USA folks, if you ~DO NOT~ have insurance speak up here

Many threads talk about 'the un-insured' in the USA...and medical care IS a big topic, not just here on ATS, but for political candidates...........

SICKO has not been on any theater screens local to me....so I am not tainted by bias in that respect........BUT it makes me wonder just how many Americans have no insurance?

My son is covered by CHIP.
I alas am not covered so I just can't get sick. Thats a big NO NO in my world.

Am I the only American ATS member who is un-insured? Speak up and lets see the demographics of this amongst our membership.

MODERATOR hey I dont know why this is under UK politics....please move it thanks......duh me....sorry

[edit on 26-10-2007 by theRiverGoddess]

just a quick question and you don't have to answer if it is too personal, why are you not insured? i am glad that your son is but if something were to happen to you.....(God forbid)

I voluntarily gave up my health insurance years ago, by choice. I am a very healthy 38 year old, married to a very healthy 36 year old wife, and we have 4 very healthy kids. The last time I went to the doctor was 24 years ago to have my appendix taken out.

After years of paying health insurance for nothing, we decided to put $500 a month that was going for the insurance, into a separate savings account for medical emergencies. It's quite a chunk of change and it surpasses our regular savings account.

Everytime I hear of the "shocking" percentages of people without healthcare, I laugh because some people choose not to have it, and in some cases are better without it.

[edit on 27-10-2007 by RRconservative]

reply to post by RRconservative


and yet the majority that don't have it simply can't afford it...
love how you oversimplify the entire situation and make it seem like all uninsured people simply make a choice.

What's insurance?

That popular SCHIP thing Bush just vetoed so working class families' kids have to go to the emergency room for the flu, driving up all our medical bills?

Yeah, I don't have that either. But I'm FREE! and we showed that Saddam a thing or two didn't we! $2.4 trillion for war according to the latest non-partisan Congressional Budget office report.

But a mere $35 million to insure 10 million AMERICAN kids? Oh hell no.

Saddam has had a more recent dental check up than me and he's dead.

RR, pray you don't get cancer. It took 3 incomes to cover my Mom's final years after her "private" insurace through her job said FU. Free market rules!

Iceybreeze, sorry I am so slow in responding Ive had a couple bad days.

I have no insurance because the last few of jobs I had did not offer it, and the money they paid me was ALMOST less than the cost of the insurance. I was married, and had jobs that would in NO WAY support my family, I just sort of helped a bit, even though I worked full time.

My choice was to have a place to live OR to have health insurance and I opted for the roof over our heads...........then BLAM.... daily I started feeling so strange, and getting sick every dang week and missing work because of it. I was fired because of this.....so I got another job to be fired from for missing work because of health issues and I could NOT afford to go get medical help......

After the loss of the 4th job I was finally able to get medicaide.......it still took the Doctors over a full year to give me a diagnosis. I have fibromyalgia, and I have it to such an extreme it debilitates me.
I got that diagnosis in 2004.........I have days where I feel pretty dang good but I have no idea when they will be. I have entire MONTHS when I am very sick.

I am having a difficult time trying to get disability insurance......but I am sure that is the same for most people.....but I do BELIEVE if I had insurance to begin with, and I was not forced into the mediocre medicare system to begin with, and I had been able to catch this sooner and be diagnosed SOONER I may have been able to get help before this got so VERY BAD........

Whilst I was working in arenas where it is commonplace for there to not be insurance in the offering, I knew ALLOT of folks in the same boat as I was..............so I am always in agreement with politicians who say this IS an issue.....it certainly has been for me.
I really do believe that if I had been able to get regular checkups this may have been caught earlier and I would not be so debilitated now...O know others with the same condition and it WAS caught sooner and they are in no way in as bad a shape as I am pain wise.....they still HAVE a semblance of a normal life.

So..........................this is WHY I am of the belief it really is an issue for the masses. I wanted to SEE what the numbers were like for the ATS members across the board.



[edit on 29-10-2007 by theRiverGoddess]

My whole family is covered by my Fathers Job.

Its a good plan i think... there is like a $20 charge when ever i have to go to the doctors, which is hardly ever... The company is Blue Shield or something... its national coverage... so i don't have to get the Insurence thru my school.

And on the School insurecnce note, one of my buddies was really sick last week, and he had the School insurence, and wnet to his school doctor, and got a bunch of pills from him on the day he went in, and a few days later he felt fine.

At my last College, while on the Student senate, we passed a bill that allowed our capus to have a doctor on the campus each day of the week, and was able to give basic medicine to students. So many students were happy that we did this... we had more then a few people come and thank us for doing that.

I have insurance now through my employer but for a few years I didnt.

