Health Care: Why this Election Matters

Health Care: Why this Election Matters

By Leo Walsh

10-03-06, 9:07 am

Well, I just got my medical/dental insurance renewal notice in the mail. And like most Americans I see my premiums are going up. But I have a choice: either I can pay a 50% higher deductible, more out-of-pocket expenses, and pay a small premium increase, or I can bite the bullet and take a whopping 13% premium hike.

According to a recent health care survey, premiums across the country rose by more than twice the rate of inflation, hitting working families the most, especially workers who have seen their employers cut their benefits or who just don't get any benefits.

I suppose my other choice is to not seek treatment for what ails me at all. My insurance company was even kind of enough to send me a brochure on how to avoid going to the doctor, eating more vitamins, and doing breathing exercises to reduce stress. Thanks guys!

And because I am new to the plan, the few medical expenses I incurred over the past year were either only partially covered or not covered at all due to an extensive waiting period.

You can pay thousands of dollars for health insurance, but when you actually need it the company really sticks it to you by raising your premiums. That's the "free" market for you.

http://www.politicalaffairs.net/article/articleview/4186/1/213/

A few months ago, I had to raise my deductible from $1000 to $5000 to avoid a $70 per month premium increase. My monthly premiums have gone up $180 a month in three years.

The corporate shills talk about the need to make "consumers" aware of the need to hold down health costs, but the actually effect is to discourage people from seeking medical care at all.

If there is to be no national health care in the foreseeable future, then the one change I would LOVE to see would be requiring insurance companies to pay for the diagnostic tests that everyone is supposed to have at various ages.

It is the rising deductibles, and the cuts in benefits, that have kept the premiums from rising as much.

To think that a poor person in Venezuela and Cuba get free health care, while only the rich in America get to enjoy our health care.

a business can sell a product, but most states have laws requiring that the businesses don't lie to the consumer or follow the terms of an original contract signed by the consumer. yet this is why Republicans are such big fans of tort reform, even if you sign a contract that requires the insurance company to cover certain medical expenses or not to raise premiums due to a covered medical condition, neocons still say "that is just another frivolous lawsuit which should be dismissed!"

Who cares if these creeps promised to cover a medical condition, and now refuse to do it? Republicans say "just try another company in the private sector, lol even if they refuse to cover you." After all, who cares if it isn't moral? Republicans are being only being pro-business by not getting involved, so expecting something back for our money...why that's just another communist pipe-dream!

This is a winning issue for our party, if we make a stand. Democrats need to say that anyone who wants to provide health insurance isn't allowed to deny coverage because of pre-existing conditions, or to make the premiums un-affordable because of a medical problem. If businesses can get away with denying coverage because of medical problems, then why the hell shouldn't they be allowed to make black customers sit in the back of the bus, or why not just allow people to be hired without getting paid?

I believe in universal healthcare. I believe by expanding Medicare to the entire population..we would end the danger of Medicare going insolvent as the babyboomers retire, while also giving younger, uninsured voters a reward for paying more in payroll taxes. Harry Truman believed in universal coverage, so did Carter, and Bill Clinton. but the Republicans have stood in the way every single time, and now it's time to make them pay! So where's that moral majority when we really need them? :spank:

When I was "new to the plan" (in the days I could afford insurance) the rates were fairly reasonable. Within 3 years they had quadrupled. The same thing happened to my neighbor. The logical thing to do is go on to another company and be "new" again, but if you've filed a claim for anything (they share information, you know), you'll never be "new" again. P.S. You're kidding about having dental insurance . . . right???

Having health insurance may not be enough anymore. The high cost of care coupled with the growing cost of providing uncompensated care to the uninsured is threatening to destroy our health care system.

In the future, we may only see quality health care offered at private hospitals that only treat those with expensive health insurance plans - the rest will have to wait in line.