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If you're making the allegation in your second paragraph, it's up to you to prove it, not to ask us to disprove it.
People making minimum wage cannot afford $XX/month if they have a family.
You can show your bogus correlation with iPhones and insurance, right?
Right?
More than 98% of workers make more than minimum wage. And 99% of the ones that do are under the age of 20.
In other words, people with families do not make minimum wage.
And he didn't say that people buy iphones instead of insurance. He said he would like to know if they did. See the difference?
You can tell what an financial issue is to me??? How do you know my bill wasn't more than 50 or 6 grand?
People buy things on payment plans for 50 or 60 grand or more all the time. I don't hear anyone complaining about that.
Somehow, when it comes to healthcare it's too expensive.
I do not buy things for 50 or 60 grand because I cannot afford them. And I certainly cannot afford the $250,000 I would have needed in 6 months of chemo or the $500,000 total for chemo plus 5 years of follow up. The only thing I will ever buy at that cost is a house - but I will have saved for it and be LIVING in it. You are talking about people who need to pay these bills but also somehow find money to live on. The median income in the USA is around $40,000 - a little lower for women and a little higher for men. How do you think people making the median or below can live while having hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt following them around?
What about people like JetJockey who have genetic conditions that require medication that costs $300,000 a year? She had no time to take "personal responsibility" and save for that situation - if I remember correctly, she was diagnosed as a child.
JetJockey and I are both in our 20s, both have college degrees, and both work our tushes off despite our medical challenges in careers. Unfortunately, since I am only in my first few years of my career, my income is low. During the period in which I would owe $500,000, I am expected to make around $180,000. That's before taxes, rent, and food - and I rent with roommates and eat rice and beans.
When there was a brief insurance screw up, I got sent a $20,000 bill. They wanted over $500 a month for a payment plan - almost what I pay in rent. How does one set up a payment plan for $500,000? Even if reduced in half, it would have kept me in poverty for the rest of my life.
This just in: thousands of people with health insurance are dying every day. Let us now make a crises of it.
Perhaps if the government had handled healthcare differently years ago, the costs wouldn't be so astronomical, and maybe there would be nothing to "fix"..... government intrusion is a vicious cycle.
The government wasn't involved in the health care "industry" years ago.
What are you talking about?
Did you want the government involved decades ago?
I do not buy things for 50 or 60 grand because I cannot afford them. And I certainly cannot afford the $250,000 I would have needed in 6 months of chemo or the $500,000 total for chemo plus 5 years of follow up. The only thing I will ever buy at that cost is a house - but I will have saved for it and be LIVING in it. You are talking about people who need to pay these bills but also somehow find money to live on. The median income in the USA is around $40,000 - a little lower for women and a little higher for men. How do you think people making the median or below can live while having hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt following them around?
What about people like JetJockey who have genetic conditions that require medication that costs $300,000 a year? She had no time to take "personal responsibility" and save for that situation - if I remember correctly, she was diagnosed as a child.
JetJockey and I are both in our 20s, both have college degrees, and both work our tushes off despite our medical challenges in careers. Unfortunately, since I am only in my first few years of my career, my income is low. During the period in which I would owe $500,000, I am expected to make around $180,000. That's before taxes, rent, and food - and I rent with roommates and eat rice and beans.
When there was a brief insurance screw up, I got sent a $20,000 bill. They wanted over $500 a month for a payment plan - almost what I pay in rent. How does one set up a payment plan for $500,000? Even if reduced in half, it would have kept me in poverty for the rest of my life.
Your missing my point.
People have no right to tell me I must buy insurance. Especially the government. I think it's a good idea to get insurance. Doesn't mean I should force someone else to buy it.
And your medical bills cost the same. It's just other people are paying them.
And yeah, I was referring to people buying houses when I said they spend more than 50 grand. But when it comes to medical care they don't wanna pay because it's "expensive". If one uses a service they should pay for it. Or at least pay what they can. Otherwise it's stealing.
And the quickes way to lower medical costs is to get government completely out of it. No regulations. No Medicare/Medicaid. Prices would drop by 70-80% overnight.
Your philosophy is to tell people to go and die because they don't make enough money. Cold, cold indeed.
Not only that you tell them exactly how they must pay.
If I go to a doctor and don't have cash on hand it's none of your business. How I pay is between me and the doc.
OH NO, only those that refuse to purchase some form of pooled health insurance, either though a Government plan, one supplied by their employer, or some other group.
Those that say "I don't need Health Insurance, I can pay my own way" ... OKAY, go for it.
$100 for a Doctor visit isn't too much of a problem, but $100,000 may be, got that much on hand in CASH, (credit cards NOT accepted)?.
OH NO, only those that refuse to purchase some form of pooled health insurance, either though a Government plan, one supplied by their employer, or some other group.
Those that say "I don't need Health Insurance, I can pay my own way" ... OKAY, go for it.
$100 for a Doctor visit isn't too much of a problem, but $100,000 may be, got that much on hand in CASH, (credit cards NOT accepted)?.
Gotcha. If someone doesn't have $100,000 in cazh they should die according to you.
What gives you the right to decide how I pay my medical bills?
If I wanna pay with a credit card it ain't none of your business. But you'd just let me die because you don't agree with my payment method?
It is a basic question of personal responsibility. Now Obama care will force people to take some personal responsibility and buy their own medical insurance. Will this prevent more deaths? I don't think so since many people don't eat well, exercise, and have bad lifestyles.
You can be as responsible as you can be.........but that's not going to keep you from getting cancer, or hit by a truck, or Alzheimer's. Jim Fixx was a paragon of fitness.............until he dropped dead during a run. Hey! There's a solution the Republicans could get behind.................
What makes you think we can get health care now under our present system? I can't. I had a biopsy not long ago and, since I do not have insurance, the doctor told me if it were positive "I can't see you unless you pay in advance." What he was telling me is my care would be too expensive and only rich people have the opportunity to get chemo or radiation if they can't get decent coverage. Fortunately, my last tests were okay.
I have friends who are citizens of Canada and, when they get sick, they go home. They're all amazed and puzzled by the attitudes of Americans. Go ahead, believe the lies. Do you think countries like Australia, New Zealand, Germany and many others would have a national health care plan if nobody liked it? There is a huge profit margin in health care and pharmaceuticals. Even Obamacare isn't good enough. Why is the cost of a drug 3 or 4 times greater in our country than it is in Europe? Same drug, higher price. You figure it out.
Check with your state because here in MI anyone who is found to have cancer and no health insurance is automatically enrolled in Medicaid. My neighbor was diagnosed with breast cancer a few years ago. Since she had no insurance and was unable to get a policy, the state gave her Medicaid which covered all of her treatments to include chemotherapy. In my area, women's (and men's) health exams are free or very inexpensive through numerous hospitals and other health organizations, so there's no reason anyone should find themselves with cancer and no way to treat it.
Gotcha. If someone doesn't have $100,000 in cazh they should die according to you.
What gives you the right to decide how I pay my medical bills?
If I wanna pay with a credit card it ain't none of your business. But you'd just let me die because you don't agree with my payment method?
Good for you.
You should run for office.
If you paid by credit card you could file bankruptcy and then owe nothing, the "not collectables" is one of the reasons costs are so high now.
Purchase insurance from a supplier or pay say 10% of your income, whichever you like.
You can sign an OPT-OUT but all medical services must be paid in cash before service is performed.
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