After getting insurance through my employer I looked into the costs of private insurance just to see if my employer was getting me the best deal possible. My employer isnt. After discovering I could have covered myself for the years I was uninsured for what at the time would have been 20% of my then living costs I felt pretty stupid. I could have been insured all along but ignorance won out and I was (for a VERY brief time) complaining about not having some sort of universal health care. If I had only bothered to do my own research back then instead of just listening to what people were telling me I could have skipped that whole nervous/protective/slightly Socialist era of my life.

Lesson learned: even if it's from your own Mothers mouth don't trust it until you do your own research. Even then, don't trust your findings.

This is a sticky situation for me as I am considering dropping my health insurance. I had a group policy for myself and my employees for the past 40 years untill I sold my business in January of this year.

Being afraid not to have medical insurance I immediately got private insurance after I lost the group ins. due to not being in businesss any longer. I pay over a thousand dollors a month just for myself. With no income coming in I am probably going to drop the insurance soon. It's eating away at my retirement savings and does not have very good benefits. I have diabeties and asthma so it's not easy to get insurance especially at my age.

I do believe young people with families should have insurance.

This is becoming a tired argument. Sure there are plenty of Americans that don't have health insurance, but the vast majority do. People seem to think that a plan like "Hillary care" would be perfect for this country; but they would be wrong. The government can not and could not handle the responsibility of free health care, and that's fact. What else has the government managed responsibly when it comes to money and using it wisely?

The only thing you would get from a plan like "Hillary care" in the US is long lines, mediocre care and treatment, and most likely higher taxes to cover the miss allocation of government funds. No matter how nice Hillary and other Liberals make it sound, it's just not reality.

And don't try to bring SCHIP into this, it's irrelevant. The Democrats are pushing this because it's the only tactic they know. They could care less if the children receive health care, it's just a political tactic to make the Republicans look like THEY don't care about the children. The SCHIP bill has been rejected on several occasions because it just wouldn't work. It's an attempt to make the Dem's look charitable, they don't really think it will ever get passed; but they now it will continue to be vetoed. Which in turn will continue to make Bush and the Republicans look bad.

Although anyone who takes an unbiased look at things should see that anyway.

For a long time I had a job with great medical benefits. When that job ended I was still covered for 18 months following termination. Since then I have not been able to find a job with any benefits to speak of. I am astonished at how many employers offer very poor or no health insurance. I have had to to use a free health clinic that opens one evening a week. For my mental health needs I went to my community mental health provider, which operates on funds from the state I live in. I was charged a fee on a sliding scale, which for me was zero. I am now disabled and finally receive medicaid. I am very grateful for this coverage. It pays for my medicine with a small co-pay and though I have to use the primary care facility selected by medicaid it is a very good one. The problem with medicaid is that it is not available to most adults unless they are both diabled and VERY poor (less than $800 a month). Children can get it a little more easily.

The issue of national health care is very important to me.

I have just come off a long stretch of being uninsured, during which time I had to have surgery. We had to foot the bill. It HURT! Now, we have insurance again. I'm healthy. LOL

I don't know, I don't see how you can say that SCHIP wouldn't work working.....it is working for alot of kids in america....the bill they shot down was just an attempt to extend it. It would of worked, more kids would have been insured. Of course, the state and local governments have been hit with quite bit of the cost for this program I believe, I got a feeling it might have caused some property taxes to go up. And well, I also think that all those fine upstanding, community conscious, health insurers out there would have found a way to increase their premiums so a few years from now, we would be needing to expand it further, to pick up children in higher income brackets for the program.


I have health insurance now, not that it does much good. The dang doctors would run my budget into the ghetto long before they actually got serious as to what is wrong with me. But still, I go to work every day, am insured out the max, just in case....and well, to put it bluntly....
Every step I take hurts like heck!!! And, I constantly walk in a circle at work.....
And, then, after work, because I am the lady of the house, I am susposed to spend another couple hours on my feet, cleaning, doing laundry, cooking and such.....needless to say, we eat out alot.

But, I have the health insurance.....I know that if I wasn't working, the insurance would be gone, and well, my husband's salary wouldn't cover the bills if we had to take that obnoxious family coverage premium out of his check.

I could a long sad story here if I wanted....but I'll make it short..
One day about six years ago, I was driving to my last job, I was broke, the medicine the doctor perscribed me took the last of my money.
I was hurting like heck...the specialist he sent me to prodded and probbed way too much...
Tears were running down my face on my way to work.
I decided I had enough, got to work, told them I quit, and drove home, still hurting....and told my husband I didn't care, I would rather be dead than living like that.

and well, gave up the doctors with the health insurance.
and just watched as the problem got worse, and finally ended up in the emergency room, with a broken ankle....which cost over $20,000 to fix!!
which was more than I would have made in that job in two years!!!

