Quote:
Originally Posted by BFT3K
One of the things I like is that health insurance, like car insurance, will be mandatory.
This change is imperative in order to afford care for those who have pre-existing conditions, and it will cut back on bankruptcies.
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The #1 cause of bankruptcies in the US is from medical bills, from people who have inadequate or no coverage at all.
Even people WITH medical coverage still file for bankruptcy because they didn't get the proper coverage.
If you have a pre-existing condition one way to get coverage is to get a job at big company that offers group health insurance. You will not only get covered but get it a LOT cheaper than if you were to try on your own.
Health insurance is as expensive as you want it to be, at least the premiums part. It all comes down to the plan you want. Depending on your deductible, co-insurance, max out of pocket, co-pay, life time max, etc etc. If you want a $0 deductible policy for a family of 5 you going to be paying serious money. If you up your exposure on your deductible and co-insurance / max out of pocket then you can make your premiums as low as you want. You just need to save or have the money on hand in the event you go to the doctor a lot or for something major.
If you are POOR you have free health care, its called Medicade.
If you are OLD (over 65) you qualify for medicare, which helps with a lot of the costs if you can't afford to have your own health care.
Children up to age 19 who are uninsured get health insurance coverage through each state.
There is already a LOT of govt run health care in the US.
You also need to analyze the poplulation of the "uninsured" to see how many of them A. Make 3x more than the poverity level but choose not buy health insurance because a nice car was more important to them, B. are illegal aliens, C. are not insured but qualify for a govt health program but never signed up, D. Do not qualify for govt health insurance, can not get it through their work, make very little money and can not afford it.
IMO we need health care reform, but don't think govt run is the way to go. Look at Social Security, Medicade, etc... all govt run programs that are in serious trouble. Tort reform would be a good start. It would be nice to get the costs down for everyone...