The term "uninsured" is muddying the waters

[SoCalDem]

Too many people are insurance-poor.. They HAVE insurance, but at the expense of many other things that make life worth living.

It's infinitely annoying to hear politicians bandy about the term "uninsured", when that's the tip of the iceberg.

Some go on at length about getting "the children insured" as a "first step". While I approve of kids getting to go to the doctor, it's not much help if Mom and/or Dad are too sick to be working, but go every day (exposing their fellow workers)..or if Mom and/or dad are in need of medication, but cannot afford it. A kid whose parent dies young, is in for a rough time.

The "uninsured" number seems almost "do-able", but it really isn't. It's just one thin strip of fabric on the tattered patchwork quilt we already have.

Federal/state/municipal/Government employees have cheap and good insurance

Most of the remaining union members still have somewhat decent coverage

veterans (most of them) have access to fairly good coverage (the ones who have people advocating for them)..

Seniors have Medicare

Extremely poor have Medicaid.

There's a lot of "government-provided" health care out here, and tackling the "uninsured" , sounds like an admirable task, but it's not.

What needs to happen is for ALL the current "plans" to be folded into ONE simple-to-understand and simple-to-access medical delivery system.

Is is "socialism"? Maybe..but who cares if it IS.

The goal is to provide the US citizens with "something for their money". Politicians love to remind us all "IT'S YOUR MONEY"..but what do we GET for our money?

war..poverty..bad schools..off-shored jobs..closed factories..$3.50 gasoline..

I would gladly use MY MONEY to gain healthcare for my family, friends and fellow-citizens.

So when you hear the politicians talking up their plan for medical care, listen for the "code words"

1. affordable ...who gets to decide that one?

2. currently uninsured...just because you have it NOW, doesn't mean your boss will not cancel or raise your share beyond your means

3. mandated...pay with money you don't have, for something you may be denied, when you try to use it

4. insurance.. Insurance is the PROBLEM..not the solution

[Yael]

1. Underinsured is the issue. Health care coverage as a for-profit commodity

where the company's first responsibility is to their shareholders and second, to their consumers.

[XboxWarrior]

8. Underinsured is NOT...

the ISSUE.....

It's folk's like me, with NO insurance.

Sure I have a job, own my own house,(Paid for) my employer gives nada.

I CAN"T afford $1200 a month , hell i only make $2400 (take home).

Single payer Govt insurance is the only way.

Only Rush, Sean, and the other R-Wingers appose it, after all,

It's TOO DAMN SOCIALIST! (they even throw in the commy word)

peace

[Lars39]

10. Both are issues....you are just as liable to lose your house from not

having insurance as someone with crappy insurance.

[SoCalDem]

13. Like I always say.. Insurance is the PROBLEM..not the solution

:hi:

[Yael]

21. Uninsured is a given. Underinsured is the issue with the crisis because they aren't

counted.

[PDJane]

2. Single-Payer health care.

treat it as a service.

Socialism is not a bad concept; it's the concept of the commons. There are things that should be provided as part of the common weal. Period. Endit.

[BlueManDude]

3. My BC/BS premium went from $380/mo to $535/mo in December...

so I had to scale back to a lesser plan.

[SoCalDem]

4. Just what they wanted.. less chance of having to pay for something

More exclusions..and pretty soon even having to cough up co-pays looks wasteful, if you know you are not "covered"..

[Lydia Leftcoast]

20. Same thing happened to me two years ago

I had to switch from a $1000 deductible to a $5000 deductible. :grr:

[MagickMuffin]

5. My household has NO INSURANCE

No HealthCare what-so-ever. NONE, NADA, ZIP

Where do I fit in?

I WANT THE SAME HEALTHCARE AS OUR GOVERNMENT............PERIOD

I have not had a mammogram, why bother. If I found out I have breast cancer, what good would it do me to find out. I wouldn't be able to afford to do anything about it. And if I found out and then lucked into healthcare benefits, the insurance companies would deny me my coverage with that big nuisance of pre-existing nonsense. So, again what good would it do me to find out.

