Quote:
Originally Posted by will76
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...
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Just for the record getting Medicaid is not as easy as you might make it out to be. First off, most Medicaid is controlled primarily at the state level so the qualifications and availability of it can vary from state to state. Secondly, there are almost always other qualifications beyond just being poor to get on medicaid. For example, in my state if you are poor and pregnant you will almost always be accepted. If you are poor and have some kind of serious illness you are more likely to be accepted, but if you are just poor, the odds are not in your favor. They hand it out on a need by need basis so those who are just poor are at the back of the line.
Case in point. About 8 years ago my mom gets laid off from her job. She was 61 years old and had spent the last 20 years working in a job that really doesn't exist anymore. Her job prospects were not very good. With unemployment her only source of income she didn't have any health insurance and eventually the unemployment ran out. For about a year I was able to support her as she looked for a job and tried to get herself back on track. She applied for medicaid but even with no unemployment income and the only income she had being what I gave her to survive, they still denied her. Eventually she got sick. It turns out she had diabetes and didn't know and ended up in the hospital twice before finally having a seizure and having to be transported by ambulance to the ER and admitted for a few days. So then she qualified for a form of Medicaid that helped pay for her health care. To make a long story short she eventually got on disability, but she had to be checked into a nursing home because she had other health problems and needed more care. They gave her full medicaid and paid for everything, but they took all but $50 of her monthly disability check for as long as she stayed in the nursing home.
So yes, a person can get medicaid, but it is not easy and almost always comes only with other circumstances surrounding it. It isn't like you can walk in, show them that you are poor and get medicaid.