How many of you have health insurance?

Since when is enjoying the fruits of my labor selfish or greedy. What is selfish and greedy is wanting something that someone else has and making them give it to you.

What makes my labor worth less than someone elses? That is what is being implied here, that because I make some amount of money, that I am some how less deserving of the benefits I receive in exchange for my labor than someone else.

[edit on 14-5-2008 by mother_jung]

Personally I live in Canada and am very grateful for our health care system. Its not perfect of course, but honestly what is? It is always nice to know that if I break my leg in rugby, or become very ill that I will be given the proper treatment. People complain about the wait times, but I would rather wait a few hours then have to pay a large sum of money.

Originally posted by jedimiller
here's the link.

hillaryclinton.com...

Hillary has said on video that it will be very, very affordable for everyone. If we do the math, 200 dollars is not affordable, 100-not affordable. using logic, one can say it will run under 75 dollars a person. i'm willing to pay that.



[edit on 13-5-2008 by jedimiller]

Oh. Well since Hillary said it, it must be so. Do you believe everything that comes out of a politicians mouth? Sorry, but I don't think universal healthcare is the answer. In my opinion, we're in the mess we're in because we give so much away. And, frankly, I don't appreciate someone calling me selfish because I don't want to pay for someone else's healthcare. My husband and I live basically from paycheck to paycheck but I wouldn't expect someone to pay for mine, my husband's or my children's healthcare. Too many people these days have there hand out but aren't willing to do anything in return. My heart goes out to people that don't have healthcare but we can barely afford our co-pay let alone pay for someone else's healthcare. I had a former co-worker that moved here from Canada and one of the reasons he did was their healthcare system. He said you can't pick your own doctor and there are many other restrictions (can't remember them all). To finish up my rant, I don't know what the answer is but I don't believe it's universal healthcare. The industry is already going to hell in a hand basket and I think the government's involvement would hasten its demise.

Originally posted by mother_jung
Since when is enjoying the fruits of my labor selfish or greedy. What is selfish and greedy is wanting something that someone else has and making them give it to you.

What makes my labor worth less than someone elses? That is what is being implied here, that because I make some amount of money, that I am some how less deserving of the benefits I receive in exchange for my labor than someone else.

[edit on 14-5-2008 by mother_jung]

Excellent post!
I agree with you 100%.

My wife is a teacher here in Souther California and because of her, my daughter and I are covered with great insurance. I am very lucky. When we had our daughter I think it costs us a total of about 13.00 usd. We feel very fortunate to have the insurance we do. I can't imagine having to "buy" this kind of plan.

In my travels for work I have had to go to the doctors office in many different countries and have had mostly great experiences.

In Tokyo Japan I broke my finger. Costs me about 60,000 yen... Close to 60.00 usd and i didn't have to wait in a line. With that they also gave me a bottle of pain medication.

In Berlin Germany I went to a hospital at 12:00 am and received an emergency root canal. it costs me 135 euros. Took them about half an hour and it was the cleanest dental office i had ever been in ( yes, they had a section in the hospital for dental work open 24 hrs ) I had to go, I was in horrible pain for many days. And they also gave me medication included with the price.

In Toronto, Canada i had a very bad throat infection. it was obvious I was not a Canadian citizen and they just treated me anyway. They gave me a shot and a free bottle of antibiotics to boot!! NO CHARGE!!

In Saarbruken, Germany i was knocked out walking thru a low stage door where I hit my head walking thru the door. In that case I had to spend an entire night in the hospital along with many tests. After they checked me out and had me stay the night they released me the next day. NO CHARGE!

Not many people I know are lucky like me to have a wife with a job that provides me with this great insurance. I don't think nationalized healthcare is a bad idea. Even with my great insurance I still have to wait forever to get into the doctor. i still have to pay quite a bit for my medication.

When i hear the arguments against nationalized health care one common theme is people think they are going to get a poorer quality healthcare. i couldn't really see it being much different actually. I am already used to waiting with a whole bunch of other sick people for hours at a time. I am used to feeling like the doctor isn't really listening to me and trying to shuffle me out the door with a prescription. Maybe if we had doctors who weren't trying to worry about the bottom line as well as your health we would have a better health care system.

Originally posted by LateApexer313 I was just going to post about a friend of mine who lives in Canada, the poor man has needed his gallbladder out for 16 months now, he's scheduled to have it out in June sometime he told me.

Meanwhile he has painful gallbladder attacks where he has to go lie down for 3 hours until the pain passes. And here your post pops up! Thanks for giving us an inside look at the Canadian system!

There is more to your friend's situation than that because I have just seen two close friends go through gall bladder surgery...both inside of a one month window from diagnosis to removal. Your story is not typical, and I still wouldn't swap systems...I'd have to be nuts, and that's covered too.

Personally, I just don't understand this issue. If it can work in Canada, it can work in the States, with its far greater resources . I hear this incessant whining about how the government would simply screw it up, so let's suffer getting screwed by the HMOs instead. The dog just don't hunt, it's a lazy cop-out.

