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Do you notice how many that say they have no insurance also say they just go without any kind of medical care?
Understandable that ins premiums may be unaffordable but when 'saving' thousands for ins premiums, it leaves little excuse for not paying $$s or even a couple/few hundred dollars out of pocket on occassion .
(This is not addressing those who already have chronic high cost problems ) but those who, for instance, need to keep tabs on type 2 diabetes that can be controlled by a few blood tests a year and Metformin.....a woman that wants a checkup ,mammogram and pap smear.There is no reason to forego those kinds of things or blame the world because you can't afford insurance to pay for them.
It's how it used to be and is no longer...one big reason why premiums are now so high.You pay the little bills,insurance is there for the big ones
Thats pretty much what I did before I had Ins. Then my dr was actualy concerned about my health. Now Im veiwed as an ATM machine.
old cold,
People who don't have health insurance DO go to the doctor when they get sick.
The doctor charges you 100.00 to see you, and hopefully he just gives you a presc.
and you get it filled and you get better.
I don't have insurance, there is no way in the world I could afford to buy it.
My hubby works 60 hours a week, no benefits. He has a college degree in accounting too.
His boss told him he doesn't pay him to go on vacation, so he never gets a vacation either.
I don't live in a third world country, right in South Carolina.
People work for 8.00 an hour down here, no benefits, and we are happy to have the work.
I know I won't be able to have Medicare, it will be gone by the time I am 65, if I live that long,
and Social Security I do qualify for, but do't expect it to be there either by the time I am 62.
My question is, why should I go for a mamogram, pay 400.00 for one, and get bad news,
when I can't afford the treatment?
To know what I am going to die of?
No, so I just let it go, because if you can't afford to cure the disease,
why go for tests?
Then, the insurance companies will know I had a mamogram when I paid the 400.00 to
get it, and if by chance, my hubby or myself can finally get insurance, the health insurance
company will deny me coverage for a pre exsisting condition. So this way, I don't know
I have breast cancer, see????
If Romney wins, the insurance companies will go back to discriminating against people
who are sick.
I will wait, who knows? I might be able to get health insurance someday
or I could always fly to Thailand, I hear the excellent health care is much
cheaper in Thailand than it is here, that is always an option.
old cold,
People who don't have health insurance DO go to the doctor when they get sick.
The doctor charges you 100.00 to see you, and hopefully he just gives you a presc.
and you get it filled and you get better.
I don't have insurance, there is no way in the world I could afford to buy it.
My hubby works 60 hours a week, no benefits. He has a college degree in accounting too.
His boss told him he doesn't pay him to go on vacation, so he never gets a vacation either.
I don't live in a third world country, right in South Carolina.
People work for 8.00 an hour down here, no benefits, and we are happy to have the work.
I know I won't be able to have Medicare, it will be gone by the time I am 65, if I live that long,
and Social Security I do qualify for, but do't expect it to be there either by the time I am 62.
My question is, why should I go for a mamogram, pay 400.00 for one, and get bad news,
when I can't afford the treatment?
To know what I am going to die of?
No, so I just let it go, because if you can't afford to cure the disease,
why go for tests?
Then, the insurance companies will know I had a mamogram when I paid the 400.00 to
get it, and if by chance, my hubby or myself can finally get insurance, the health insurance
company will deny me coverage for a pre exsisting condition. So this way, I don't know
I have breast cancer, see????
If Romney wins, the insurance companies will go back to discriminating against people
who are sick.
I will wait, who knows? I might be able to get health insurance someday
or I could always fly to Thailand, I hear the excellent health care is much
cheaper in Thailand than it is here, that is always an option.
My Canadian friend spends half his year in Thailand, his wife is Thai, and he said the health and dental are good and dirt cheap.
In Colorado, I found out that insurance companies in essence keep 2 databases one for when you get insurance on your own and one for employer paid, that's what the insurance agent told us. So if don't disclose all the doctors you have seen under employer paid and then get quoted on self pay they don't necessarily know all the pre-existing conditions.
Right, but what if you do need it? As I said, I was diagnosed with Stage IV Hodgkin's lymphoma a month after my 23rd birthday. $7200 might seem like a lot, but my cancer was one of the cheap ones (just chemo, no radiation or major surgeries beyond exploratory) and my care for 6 months costs $250000. Every PET scan that I need several times a year costs about a mid-sized car. Life turns on a dime. I was healthy until I wasn't.
