A discussion I had:47 million Americans don't have medical coverage, But what about those that do?

[7 of 11]

There are 300 Million people in America; 285 million are here legally; and out of that 47 Million don't have medical coverage. But what about the 238 million that do have coverage? Could passing laws that would require medical coverage for all mean we would have to go up against the majority that do have medical insurance if they thought it meant they would not be satisfied with what the UHC offered.

I think the biggest challenge will be convincing those that do have coverage through their employer that the UHC will be better and more efficient than what they currently have. Be rest assured the medical insurance companies will be using fear tactics on these people who do have coverage that a government medical health plan will be a bureaucratic Armageddon. They will be using all the tricks in their bags to convincing the majority to vote or stand against any UHC. And we need to be ready for that.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. Here are some selling points for UHC

Easier to use--no waiting for claims to be paid, not a lot of paperwork to fill out. This would be a huge selling point. Of course, I'm thinking that the plan would be modeled after the European's systems where this is the case.

Doctors freed to give the best care-- no more insurance company dictation of medicine and treatment

No dropping of a person if they are diagnosed with cancer, diabetes, etc--this could be a real concern for many.

[Kittycat]

21. UHC as in United Healthcare? I think not!

My god, they're horrible here (chicago area). Many health systems won't even accept it. We have a special needs son, and have to drive PAST a major health system hospital (5min from us), and continue to the private hospital (35min away in another town) just to go to the ER (which is frequent). We're forced to use providers, like Apria, that charge 2-4 times the real cost of goods. When we were on BC/BS, I used to pay $90 for his feeding bags, and our co-pay of that was $18. With UHC, through Apria, we pay $350 for the exact same bags, and our copay is $70. That's for 15 days worth of feeding bags. They charge us double for his g-tube, 4x for syringes, 3x for tube extensions, 2x for food... And that's just the tip of the ice burg. Let's not even discuss the problems we have getting specialists.

As a matter of fact... There are 4 hospitals out in our area, and we can only go to 1 of them. And that includes their drs - so we can't see ANY of the drs associated with those healthsystems either.

[Flabbergasted]

22. Universal Health Care. I'm thinking.

[Kittycat]

23. Thanks... I see "UHC" and my blood pressure peeks. Everything after that is fuzzy, LOL.

I'm for single payer in the end. I do think we need to take some initial immediate steps first, to get those un-insured with insurance. Then quickly address moving over underinsured... Then go after the companies, and work it from there. It would be great if we could snap our fingers and be done, but as a realist, I know it's going to take some time.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

25. No, no

Universal Health Care. I won't have anything to do with sleazy health insurance scammers.

[Adelante]

2. I am for single payer

In the plans put forward from the candidates, I am opposed to mandates up front. The cost has to come down first.

[Sparkly]

6. Hi WesDem

The plans with mandates do bring the costs down.

The problem witn no mandates is that there's no incentive for healthy people to sign up until/unless they face an expensive healthcare crisis. If mostly sick people have the coverage, it makes it hard to keep costs down. That's the criticism of a proposal without mandates.

[Reciprocity]

10. Also what happens when someone who doesn't want heath insurance has to be hospitalized?

That is also a major reason why healthcare cost has go up. Paying a premium is allot cheaper than paying full price for hospitalization. The trick is having a fair system for all. If you own a car it is mandatory for you to have insurance so why not healthcare.

[liberal N proud]

3. I have health insurance through my employer and support Single Payer Health Care

Those who are insured, even through employer programs are paying for those who do not.
Cost of insurance programs have increased through the years because health care cost have increased.
If everyone was covered, then they cost would stabilize (no hope of them coming down)and cost over all would come down.

I don't however think you can "force" anyone to purchase health care. How are going to squeeze cash strapped people even more and force them to purchase insurance?
It works somewhat with automobiles because you have to prove you have insurance to register the car. But even that fails. And those who buy Auto insurance pay for those who don't.

