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Health insurance has never saved an ill person's life - medical treatment saves lives

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mdmc Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-07-10 08:47 AM
Original message
Health insurance has never saved an ill person's life - medical treatment saves lives
I have health insurance right now that I cannot utilize because the out of pocket expenses are too great.
Health insurance is only as helpful as it is useful.
If you cannot access medical treatment because it is too expensive it does not matter if you are insured or uninsured.


Just as an example..
To walk in to our emergency clinic and receive treatment = $60.00 for someone without insurance making $12000 per year.
It would cost me $50.oo to do the same with my health insurance. Plus I have to pay 21 bucks per month for the insurance.
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stray cat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-07-10 08:49 AM
Response to Original message
1. Just like you can't eat money or live in it - but it sure enables you to eat and survive
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mdmc Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-07-10 08:52 AM
Response to Reply #1
2. money sure does
if you have enough money (couple billion) you would never need health insurance.

And for-profit health insurance only works when you have the money to use it..
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ChicagoSuz219 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-07-10 08:54 AM
Response to Original message
3. If you're only paying $21/month...
...you probably have a large deductible.
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mdmc Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-07-10 06:44 PM
Response to Reply #3
8.  i was wrong
I think i pay 42. 21 per pa period.
no large deductable at all.

ps this is employer supplied hc.
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Delphinus Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-07-10 06:56 PM
Response to Reply #8
10. I
Edited on Thu Jan-07-10 06:58 PM by Delphinus
have employer coverage for catastrophic health insurance, nothing more. It's a $5,000 deductible. I can't afford anything more.

Edit for typo and to add my net income of less than $20,000 per year.
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ChicagoSuz219 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-07-10 11:20 PM
Response to Reply #8
12. It should cover blood tests...
...especially if a doctor told you to get them prior to surgery. Makes no sense. Call your insurance company or have the doctor call them.

If that doesn't work, try the Mile Square Health Center.
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mdmc Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jan-08-10 05:20 AM
Response to Reply #12
13. You are correct
it does cover blood tests free o charge..
it is the 40 per visit for the my RA or for OT that runs up the bills..
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ChicagoSuz219 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jan-08-10 10:59 AM
Response to Reply #13
18. I think I've been confusing your postings...
...with the original poster's.

In case things I've written make no sense to you...
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midnight Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-07-10 08:56 AM
Response to Original message
4. Between out of pockets and the tax on insurance plans nothing really has
been changed for the user....
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dmallind Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-07-10 08:58 AM
Response to Original message
5. How much coverage do you expect for $21 a month?
Edited on Thu Jan-07-10 08:59 AM by dmallind
Let's say you live for 60 years as an adult under this plan. Your entire payment would be 21*12*60 or $15K give or take. Do you think you will only consume $15K's worth of health care costs in your life? Who should pay for the rest? How much should a doctor and a nurse earn and how much should medical supplies cost so that your annual payment of $262 would get you coverage under any scheme?
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jtrockville Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-07-10 10:43 AM
Response to Reply #5
7. Flipside: how much should someone making $12k/yr be expected to pay?
2% of their gross? ($20/month)
5% of their gross? ($50/month)
More?

Should they expect to get actual care for their contribution?
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mdmc Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-07-10 06:46 PM
Response to Reply #5
9. $21 per pay period
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Coyote_Bandit Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-07-10 09:24 AM
Response to Original message
6. $10,000 deductible here
Edited on Thu Jan-07-10 09:34 AM by Coyote_Bandit
A co-pay beyond that and office calls are not covered. No documented pre-existing conditions. Haven't seen a doctor for any reason in nearly 15 years now.

My cost for that so-called largely worthless coverage is several hundred dollars monthly.

Best I can tell this POS legislation that is masqueraeding as healthcare reform won't do a fucking thing in enable me to have better access to meaningful healthcare.
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Fire_Medic_Dave Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jan-07-10 07:33 PM
Response to Reply #6
11. Why not just save the several hundred dollars a month and skip the insurance.
If you had invested that money over the last 15 years it would be worth well over 100k.
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Maru Kitteh Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jan-08-10 05:47 AM
Response to Reply #11
15. "if you had" - great. that's useful.
and I don't have to point out to you the myriad of scenarios that can cost you well over 100K and get you dead w/o insurance.

Why are you here, again?

Just once, could you lay out more than one Democratic with a big D plank that you believe in?
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Fire_Medic_Dave Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jan-08-10 09:17 AM
Response to Reply #15
16. Free speech.
:toast:
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Fumesucker Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jan-08-10 09:28 AM
Response to Reply #11
17. Depends a great deal on the "investment" and the timing..
The DOW and the S&P are still well down from what they were..
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Cessna Invesco Palin Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jan-08-10 05:30 AM
Response to Original message
14. Uh, what do you think a single-payer plan would be?
It's insurance. It's better insurance than what you have now but it still operates under the same basic principles as all insurance plans.
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Lydia Leftcoast Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jan-08-10 11:38 AM
Response to Original message
19. Huh, I pay more than 10 times that a month with a $5000 deductible
and no first-dollar coverage for ANYTHING.

Right wingers tell me that this will turn me into a "responsible health care consumer."

In practical terms, it means that I've been to the doctor once in the past five years.
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Unvanguard Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Jan-08-10 11:52 AM
Response to Original message
20. And health insurance improves access to medical treatment.
Hence the oft-cited fact that 45,000 Americans die each year for lack of it.
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