[TheForge] Re: Health insurance

[Margaret Green]

  I kind of disagree that the statistics are skewed. Absolutely
anyone who doesn't have a job where health insurance is a paid
benefit will find it almost impossible to find any health
insurance that's affordable and that's if they aren't turned down
for pre-existing conditions. My brother is complaining about what
he has to pay for his health benefit that his employer gives but
doesn't pay for. Anyone part time, seasonal jobs (example
construction), self employed, etc., etc., has a big problem. It's
either none or very expensive, if they can even get it.
  We're in a small group of 3 or 4 people and pay $640 each per
month. We can't afford to pay it but we can't afford to drop it.
It could wipe us out financially if we got sick. (I'm not sure of
figures but a guess on a one week hospital stay for something
simple like pneumonia is maybe around $15,000 or so, no surgery or
involved treatment.) The hospitals and doctors will hound you for
payment. I tried a couple of years ago to find something cheaper
without much success. Anything cheaper won't cover much medical
care. BTW the boss of our small group has been trying to find
something cheaper each year for a while. At least one company
won't take us because it's a small group and they won't take small
groups. Any company that will take us is just as expensive.
  What's really scary is, also, how much they'll cover. Someone I
know had a heart attack a few years ago. He was treated in a local
hospital and transferred to a hospital that specialized in cardiac
problems for testing to see what was going on and more treatment.
The transfer for more care was because "a bed opened up and *his
health insurance checked out,"* the nurse's words. In other words
if he had no insurance or it wasn't covered by the insurance he
had, the first hospital would have just patched him up and sent
him home - with probably, by the way, you owe us $x for your
treatment here.
  A lot changed when health insurance, and the whole medical field
went from non-profit to let's make as much money as we can.
Marge Green


>         What's never mentioned in that stat is that two of the four
> are on gov't assistance programs (medicaid and medicare aren't
> counted as "insurance" for the stat), and that another 1.8 of the
> four *CHOOSE* not to pay for health insurance - they're the 18-30
> year old crowd with good jobs and no kids.