[Reciprocity]

4. I don't want free healthcare I want a fair price for the heathcare I have.

We pay over $800 a month for two people. It's $300 out of pocket then 80/20 up to $5000 a piece before 100% kicks in. Two years ago we reached 100% that's over $15000 out of pocket in one year. We are still paying off the Dr. and hospital. So you bet we need healthcare reform.

[enough already]

5. I think unions could be a significant hurdle

Those members (particularly retirees) who have high quality, negotiated benefits through local government funded plans are going to have to be convinced that UHC is better. It can be done, but it's going to require some very heavy lifting, imo.

[B Calm]

15. That's why employers will have to be forced to increase wages. Insurance

is part of the employees negotiated take home package!

[Kermitt Gribble]

7. How many of the 238 million

have really crappy insurance? I am one of them. I had an outpatient procedure last may and the insurance didn't cover $700 of it. I still haven't paid it because I can't afford it.
I would think alot of insured people have insurance like this - they would be easy to convert.

[Ravy]

8. Being able to get healthcare without pre-existing condition riders

is important.

Think of the people who have healthcare through work, but have developed diabetes or cancer or some other illness that would make other healthcare hard or much more expensive to obtain if they lost their job.

[Coyote_Bandit]

9. Having health insurance

does not mean one has meaningful access to health care.

If you only have catastrophic health insurance coverage then routine and preventative care may very well still be unafforable. If you have a personal policy and are diagnosed with precursors to more serious health problems then you are subject to having your health insurance cancelled.

Lots of folks have halth insurance just in case they get hit by a car or something. It is there in case there is a catastrophe and it doesn't impact their day to day access to health care. They still lack routine and preentative care.

[izquierdista]

11. Not a big challenge

To convince people, that is. If you had seen "Sicko", you would not be asking the question if people think their private health insurance is efficient. Insurance is a scam run by the wealthy to take money away from the middle class. Note that the wealthy do not need insurance of any type; they can self-insure and save the costs of overhead. Do you really think that Warren Buffet has a GEICO insurance policy? No, it just makes lots of money for him to write those GEICO policies to cover the middle class.

What 'Sicko' pointed out, was that insurance company profits come ahead of any promise of payment on a claim. Insurance in itself is a socialist concept -- "from each according to his risk, to each according to his need". Capitalists turn this notion on its head and the profit comes first, the calculation of the premium second, and dead last, only when it cannot possibly be avoided, is the payment of claims.

The poor, they don't even have the ante to participate in the whole insurance scam anyway, so they get by as they always have -- doing without or maybe lucking out and receiving some charity. As long as the middle class can be fooled into thinking that they are "covered" (a nice word, with connotations of safety and support) the wealthy can continue to set up insurance companies, use the pooled capital for lucrative investments, and cry crocodile tears when it is time to pay out to a policy holder.

[B Calm]

12. Will employers who complain about how much it costs to insure their

workers, be FORCED to increase the take home pay for the workers, because of the savings they'll be recieving with national health care?

[Lorien]

13. Nearly everyone who has health insurance who has filed a claim HAS faced

a "bureaucratic Armageddon" already. I certainly did. A few critical procedures meant years of battling with my insurer (NASE-avoid them at all costs) and ultimately over $32,000.00 of debt. At least Universal Health Care-even if it did include a few hassles- exists to keep human beings alive and healthy, while insurers exist to make their stockholders as wealthy as possible.

[B Calm]

14. I think national health care will attract new business. Right now

we have new employers building in Canada because of the high cost of insuring the employees here in the states.

[rurallib]

16. health insurance does not equal coverage

many claims are denied AFTER a procedure is done

[Armstead]

17. The current system is also a disaster for the well-covered

After a six month battle, my mother passed away recently.

She had great medical coverage with a combination of Medicare, AARP and an employer-based retirement policy.

But even with that, it was a nightmare because of the wayb the system has been pushed to the bottom line. Frankly, I believe this policy killed my mother, because they never did the explorations that could have found the underlying problem early enough to treat it.

To make a long story short, she kept getting admitted to the emergency room for symptoms of deeper problems -- BUT once the symptoms were cleared up, she was immediately kicked out of the hospital.