You pride yourselves on being the world's greatest democracy, and you're willing to put your great grandchildren in debt to enforce that dictum (by killing people that disagree with you) If you want efficient universal health care, demand it. Make demands of your government, fer cryin' out loud!!

If the GOP sees the Democrats getting huge attention because of the health care issue...guess who'll suddenly come up with a plan? You know, at least the war is being promoted using fear. You can't excuse tolerating middle-class poverty resulting from illness. Forget ideology, just apply some common sense, and as one poster said, some Christian compassion.

There's my two cents (Cdn).

[edit on 15-5-2008 by JohnnyCanuck]

The ugly truth about Americas health care system.

In American we have the best specialist in the world, but why people about 50 million people, are without health care and more millions of people even with insurance can not even get the health care they need?

Because in America our private health care is a multibillion dollar empire that their only business of the day is not to take care of the needs of the people but to make profits.

Our private health care is not so private after all, while the multibillion dollar medical empire reaps their profits they have lobbyist buying out our for the people elected politicians to influence laws in their favor.

So to say that our government should be out of the health care system and that we don’t need socialized health care is a big propaganda to keep people oblivious to the fact that our own government greedy politicians are up to their necks in the health care system to make a buck.

Our health care system is not broken is corrupted.

Because is run by for-profit insurance companies that don’t give a darn about you or anybody else, unless you forgot to pay your bill.

let’s look how much our multibillion dollar empire in the health care business has its neck into our politicians rear ends.

www.publicintegrity.org...

Since 2004, the amount of money been pay for lobbying in congress has been kept out of the eyes of the public knowleadge, talking about corruption in our own government system.

i think our own mistrust of the government and fears of socialism is keeping us from good healthcare reform.If i go to the doctor,i will pay more with cash then a insurance company will pay.That is wrong.The system is not going to reform itself.When you need your insurance the most,the insurance companies may fight with you at every turn.How are you going to feel about them fighting you and raising your rates after they have been raking in all kinds of cash from you for many years?If you lose your job,you may not be able to pay your insurance any more and they may possibly get off the hook after making thousands of dollars off you from when you could work and pay them. I agree with the arguments those against universal care make,but the fact is we have a health care system that is not working.For me it is not a liberal-consevative issue.It is an issue of having a system that does not work.personaly i feel universal coverage with a more moderate approach needs to be taken.It will have to be employer friendly enough and not raise taxes dramaticaly.We should also have a variety of options and not be told what doctor we can see .I would like to see a system something like this.The government would be the only one that the doctors bill.the government would cover everything from 1000 to 5000 dollars.the rest would be billed to any other insurance or a medical savings account you might have.The employer could cover major medical-everything over 5000 a year if they wanted.if the employee wanted he could have a medical savings account that he can put money into tax free or the employer could pay for minor medical also if they choose.the employer would only have to contribute to what ever plan the employee has to cover the first 1000.the employer could not choose for the employee what coverage the employee gets.This adresses personal responsibility, allow us more choice,and would be employer friendly.Until a plan is proposed that is employer friendly,i don't believe there will be any reform.It will be shot down ,just as Clinton's plan was.

Family of three we pay 120 a month. Should be a poll on here, who has it , who does not.

Universal health care is not good.

I would rather pay and for my insurance and DECIDE who I want to see.

In universal you are told who to see.No more PPO.

If you are going to pay either way, why not pay and choose your own?

I was in the mayo clinic emergency room, and met this couple from Canada.

I am in Phoenix area. They were down here because they needed to see a

heart specialist and the wait in Canada they said was nine month for a

specialist. She was in the ER because she broke her arm in the parking lot.

She told me it was up to a 6 month wait to see a GP.

Not something I want to deal with.

I don't believe universal care has to mean less choice.I think that is a defeatist attitude.Discussion of healthcare shoud be what a universal care program should look like,not if we should have it .Most americans support universal coverage and are being denied a say in this.meanwhile insurance companies dictate what care we get and a lot of employers do not offer many options.I get blue cross myself.I hate them,but i am not given another choice.As it is now the government all ready pays for some people and others have to go it all alone.They might as well have a small tax increase and give us all some coverage.The employers should have to contribute something,otherwise too much of the burden would be shifted to the individual.There are possible solutions that should make everyone happy,but i think what this comes down to for a lot of people is fear of change,government or only wanting whats best for themselves.If we end up with an out of control spending over heathcare ,i wont blame the liberals.it will be the conservatives as they don't offer any suitable solutuions or compromises .They could be taking the lead in this and trying to unify ,rather than divide and they chose to divide.

Yeah but you look at what the government has now. Its access.

I have had to use that . The doctors you can see are really bad.

When I had Blue cross, PPO, the plan we had I really liked. WE paid the extra for PPO,but I have a lot of health issues and want choice to go to a specialist.
Not wait until another doc tells me I can or who I can see.

We now have United Health Care, who by the way is affiliated with access. It sucks. I still have PPO, but I now pay 5,000 deductible, and 20 percent of each visit.
Works out more than a normal copay.