But why do I need to pay for that "just-in-case" moment which will likely never happen? There's a reason why insurance companies make billions in profit, because they take in far more than they pay out. For every case like yours, there are dozens like mine where you live for dozens of years without needing insurance at all. Car insurance is even more of a scam than health insurance because I'm required to buy it to drive here in California, but I don't get a refund for the money that's never used. Let's say inflation falls to 0% and my insurance stays the same until I stop driving 50 years from now when I'm in my 80s. I will have spent $51,000 in AFTER-TAX DOLLARS on car insurance...does that seem right?
Good for you for getting through that, one of my best friends from college had nearly the same experience. His was identified only after his convoy was blown up by IEDs and he was taken to the hospital to treat his wounds and they discovered that he had cancer. They actually said he would die before the end of the year, but he's still alive 8 years later and healthy now.
But why do I need to pay for that "just-in-case" moment which will likely never happen? There's a reason why insurance companies make billions in profit, because they take in far more than they pay out. For every case like yours, there are dozens like mine where you live for dozens of years without needing insurance at all. Car insurance is even more of a scam than health insurance because I'm required to buy it to drive here in California, but I don't get a refund for the money that's never used. Let's say inflation falls to 0% and my insurance stays the same until I stop driving 50 years from now when I'm in my 80s. I will have spent $51,000 in AFTER-TAX DOLLARS on car insurance...does that seem right?
Good for you for getting through that, one of my best friends from college had nearly the same experience. His was identified only after his convoy was blown up by IEDs and he was taken to the hospital to treat his wounds and they discovered that he had cancer. They actually said he would die before the end of the year, but he's still alive 8 years later and healthy now.
I dropped my dental insurance because, after looking at how much I paid and how much they paid out, I figured it was cheaper to pay my own way.
But, the issue with health insurance is that, should something go wrong, the costs can go through the roof. A complex root canal treatment cost me $2,000. However, a course of chemo plus all the meds that go with it costs around $65,000 - $70,000. And that is relatively cheap compared to some other procedures like a bypass. I can afford to drop $2k for a root canal. But $70k is another matter altogether. That is why I buy health insurance (which is quite cheap for me because my employer subsidizes it).
Car insurance is different still. The reason you are required to buy it is not to protect you but to protect others should there be an accident which is your fault. How that is implemented may well be a scam but the reasoning is quite different to health insurance.
But why do I need to pay for that "just-in-case" moment which will likely never happen? There's a reason why insurance companies make billions in profit, because they take in far more than they pay out. For every case like yours, there are dozens like mine where you live for dozens of years without needing insurance at all. Car insurance is even more of a scam than health insurance because I'm required to buy it to drive here in California, but I don't get a refund for the money that's never used. Let's say inflation falls to 0% and my insurance stays the same until I stop driving 50 years from now when I'm in my 80s.I will have spent $51,000 in AFTER-TAX DOLLARS on car insurance...does that seem right?
.
45 years from now, when your car costs $75,000 and the other guys car also cost $75,000 and you need the insurance co to pay for it , you'll think it sounds right.
Or even maybe next month when you do happen to have an accident and your hospital bill is $60,000, you'll think it seems right.
But you're never going to be in an at-fault accident, are you? How many of those that are do you think planned to be?
As far as refunds.....do you understand the theory of insurance pools?Obviousy not.
You resent paying? You can cut your car insurance costs substantially .....just drop the comp and collision on your own car(s).
You don't have to buy med ins either.....but if that 'just in case moment' occurs, please promise that you'll make arrangements to pay whatever the bill is out of your own pocket.
But why do I need to pay for that "just-in-case" moment which will likely never happen? There's a reason why insurance companies make billions in profit, because they take in far more than they pay out. For every case like yours, there are dozens like mine where you live for dozens of years without needing insurance at all. Car insurance is even more of a scam than health insurance because I'm required to buy it to drive here in California, but I don't get a refund for the money that's never used. Let's say inflation falls to 0% and my insurance stays the same until I stop driving 50 years from now when I'm in my 80s. I will have spent $51,000 in AFTER-TAX DOLLARS on car insurance...does that seem right?
Good for you for getting through that, one of my best friends from college had nearly the same experience. His was identified only after his convoy was blown up by IEDs and he was taken to the hospital to treat his wounds and they discovered that he had cancer. They actually said he would die before the end of the year, but he's still alive 8 years later and healthy now.
