Democrats are playing Political Games with the American Voter's HealthCare

[B_VinylBoy]

I am self employed. I get group rate insurance through the local Chamber of Commerce. My health insurance costs me 840 dollars a month. I take 6 medications a day for various conditions and their copays add up to 100 dollars a month. I see a therapist once a week and pay a 25 dollar copay for the privledge. That brings my base cost for my insurance to 1040 dollars a month. I was recently hospitalized for 3 days because I slipped in my kitchen and banged my head hard enough that I had a brain bleed. That co-pay will be 1000 dollars. 2 follow up visits with the neurologist with a 25 dollar copay for each. I am trying to sell my business and move but have realized it will be impossible because i would have to buy health insurance on the open market and with my several pre-existing conditions I am basically un-insurable. I don't think my situation is uncommon.

My partner has a similar dilemma.
He's self employed and has to pay through the nose for any kind of treatment, doctor's visits and medications. I make less than he does yet have a better priced plan through my day job. I would gladly upgrade my coverage to a family plan if I could put him on it, alas, same sex unions are not recognized by my insurer.

Anyone who says we don't need real Health Care Reform is just crazy.

 

[deleted213967]

Anyone who says we don't need real Health Care Reform is just crazy.

The majority of American workers who receive health coverage (for themselves and their dependents) via their employers are completely clueless as to what their coverage really costs.

They say they are "happy" with their coverage because someone else heavily subsidizes it. As employers feel the pinch of skyrocketing health care costs, they're bound to continue passing the excess burden on to their workers and drop or downgrade coverage.

 

[B_VinylBoy]

The majority of American workers who receive health coverage (for themselves and their dependents) via their employers are completely clueless as to what their coverage really costs.

They say they are "happy" with their coverage because someone else heavily subsidizes it. As employers feel the pinch of skyrocketing health care costs, they're bound to continue passing the excess burden on to their workers and drop or downgrade coverage.

Because my partner has to pay for literally everything out of his own pocket, I get real insight as to how much a person would have to fork over for some of the most basic necessities in Health Care, never mind any specialty services that most insurers would not cover (or find a way not to). Considering my low co-pays & prescription costs through my current, employer provided health plan, I know they are paying a lot to maintain these services to every employee.

Which is why the need for more options is more apparent. From my standpoint, I could decide whether to stay with the current plan I have or move to one, sponsored by the government, that could save me money in the long run. If I switched, that would also save my employer more money since that would be one less person they have to provide Health Care for. From the viewpoint of the employer, they may also have a chance to find other packages & programs that will allow them to maintain the same level of coverage at a lower price. We honestly can't assume that additional options will force employers to downgrade or go to plans that provide less than what they already cover because at this stage in the game we don't know what is actually going to be in the final Health Care Reform bill. Which is why I find a lot of the complaints and arguments against making a bill to be based on fear & misinformation than anything else.

Let's wait till we see what the options are and then crunch the numbers. Then we can determine whether or not it's something we need or if it's something we should avoid.

 

[HazelGod]

The majority of American workers who receive health coverage (for themselves and their dependents) via their employers are completely clueless as to what their coverage really costs.

They say they are "happy" with their coverage because someone else heavily subsidizes it. As employers feel the pinch of skyrocketing health care costs, they're bound to continue passing the excess burden on to their workers and drop or downgrade coverage.

Bingo. In the past nine years (term with my present employer, not a political reference), I've seen my co-pays increased, my coverages reduced, and my per-paycheck deduction for premiums skyrocket under my employer-provided health insurance.

Furthermore, I've seen my choices dwindle to virtually nothing. In 2000, I had medical options for an HMO, a PPO, and two different POS plans...and for dental, I had choices of a DMO and two tiers of a traditional PPO plan.

Now, for medical my choice is either the POS plan or the high-deductible (~$4k) POS plan from the same provider. The only difference between the two are the co-pays and percent of coverage for procedures...they're slightly better in the HD plan (90% vs. 80%), but only after you've met that big-ass deductible. For dental, the DMO option is gone...and I've seen "guidance" that semi-annual preventative teeth cleanings are being viewed as unnecessarily frequent, with a nine-month schedule being preferred.

So the cost to both me and my employer has been rising (much faster than my salary), while my options and overall coverage have shrunk.

The system needs reform, for everyone.

 

[JTalbain]

This entire subject is a perfect example of why the founding fathers wanted representative democracy and an electoral college. Some matters are complicated enough and affect so many people in different ways their neighbors that it's really not realistic to expect the millions in our country to educate themselves on the subject to make a rational decision.

The folks we have in Congress are hired to do just that though. What's their excuse?

My partner has a similar dilemma.
He's self employed and has to pay through the nose for any kind of treatment, doctor's visits and medications. I make less than he does yet have a better priced plan through my day job. I would gladly upgrade my coverage to a family plan if I could put him on it, alas, same sex unions are not recognized by my insurer.

Anyone who says we don't need real Health Care Reform is just crazy.

I feel your pain, man. This is the kind of thing that makes me support same-sex marriage. Many people are so concerned with how such a simple thing doesn't fit their ideology, and yet doesn't affect them, but claim that gay people are allowed to do what they want, and yet the absence of this tiny legal formality denies them a host of other benefits to which they'd be entitled.

I've actually heard someone say that gay people don't actually want to get married, over 90% of them just want to to take advantage of free health insurance. Images of inserting my foot into his colon kept a polite smile on my face.