I would love to have blue cross again!

I do not deny that health insurance is expensive. Why not just require health insurance like you do auto insurance , and then let people decide what insurance they want. If everyone had it, cost would come down, and we still have a choice .

But lets not turn insurance into one government plan.

Ama

I have health insurance for my son and I. It's about $80 per month total.. I go to the doctor once a year for a check up.. my son goes more often.. he's 3, gets shots, gets sick, etc. $80 per month seems pretty okay to me but I don't know how it stacks up against what everyone else is paying

I don't. I have an advanced degree too, and work my rear end off, just to have enough to eat and pay the damned utilities and rising grocery bills. Energy and food, the two things I understand that the Bush administration does not include in their inflation figures...go figure!

[edit on 16-5-2008 by skyshow]

I have to say, after reading through this thread, I'm grateful that I don't live in the USA.

But by displaying that sentiment, I suppose I'm just as bad as the guys who are saying "screw you, I'm just going to look after myself and the rest of you can get sick and die!"



It's your country guys, these are your fellow citizens, it's your problem, and I won't offer my opinion on what I see as an outsider in the discrepancies between the haves and the have nots.

[edit on 16-5-2008 by mattguy404]

reply to post by JPhish
I haven't read the whole thread but y'all do know that Michael Moore refused to back Hitlery b/c of her universal healthcare? He stated he loves Canada but doesn't live there any more because of the universal healthcare. He now resides in the US so he can have regular ol' insurance. Having to wait months for a needed procedure is not the answer.

I feel the government needs to put their heal in the throat of the insurance companies and get the insurance to where it's more affordable. Plan and simple. They need to get the phamasutical industry in check as well for the are the monkey on the doctors backs.

My family has my husband, myself and, our daughter on his insurance through work. It's a PPO, great coverage and, it's a little over $50 a week. To me that isn't a bad price for insurance. I just think that the universal healthcare idea is just one more step in the direction of socialism. But hey that's just this simple minded Texan's thought, what do I know?

Duncan Hunter could have fixed all of this had he had the chance....

I just remembered my first hand experience that will cure the whole insurance thing.

A year or so ago I had to take my 3 month old the ER because she had RSV. What I saw was - a 3-month-old baby put to the back of the line. The vast majority there were of Mexican heritage, had NO INSURANCE (wanna know how I know? You can here all of this while they are checking in!), also, if you didn't speak English it was a PLUS; you got service as if you just walked into the Waldorf-Astoria.

I sat there for 3+ hours worrying she was about to stop breathing in her little lethargic state while grown Mexican men and women with the sniffles walked by going to ER rooms before her! I just love bureaucratic red tape!! Finally at 6:30 I left because her pediatrician’s office opened at 8. I felt at least she could get better rest in her bed away from the glare of the florescent lighting before we went in.

No insurance needed, just act Mexican, there ya go!!

Originally posted by amatrine I was in the mayo clinic emergency room, and met this couple from Canada.

I am in Phoenix area. They were down here because they needed to see a

heart specialist and the wait in Canada they said was nine month for a

specialist. She was in the ER because she broke her arm in the parking lot.

She told me it was up to a 6 month wait to see a GP.

Donno about the specialist...like I've said, I got the cadillac treatment for prostate cancer...diagnosis to cure in 3 months, and I rarely have to wait til the next day to see my GP. Face it, your HMOs are working overtime to keep you in thrall to them. I'm delighted with our system in Canada, even when you take the inevitable bureaucratic bravo sierra into account.

I have health insurance, but I don't want it.

The state where I live makes it mandatory. Failure to carry health insurance results in a hefty fine.

I don't get sick because I take care of myself, and I think insurance is, by and large, a scam perpetrated on people. You pay your premiums like clockwork, but if the day ever comes when you need the insurance to pay for something major, expect to fight tooth and nail and, additionally, expect to be denied coverage in the end.

I pay WAY too much for this stupid insurance that I never use, and it pisses me off.

Legislators need to stop working for the corporations and start working for the greater good of their constituents. That's my opinion.

reply to post by WyrdeOne


This quite true......Back in the day, when I had insurance ( and almost never used it), they were raking in my monthly payments, and usually excluded what ever I needed.....for instance they considered a mastectomy elective surgery! ( Thankfully, I did not need a mastectomy, but they also tried to get out of even paying part of the charge for the mammogram !)

But when the boss's wife needed plastic surgery, they called it a TMJ ( a type of misaligned jaw problem ) and paid for it.....He accidentally called it a 'nose job' one day and blushed, then stammered that he "wasn't supposed to tell us that", and begged us not to mention it!

By the way, is anyone keeping track of the 'voting'??

Health care unaffordable due to hundred+ year old state granted monopoly on the practice of medicine:

mises.org...

What socialized medicine looks like here in Texas:

www.star-telegram.com...

What your taxes will look like to pay for socialized medicine:

mises.org...

Some of us want fewer parasitic middle-men between us and our care providers, not more: don't use force (votes) to inflict your preferred solution upon us!