Going without health insurance

[Tempest]

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Check out what our dollar is at, and our debt rating. Right now the market says we are doing something right.

The market is saying that OUR government/FED is NOT doing the right thing...and they are right.

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Also isn't 18% of US GDP from the medical/insurance system,

Again, I'd like to see an apples to apples comparison with all costs included.

 

[kb01]

I don't think its worth arguing over who has the best or the worst health care in the world. I just wish there were more affordable options for those of us with families who work for small businesses.

The most high tech system in the world is worthless if you can't afford insurance, have insurance that's so expensive you can't afford the deductible, or have a typical small business plan with a relatively low lifetime cap.

 

[Tempest]

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CAHI estimates that just one type of mandate—those requiring certain benefits— alone adds an estimated 20% to 50% to the cost of health insurance in Connecticut.

Mandates also have a bigger impact on small companies than on larger firms. Typically, smaller businesses buy state-regulated health insurance policies (as opposed to larger companies that can afford to self-insure)—and those regulated policies come with the mandate strings attached.

As a result, health insurance is more expensive for those that can least afford it: small businesses and their employees.

A report by the National Center for Policy Analysis confirms the problem—estimating that 25% of the uninsured in the U.S. are priced out of the market by state mandates.

http://gov.cbia.com/issues_policies/article/no-prescription-for-lower-healthcare-costs

 

[kb01]

Just as a quick follow up to all of this...

One of the coworkers who I suspect was jacking up our rates (breast cancer) was recently laid off and her job is going to be farmed out to an independent contractor.

She's openly pretty happy about it -- she gets to go on unemployment and will get her insurance through the state high risk pool, which is cheaper and better than our policy at work.

Hopefully, this will result in our premiums stabilizing or going down. I don't know how high her medical bills were but she was pretty open about them breaking "6 figures" and she seemed to feel bad about making insurance so unaffordable for the rest of us.

 

[CivicFan]

Originally Posted By: kb01
Just as a quick follow up to all of this...

One of the coworkers who I suspect was jacking up our rates (breast cancer) was recently laid off and her job is going to be farmed out to an independent contractor.

She's openly pretty happy about it -- she gets to go on unemployment and will get her insurance through the state high risk pool, which is cheaper and better than our policy at work.

Hopefully, this will result in our premiums stabilizing or going down. I don't know how high her medical bills were but she was pretty open about them breaking "6 figures" and she seemed to feel bad about making insurance so unaffordable for the rest of us.


Hopefully your rates go down.

Chemo sessions cost around $20,000 each. breaking "six figures" would not be very difficult. 20 sessions would cost $200,000.