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pinkee -> RE: Revealing Health Info to Insurance Companies (10/7/2006 2:02:37 PM)
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bill, requiring every state resident to buy health insurance at each individual's own expense will solve nothing and place an extreme burden on residents who are middle class, lower middle class, or working poor. The latest figure i heard bandied about is $4,000 per annum for a family of four without any health problems (including pregnancy)
IMHO, this proposal has no more merit than the "Medical Savings Account" which Congress approved, allowing an employee to pay for medical care before taxes. Big deal; that'll certainly provide enough money for a liver transplant or alzheimer's drug regime.
amlonging is absolutely correct; HIPAA offers no relief either, as an employee who has lost his health insurance by exhausting his COBRA coverage will be offered no more than a bare bones policy, excluding any pre-exisiting conditions, and costing at least $1,000 per month for one person.
i myself went thru the COBRA and HIPAA merry-go-round. My COBRA payments were over 1/3 of my monthly unemployment insurance benefit, which ran out several months before my COBRA coverage did. So for 18 months, i paid about $300 a month for insurance, and was not working or receiving unemployment insurance for about 6 months thereof. Thankfully i had assets to liquidate and savings to exhaust.
In the scenario posited by amlonging, the uninsured son has two huge problems. First, he cannot afford to pay the medical bills he racked up already. Second, he has a chronic condition which will require contiuing care for life, and no way to pay for it. Perhaps he can solve his first problem by declaring bankruptcy -- though the law is now quite hostile to consumers -- but how does he address his second problem?
A state law requiring him to buy health insurance will only place him crosswise with the law, as you cannot get blood from a turnip. Charity hospitals, free drug programs and other such resources have all but evaporated.
Middle classs people will spend down to their last dime for life saving or enhancing care, especially for a child. Once having done so, what becomes of them? Do they join the ranks of the homeless? Will we see the death rate for mothers and newborns rise as people are unable to obtain medical care for childbirth?
Flawed as it may be, i think this country must consider socialised medicine. The egregious, greedy, corrupt insurance companies, HMO's, and pharmacutical industry must be nationalised and the profit motive removed. i frankly can see no alternative.
pinkee
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