And of course there is the problem of just the cost of treatment. I just lost a niece to breast cancer this last November. She was 31, had healthcare, still wasn't enough to cover her treatment. Her dad had to sell his ranch to help with the payments to keep his only daughter alive.

How many hundreds of thousands of dollars is a life worth? And how could I expect someone to pay that kind of money to keep me alive for how long?? :shrug: Could be several years, a month, a few weeks???

MY SIL almost died Nov. 06. No healthcare. Her christian (?) boss does not provide insurance at his office. She went to a healthcare clinic and they instructed her to go to the hospital. Luckily she wasn't able to get financial aide. Her hospital bill came to $80,000 for a 10 days.


Goddess Help us ALL

[Captain Hilts]

6. The term is "UNDERinsured." nt

[SoCalDem]

7. Our politicians harp on and on about covering the UNinsured.

WE know it's really about UNDERinsurance, but no one seems to mention that much.. They want to tackle the UNinsured "first"..and then they will wander off into the wilderness, telling us they have "solved our problem"

[Captain Hilts]

16. Actually, people with no insurance know they have none. The 'underinsured' don't know it...

until the bills come in.

[RaleighNCDUer]

9. The 'uninsured' are NOT the poor, the elderly, the children,

the indigent.

The uninsured are the middle class, which certain powers that be have been trying to destroy for 30 years.

And it's working.

[SoCalDem]

12. exactly.. they muddy the waters

the other groups are mostly covered by something already, and the pols want us to believe that there is this ONE sliver of people who need coverage and they can do it..problem solved..:eyes:..NOT!!

Probably the MOST people uninsured are $25-$50K a year paycheck-to-paycheck people who are desperately trying to keep those plates spinning..and are one accident/illness away from losing it all

[RaleighNCDUer]

18. And even being insured doesn't help much.

Of my three sisters and me, one sister and I are insured, but anything catastrophic would pitch either of us over the edge. We're both state employees, in education, with decent BC/BS coverage.

My other two sisters - one is self employed, no insurance at all. The other is married to a heavy equipment salesman who works on commission only - no insurance there, though she has a feeble policy from her p/t transcriptionist job - she's gone bankrupt twice because of medical expenses.

We are the lower middle-class. And WE are the ones that are most threatened by the for-profit system.

[OzarkDem]

11. Uninsured and underinsured - different but equally important categories

and any decent health care reform plan worth its salt needs to take care of both.

If a candidate's plan doesn't deal with both, tell them to take a walk....

[SoCalDem]

15. "...take care of both..."

There needs to be NO "both".. It must be ONE Plan..one plan for everyone..

Go to any doctor you want..no "groups"..no "special plans"..

Insurance is the problem..not the solution

[OzarkDem]

17. Same thing

that's what I meant. I'm sure you already know that, right?

[proud patriot]

14. I owe about $1500 in medical bills

for a few emergencies that happened last year ..

I hate owing money :(

I have insurance but I still feel stressed daily
about the money I owe .

We need single payer Healthcare

[RaleighNCDUer]

19. I know what you mean. I had an emergency appendectomy last

year which cost me $4000 out of pocket - the insurance I have covered the other $16000. But that 4 grand (3 for the hospital, 1 for assorted others combined) was painful to handle. That's why I have to have 1 1/2 jobs, just to be sure I can put back a couple hundred each month for such things. I don't remember what a 40 hour week is.

[PDJane]

22. There are days and times

I am extremely grateful for the Canadian system. Today is one of those days.

I have fibromyalgia, high b/p and diabetes, and arthritis (yes, I'm in pain and it makes me grumpy). I could not be covered down there because of pre-existing conditions.

However, I am receiving excellent care here. This week, I have had another MRI, blood tests, an eeg, and a meditation class....all of which are covered by OHIP. Yes, I have paid taxes all my life, and continue to do so, including our harmonized sales tax. I think I have received better value for the money.