Another healthcare thought

[ndpruitt03]

If there is a provision that insurance companies cannot deny you coverage if you have a pre-existing condition why even get insurance till you need it? It would be cheaper just to pay the fine for not having insurance, something like a few hundred dollars for most people, and not have health insurance. You could just sign up for health insurance when you need it. This will just lead to about 200 million people being uninsured and paying for the other 100 million people being insured.

[sooner_born_1960]

I'd like that kind of insurance on my automobiles too.

[OklahomaTuba]

That's why they have to make it illegal not to have an insurance plan.

This is why a vast majority of folks see ZeroCare as being just one big hugeass disaster, which will make things much worse.

[sooner59]

If there is a provision that insurance companies cannot deny you coverage if you have a pre-existing condition why even get insurance till you need it? It would be cheaper just to pay the fine for not having insurance, something like a few hundred dollars for most people, and not have health insurance. You could just sign up for health insurance when you need it. This will just lead to about 200 million people being uninsured and paying for the other 100 million people being insured.

That is all and fine for people with ongoing pre-existing conditions, but what about accidents? An insurance company isn't going to rush to the rescue to pay for medical bills due to an accident by an uninsured person who hasn't been paying premiums. If a health emergency happens all of a sudden, then that would be a much different circumstance than insuring someone with a history of Lupus, cardiovascular disease, or other similar problems. People need health insurance whether they think they do at the moment or not. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure when it comes to a person's health. Like was previously stated, it should be a legal obligation to have health insurance. It can being argued where it comes from and how it is budgeted, so I will go ahead and skip that argument for now.

My mother has had Lupus for ten years now. Luckily, she was already covered under an insurance plan before her diagnosis, but through her I have learned that other women with Lupus have tried to get health insurance after learning of their disease, and they have been turned away. Companies will not insure someone who has been diagnosed with Lupus. If they do, the premiums are nearly impossible to keep up with for middle to low income families like mine and others that I am aware of. And without insurance, medical bills can cost up to tens of thousands of dollars per year for more serious cases. For families like mine, where both my mother and father are physically disabled, affording health care without insurance would be impossible living on disability. When you have to pay for treatments for chronic illness like Lupus, fibromyalgia, and rheumatoid arthritis, as well as one spouse needing a hip replaced 4 times, the other hip replaced once, carpal tunnel surgery, and an elbow replacement, while the other spouse needs surgery on both shoulders and a hip replaced......it gets hairy money-wise.

[ndpruitt03]

That is all and fine for people with ongoing pre-existing conditions, but what about accidents? An insurance company isn't going to rush to the rescue to pay for medical bills due to an accident by an uninsured person who hasn't been paying premiums. If a health emergency happens all of a sudden, then that would be a much different circumstance than insuring someone with a history of Lupus, cardiovascular disease, or other similar problems. People need health insurance whether they think they do at the moment or not. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure when it comes to a person's health. Like was previously stated, it should be a legal obligation to have health insurance. It can being argued where it comes from and how it is budgeted, so I will go ahead and skip that argument for now.

My mother has had Lupus for ten years now. Luckily, she was already covered under an insurance plan before her diagnosis, but through her I have learned that other women with Lupus have tried to get health insurance after learning of their disease, and they have been turned away. Companies will not insure someone who has been diagnosed with Lupus. If they do, the premiums are nearly impossible to keep up with for middle to low income families like mine and others that I am aware of. And without insurance, medical bills can cost up to tens of thousands of dollars per year for more serious cases. For families like mine, where both my mother and father are physically disabled, affording health care without insurance would be impossible living on disability. When you have to pay for treatments for chronic illness like Lupus, fibromyalgia, and rheumatoid arthritis, as well as one spouse needing a hip replaced 4 times, the other hip replaced once, carpal tunnel surgery, and an elbow replacement, while the other spouse needs surgery on both shoulders and a hip replaced......it gets hairy money-wise.

If someone gets in the car accident does anyone really look and see if they have health insurance before sending to the ER and doing a surgery right away? Also most people don't really have health insurance per say. They have a health care plan and they can only have certain plans because there are only about 2 or 3 available per state. That's why the prices are so high. It'll only be higher if you have even more limited choice. This will end up being paid for by our taxes just like it is paid for in other countries via taxation.

[sooner59]

No. It does not matter whether a person has insurance or not when they are rushed to an emergency room. They are taken in and treated appropriately. That is the law. But that isn't the point. The point is that the care they receive still costs money. And it has to come from somewhere. I spent time working at the emergency room at Southwest Medical Center in OKC, and it is in one of the poorest areas of the city. A very large quantity of those admitted did not have health insurance, but they were still treated. When this happens, the hospital eats that cost of treatment. The hospital loses money, and the tax dollars that pay to keep our healthcare system running smoothly are being tied up in this. So it is easy to say a plan that insures everyone will take my tax dollars and I don't want my hard earned money to pay for other people to get care. Well, that has already been happening for a long time.

Whether someone has private insurance or group insurance through their job or whatever, some kind of plan is necessary. Not sure what you are talking about as far as 2 or 3 types available.....unless you are talking about Medicaid and Medicare. As far as insurance goes, there are tons of different types. I have mine through a different company than my parents, and theirs is different from my grandparents. And have switched a time or two throughout the years. I never said limit the amount of choices, I just said everybody needs something.