When people get sick, they find it difficult to work. You'd think that someone would have figured out that little bit a long time ago and thought of a better system than one that puts the employer as the primary provider of health insurance.

all through that ordeal I was paying taxes. right now, I am paying taxes..
so, others, can have worry free healthcare. I am seeing people jumping out of their cars that are parked in handicapped parking spaces with little handicapped signs hung in their windows, and running into the stores...
if my shop was to catch on fire and I had to run out, I would burn!!!

the present system gives us higher taxes, and we don't even have the option of waiting in the long lines, or getting the mediocre treatment. the taxes are probably paying for the guy that is running from the handicapped parking spot into the store....
and by God!! the guy seems to be better equipped to work than me!! hey, he can run!

my only message to this government is this:
find a better system and forget about increasing the taxes to help a select few get the privileged treatment! or, you're more than likely gonna find your tax donation from me being decreased significantly and maybe even a nice lawsuit to drive in the message!
no, I do not wish to give more money so others can get for free what I can't even manage to get working! either the system works for all, or you are failing!

Originally posted by RRconservative
I voluntarily gave up my health insurance years ago, by choice. I am a very healthy 38 year old, married to a very healthy 36 year old wife, and we have 4 very healthy kids. The last time I went to the doctor was 24 years ago to have my appendix taken out.

I am shaman. I treat myself. I treat my family. I can show you where I stitched myself back together if you like. Every illness or injury is a bad habit. I'm not about to throw 150/head/month away for my household to be thrown into a pool with every other fool, for "I might-could get sick" when "they" are doing things that are quite obviously going to make "them" sick.

No Insurance here either. We eat right. We exercise. We spend time in the woods.

I don't like being on monthly payment plans for money I might-could get back if I do, or continue to do, something stupid.

I am,

Sri Oracle

of course, sometimes that bad habit might not be yours....
ya, know, like the dummies that everdose the water with chlorine could very well, send me to the doctors with very black, blistered hands, or the one mopping up the store with pinesol during the time I chose to visit the store could very well, put me down for a few days...
or the neighbor who choses to kill a few beetles with a pound of insecticide...
that's not to mention the hundreds traveling the highway behind my house.
or the many, many ways one's employer, and their chemicals and such at work could make one sick, or injured.....
then there's the danged flu shots, which I swear I think cause the danged flu outbreaks!!
the list goes on and on....

not all sickness is caused by one's own stupidity.....much can be attributed to society's general stupidity run rampant! why do you think so many children now days are waking up with far, far, less toys to play with....their parents are throwing out toys that they thought were safe, but found out they weren't. societies stupidity, run rampant!

this map follows the rate of obesity in the US for the last 20 years.
I find it hard to believe that changes in personal lifestyles could cause such a big change...

health.msn.com...

would find it more believable to think that maybe the food manufacturers and such found a cheaper, altlhough less heathy, way to produce our food.

again, not so much the problem of individuals choices, as it is the choices of others affecting their health.

notice that mississsippi and alabama are two of the first to top the 30% ranking....they are also two of the poorest states in the country!
One might be able to come to the conclusion that maybe proverty has a connection to the problem? Those living with low incomes can't be that picky as to what they eat...they can't hunt down the organically grown food, and afford to pay for it.
I don't know, but I am willing to bet there is more going on here than just the individual's poor choices.

Originally posted by dawnstar
of course, sometimes that bad habit might not be yours....

Every man is morally responsible for his own actions.

ya, know, like the dummies that everdose the water with chlorine could very well, send me to the doctors with very black, blistered hands,

You choose to use water with bleach in it. I wouldn't touch the stuff. One word: dioxin. It rains. Collect it. Scrub harder; no bleach needed.

or the one mopping up the store with pinesol during the time I chose to visit the store could very well, put me down for a few days...

I purchase my groceries from an organic grocery. They use nature friendly cleaning products. My choice. All other food my family consumes we grow ourselves or get from friends that grow.

or the neighbor who choses to kill a few beetles with a pound of insecticide...

biological remediation on incoming stream flow to your land.

that's not to mention the hundreds traveling the highway behind my house.

Your choice to live along side a highway. Your habit. If it bothers you or your health, make an action plan to move. Sell the place to someone who sees the rose rather than the thorn. Perhaps a commuter.

or the many, many ways one's employer, and their chemicals and such at work could make one sick, or injured.....

I work for myself. My add states: Carpenter for hire... I drive nails and cut boards.

then there's the danged flu shots, which I swear I think cause the danged flu outbreaks!!

I do not accept vaccinations in my family. Neither do the Amish.

the list goes on and on....

As do the choices.

not all sickness is caused by one's own stupidity.....much can be attributed to society's general stupidity run rampant!