The policy has shifted to fast discharge rather than actually doing tests, diagnosis, follow-up hospitalization etc. Those are considered a superfluous expense these days, because the system has become so bottom line.

This core disconnect is what HAS TO CHANGE, no matter what form it takes.

[7 of 11]

18. I have great coverage but I wish it

was free of charge and hassle free. I pay 40 per months, 20.00 per visit and have a annual 250.00 dollar deductible with a waiver if i am admitted to hospital. But the biggest problem is the hassle , the calling 15 different numbers to make sure everything is alright.

[LizW]

19. They need to look at the facts.

We have health insurance through my husband's employer. We feel VERY fortunate to have it, because we have been without before. We have also paid for insurance under COBRA once when he was laid off, and it cost $400 a month six years ago.

However lucky we are, though, the fact is we are losing ground because of rising health care costs. My husband got a 3% raise last year (he's a programmer), and our part of the health insurance premium went up 19%. Our co-pay doubled, and the deductible went up 200%.

We are going backwards. Slowly but surely, we are losing ground due to high insurance and drug costs. And we are a healthy family.

Every family who has insurance through their employer need to get out the pay stubs for the last five years and do the math. Look at your tax returns and see what you've spent over time for health care.

We may feel lucky to have insurance through an employer, because the alternative is so terrifying, but we aren't doing all that great.

[7 of 11]

24. I think you may have the best selling point of all

Whatever the scare tactics the insurance may hit us to make us with to keep the status quo, we may need to look at reality as the scariest incentive as to why support one payer health insurance.

[Barack_America]

20. Even in Canada...

....what the Government-run healthcare (i.e. Provincial plan) covers is limited, and most people have supplemental insurance from their employers to cover the rest (such as dental, vision, prescription drugs, etc).

So, while the Provincial plans are great for getting people access to doctors for preventative care, it still doesn't cover all of the expenses that people with emergencys situation or the chronically ill incur.

The idea that people can just walk in and get whatever they want, whenever they want, is simply false.

[B Calm]

27. and here I thought the Canadian plan was pretty damn good.. I guess

you just rewrote history..

[Rosemary2205]

26. My healthy sister has GREAT insurance - was bankrupted by one small injury.

My sister has incredible health care coverage. $20 for office visits, $50 for the ER and diagnositc tests, $15 for generics and $35 for brand name drugs. (she's since started going to Walmart for generics because it's cheaper)

A neighbor's kid jumped on her and gave her sortof a reverse whiplash. She lost 5 weeks of work because it caused her to have intense pain, but luckily she had disability insurance that covered 40% of her income - she got about $200 for 3 of the 5 weeks. She had a total of 4 doctor appointments, 2 diagnostic tests, 15 physical therapy appointments ($20 a pop) and 1 brand prescription for pain, refilled twice. This injury cost her a mere $700 in medical costs and $1500 in lost wages. --------In the space of just over one month. ---- her budget was stretched by $2200 that month. ----- she and her husband average $4000 a month take home between them.

Her savings are meager, but it was only one month. They managed.

Then 2 years later she started having problems. She was losing function in her arms and the pain came back worse than ever. She was out of work an entire year before medicine figured out a plan to help her. She ran out of money for copayments at the 4 month mark she had to choose between paying the bills and paying her copayments - her medical costs for copayments were averaging $2000 a month. Her husband was working 3 jobs. 1 full time and 2 part time. They were still behinder and behinder. Her husband, with his 3 jobs, managed to make $10 a month too much to quality for financial assistance for utilities. SSDI had been rejected and her disability insurance would end at the 6 month mark. All of her siblings were sending her all the money we could every month.

At the one year mark the power had been turned off, a forclosure notice came from Countrywide, and the city water was at the front door to turn off the water. The water guy called the child welfare office and in less than an hour the state came to take her kids away from her. -- not to offer financial help -- but to tear apart her family. They took her kids away for one night - they had to "approve" the friend's house the kids would stay at until utilities were turned back on.

We siblings ganged up on her and made her file bankruptcy. It got the power and water back on within days. Countrywide had to work with her instead of taking her home away.

All this with cadillac health insurance.