How unlikely is it really? If you are a man, you have a 1 in 2 chance of developing cancer in your lifetime. If you're a woman, it's 1 in 3. And that's just cancer - forget about accidents (vehicle, falls, etc), congenial abnormalities, violent attacks, and heart disease (all common causes of casualty or death in young adults). Rarer diseases, like MS and schizophrenia, are more common for young adults who are otherwise healthy.
If you get in a car accident and break your legs, pelvis, and collar bone, have a collapsed lung, and some head trauma, how much do you think that will set you back? If you guess in the hundreds of thousands, you'd be correct! Do you have that kind of money to drop on a catastrophic illness or accident that also would likely put you out of work for at least a few months?
I recently found out that my sister and her husband have no health insurance. I couldn't believe it to be honest.
Her husband was a mechanic for Northwest Airlines until he got laid off with all the restructuring. He is working for a contractor now inspecting planes for far less money and no benefits.
My sister has not been able to get a good enough job that provides insurance for the family.
So they get by without insurance and my sister just says "we can't afford it so our health is in God's hands"
These are good people, their only fault is they aren't good with money at all. They could be broke but if you needed food they would give you what they have. They are just good hearted folks without a desire for money or success. But they are hard workers. When my sister isn't working at one of her crappy part time jobs she is working at a homeless shelter in St Paul.
I know my republican friends on this forum are against help for these kinds of people and to be honest, my sister and husband are not asking for anyone's help. My brother in law is a republican, always has been even through all his troubles. He still says his health is not anyone else's problem. He cannot afford $1000 per month for a policy and he says he does not expect anyone else to pay it so I guess he's willing to die if he gets sick.
I just think this entire situation is sad. I think if you believe this country should not be providing a basic health policy for every citizen you just aren't seeing the big picture.
Thanks for reading.
Most of my relatives are Canadian and have health insurance (single-payer). Here in the US, I've gone without health insurance for long periods and I know others who have. My cousin had her own business and finally got insurance for herself, then two months later found out she had cancer. The insurance company tried to get out of paying her claims. I am currently fighting with my insurance company over tests which my wife needs. I have nothing but contempt for those in this country who oppose universal health coverage, and I hope their candidates are completely decimated at the polls this November.
You are right that it is sad, and it is also brutal. Peoples' lives are at stake, but some people just don't care. They value money over human lives.
old cold,
People who don't have health insurance DO go to the doctor when they get sick.
The doctor charges you 100.00 to see you, and hopefully he just gives you a presc.
and you get it filled and you get better.
I don't have insurance, there is no way in the world I could afford to buy it.
My hubby works 60 hours a week, no benefits. He has a college degree in accounting too.
His boss told him he doesn't pay him to go on vacation, so he never gets a vacation either.
I don't live in a third world country, right in South Carolina.
People work for 8.00 an hour down here, no benefits, and we are happy to have the work.
I know I won't be able to have Medicare, it will be gone by the time I am 65, if I live that long,
and Social Security I do qualify for, but do't expect it to be there either by the time I am 62.
My question is, why should I go for a mamogram, pay 400.00 for one, and get bad news,
when I can't afford the treatment?
To know what I am going to die of?
No, so I just let it go, because if you can't afford to cure the disease,
why go for tests?
Then, the insurance companies will know I had a mamogram when I paid the 400.00 to
get it, and if by chance, my hubby or myself can finally get insurance, the health insurance
company will deny me coverage for a pre exsisting condition. So this way, I don't know
I have breast cancer, see????
If Romney wins, the insurance companies will go back to discriminating against people
who are sick.
I will wait, who knows? I might be able to get health insurance someday
or I could always fly to Thailand, I hear the excellent health care is much
cheaper in Thailand than it is here, that is always an option.
This is the way the GOP wants the rest of the Nation to be. I too am in this enemy country for Dem's called SC. What a sham this place is. Plenty of people without HC,decent food or shelter,yet romney will win it no matter what.
Case in point. I saw a single wide mobile home with the underneath exposed. It leaned back making the front raise higher so all the pipes were visible. The steps are crooked and weak looking. The newest things on the property....
a huge rebel flag and..........two romney yard signs With stupid racist like that family out numbering everyone else,how can we get a better quality of life.
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With stupid racist like that family out numbering everyone else,how can we get a better quality of life.
