mykidslovedogs
Full time employment: Posting here.
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2006
- Messages
- 860
Martha,
I am actually NOT in a guarantee issue state, but in my state ALL EMPLOYER SPONSORED HEALTH PLANS are guaranteed issue so no employees can be denied coverage or have exclusions on their policies, regardless of age, and we have a high risk pool HIPAA plan that anyone who is uninusurable can qualify for. Yes, the rates are higher due to the fact that is is guaranteed issue, but it is still better than having no insurance at all.
The individual and family market in my state is medically underwritten, and that is OK with me.
I guess we will just have to agree to disagree on the personal responsibility issue. I just don't think there is anything wrong with it. If I decide to have kids, then I should be ultimately be responsible for their education, not someone else. If I decide to live an unhealthy lifestyle, then I should be responsible for the healthcare costs associated with that. If I want to retire young, then who better to manage my portfolio than myself and those I pay to help me? If I want to retire at all, then I should be the one to plan in advance by saving money for the future and purchasing the proper insurance to protect my assests as I get older. These are just basic responsibilities. If someone is going to check out because it is so complicated, then let them suffer their own consequenses. We reap what we sowe.
There is already enough goverment regulation in the insurance industry and in the healthcare industry. Medicare and Medicaid, I believe, are two of the primary reasons for extremely expensive health insurance premiums. Here is why I believe that. Just think of the general philosophy. In order to fund Medicare and Medicaid we have to tax people. The amount of money that the government raises to pay for Medicaid and Medicare is not enough to cover our healthcare provider's basic exepenses (overhead, equipment, employees, LIABILITY INSURANCE, and the general costs of doing business.) Therefore, Doctors have to charge more to the PRIVATE sector in order to compensate for the pennies on the dollar that are paid to them by Medicaid and Medicare. The higher prices that are passed on to the private sector trickle down to the INSURED in the form of higher health insurance premiums. Higher health insurance premiums mean fewer people will be insured. Fewer people insured means more people on Medicaid, and more people on Medicaid means higher costs for the private sector, and so on and so on.... the more the government gets involved, the worse the problem becomes...
I believe and agree with you that some regulation is definately necessary, but I think it would be disastrous to nationalize the entire system. There has to be a happy medium in there somewhere. I think it is inexcusable and irresponsible for people to wait until they are in dire straights and then expect someone else to bail them out. We are all going to either live a full healthy life, die, get sick or become disabled at some point. It is irresponsible to pretend we are invinceable and expect someone else to take care of us because we failed to plan ahead.
I am actually NOT in a guarantee issue state, but in my state ALL EMPLOYER SPONSORED HEALTH PLANS are guaranteed issue so no employees can be denied coverage or have exclusions on their policies, regardless of age, and we have a high risk pool HIPAA plan that anyone who is uninusurable can qualify for. Yes, the rates are higher due to the fact that is is guaranteed issue, but it is still better than having no insurance at all.
The individual and family market in my state is medically underwritten, and that is OK with me.
I guess we will just have to agree to disagree on the personal responsibility issue. I just don't think there is anything wrong with it. If I decide to have kids, then I should be ultimately be responsible for their education, not someone else. If I decide to live an unhealthy lifestyle, then I should be responsible for the healthcare costs associated with that. If I want to retire young, then who better to manage my portfolio than myself and those I pay to help me? If I want to retire at all, then I should be the one to plan in advance by saving money for the future and purchasing the proper insurance to protect my assests as I get older. These are just basic responsibilities. If someone is going to check out because it is so complicated, then let them suffer their own consequenses. We reap what we sowe.
There is already enough goverment regulation in the insurance industry and in the healthcare industry. Medicare and Medicaid, I believe, are two of the primary reasons for extremely expensive health insurance premiums. Here is why I believe that. Just think of the general philosophy. In order to fund Medicare and Medicaid we have to tax people. The amount of money that the government raises to pay for Medicaid and Medicare is not enough to cover our healthcare provider's basic exepenses (overhead, equipment, employees, LIABILITY INSURANCE, and the general costs of doing business.) Therefore, Doctors have to charge more to the PRIVATE sector in order to compensate for the pennies on the dollar that are paid to them by Medicaid and Medicare. The higher prices that are passed on to the private sector trickle down to the INSURED in the form of higher health insurance premiums. Higher health insurance premiums mean fewer people will be insured. Fewer people insured means more people on Medicaid, and more people on Medicaid means higher costs for the private sector, and so on and so on.... the more the government gets involved, the worse the problem becomes...
I believe and agree with you that some regulation is definately necessary, but I think it would be disastrous to nationalize the entire system. There has to be a happy medium in there somewhere. I think it is inexcusable and irresponsible for people to wait until they are in dire straights and then expect someone else to bail them out. We are all going to either live a full healthy life, die, get sick or become disabled at some point. It is irresponsible to pretend we are invinceable and expect someone else to take care of us because we failed to plan ahead.