When you polish your self appropriately and hold yourself and yourfamily above "typical" societal standards you will find a "community of light" in which you will find protection, shelter, and safety amongst like minds.

this map follows the rate of obesity in the US for the last 20 years.
I find it hard to believe that changes in personal lifestyles could cause such a big change...

Two words Transfat and Television

Zero of either consumed in my household... no fat people here.

maybe the food manufacturers and such found a cheaper, altlhough less heathy, way to produce our food.

No kidding. Its called a profit margin. That does not mean you need to buy their TV dinner.

again, not so much the problem of individuals choices, as it is the choices of others affecting their health.

Its your mouth. You choose what goes in it.

Those living with low incomes can't be that picky as to what they eat...they can't hunt down the organically grown food, and afford to pay for it.

I can't, they can't, we can't. BS. Those living with low incomes are statistically more prone to be cigarette smokers. "They" somehow afford that habit.

YOU CAN, I CAN, THEY CAN. WE CAN. It begins with setting standards for yourself and choosing to live by those standards. ANY MAN CAN AFFORD TO FEED HIS FAMILY ORGANIC RICE AND BEANS. What he chooses to place in importance above such is his own choice. Dry organic mung beans, 99cents a pound. Dry organic brown rice, 89cents a pound. 50 pound bag of each and anyone in America can stay fed for 2 month on less than 100 dollars.

Plant a seed. You don't even have to own the land. God will feed you.

I don't know, but I am willing to bet there is more going on here than just the individual's poor choices.

But mommy everyone else is doing it.

I am,

Sri Oracle

I found a Shoshone Medicine Woman...........who does this group 'Healing Prayer' on Sunday evenings and it costs 10 dollars. Her prayer is based on forgiveness and Karma clearing......
www.eventsetter.com...

Today will be my 3rd time to go, and I swear it is helping me.......I would so much rather CURE what is ailing me than just take painkillers to dumb down the symptoms. Maybe this prayer work will help me allot MORE than the medical doctor is, as he just prescribes muscle relaxers and painkillers.
It truly is amazing how when your hurting badly your willing to try anything..........but I really do think this is helping somehow.

[edit on 4-11-2007 by theRiverGoddess]

reply to post by theRiverGoddess


Thank you for sharing your situation. I know other people with the same condition as you and they seem to have trouble explaining their symptoms besides that they just feel ill and they are in pain. I take it to be flu-like with joint pains and other torso pains?
anyway, I will pray for you and the easement of your suffering.
It is interesting that the healthcare system seems to fail the poor (the honest poor i should say) and the median income families.

I am self employed (construction consultant) and have 3 young kids. It would cost me almost $600 monthly to insurre them, not to mention adding myself and my wife, this seems ludicreous to me so I do the same thing as RRConservative and put as much as I can away in a savings account for a rainy day. (hardly ever get the total $600 in there but...)

I think that the insurance companies and the lawyers filing frivalous insurance claims need to be regulated better and there should be a cap on what insurance companies can charge.

It seems we are being gouged in this area and no one seems to care.

Originally posted by theRiverGoddess
I have fibromyalgia, and I have it to such an extreme it debilitates me.

wikipedia fibromyalgia
in many cases chronic pain is the result of physical changes in the body caused by a person's subconscious as a strategy for distracting from painful or dangerous unconscious emotions

You were stressed. You were not producing enough to support your family. You have created a negative feedback loop in you subconcious that says... I am in pain.. I cannot do anything.

Now there is a "reason" you cannot support your family, etc. It is justified.

Each day you awaken aware of that reason.

The first sign of aches and pains in the morning and you fall into the "I have fibro" loop. "I am incapable, sick."

You do little. You do not take the time to see to it you are eating right.

Your dopamine and seratonin levels fall.

You fall asleep at the end of the day.

Wake up and feel a little worse than the day before.

Loop, cycle.

bad habit. excuses and self pity.

Break it. *smack*

---------------------

" I am healthy, I am happy, I will be productive today, I'm a little sore from yesterday but I am going to work it off today. I believe. "

Mantra

That and stabilize yourself with rice and beans, every day.

Personally, I live in a condemned building. I grind lead paint and asbestos. I live under high tension lines. People deal crack in front of my house. My hands are scarred and pealing from chemical burns.

I am healthy, I am happy, I have things to do. The world is counting on me.

This body is only temporary; a pair of clothes. One day you will shed those clothes; until then use them for all they are worth.

Pain is an illusion. The true Self is seperate. The only thing you are entitled to in life is work.

Do not take this as my "coming down on you" or lacking compassion... I am compassionate to your situation; and thats why I offer a swift kick in the rear.

If you need to say "I have fibro"... then say "I am recovering from fibro"

I am,

Sri Oracle

I'm an American, as are my children. And, because we are not ILLEGAL, we can't afford insurance.

Me and both my children are UNinsured medicaly. (dental we do have)