healthcare services, but it's essentiall all HMO. You don't get the luxury of picking your own doctors, getting second opinions, or getting any kind of elective surgery. Need to go to a doctor? Go wait for 3 hours with the rest of your fellow Canadians.
I agree with you here... but this system would be different. You could still have a private plan or a a gov't plan. You would still have to pay for premiums, and have copays. I don't know how the gov't plan would work as in the small details... but I know that some employers only offer plans that only pay for doctors who are on the plan, and exclude many optional surgeries.
I'm assuming you either own your own business, or are an independent contractor to pay that much for health insurance. Although my medical insurance rates have gone up at least 15% every year for the past 5, they still aren't that bad. Last year my comapny took $300 per month, or $3600 for the year for my insurance. For that $3600, they gave me a credit card with $1200 on it to spend on any medical services I needed. If I have a recurring prescription, I can do a mail order for a 90-day supply of the medicine, irregardless what the
[hr]
price is, for $10 per precription. My out-of-pocket maximum was $4500. Last summer, my wife had to have a major surgery where all the bills totaled close to $80,000. I paid my $4500, and the insurance company either ate the rest, or negotiated with the doctors and hospital for the remainder. Do you think any national health program can beat that?
National healthcare has its pros and cons, but I don't think it's a solution. Go talk to people in Canada and see how great their 'National Insurance' is. Sure they pay little or no money for healthcare services, but it's essentiall all HMO. You don't get the luxury of picking your own doctors, getting second opinions, or getting any kind of elective surgery. Need to go to a doctor? Go wait for 3 hours with the rest of your fellow Canadians.
I agree with you here... but this system would be different. You could still have a private plan or a a gov't plan. You would still have to pay for premiums, and have copays. I don't know how the gov't plan would work as in the small details... but I know that some employers only offer plans that only pay for doctors who are on the plan, and exclude many optional surgeries.
