[ChocChipCookie]

I definitely don't have a "gimme" mentality. I know that government sponsored health care doesn't work, but we're paying for our own insurance, and it's a fortune. We were spending more than $8000 for basic insurance with a $500 deductible. It came to $720 per month. To save money we switched to a $5000 deductible, which is $340 a month. That's great, but the minute we darken the door of a hospital, emergency room included, we are 100% on our own until that deductible has been met. So, we're gambling we won't have to go to the hospital.

Medical bills are one of the top reasons families file a bankruptcy. We aren't anywhere near that, but at times it seems we are on a high wire, hoping that the four of us stay well and healthy. It does seem that insurance is either for the rich, those in professions that offer it, or are destitute and covered by tax dollars. Health insurance IS a mess, I'd never vote Democrat no matter WHAT, but it has to be addressed.

One more thing. My family and friends who take health insurance for granted because it's part of their employment benefits have NO idea what it's like to have to pay for it on your own or even QUALIFYING for it. At this point we pretty much have to stay with Blue Cross because both dh and I have pre-existing conditions. Nothing major, all mild, but if you check off more than two items on those lengthy "Have you ever had any of the following in the past TEN years..." lists, you're automatically disqualified.

[Atlas Sneezed]

To save money we switched to a $5000 deductible, which is $340 a month. That's great, but the minute we darken the door of a hospital, emergency room included, we are 100% on our own until that deductible has been met.

---

Same as if your transmission goes out on your car. It could cost you thousands. Never heard of saving up?

You expect WHO to pay?

[goldstategop]

That's true and the reason I think is because the system is insulated from market forces. My own experience is fairly typical in that I don't know what the real costs are. Probably close to $50,000 but I could ignore because I knew the HMO would foot the bill. That kind of bill is higher than most of us would pay on our own because we can't shop for the best service at a decent price. I submit if nothing is done to introduce market competition into medical care, we will probably wind up sooner or later, with single-payer government run health care. Its already being considered in California.

( No more Olmert! No more Kadima! No more Oslo!)

[ErnBatavia]

To save money we switched to a $5000 deductible, which is $340 a month. That's great, but the minute we darken the door of a hospital, emergency room included, we are 100% on our own until that deductible has been met

Yep...been there, done the same thing. But there is a saving grace; your hospital (and you'll want to check it out in your company's list of providers to confirm) probably will accept - even though it comes from YOU and not them - the negotiated rate.

A "sticker price" of 3500 zops might well cost you only 10 percent of that. It's always been my personal opinion that they go ahead and bill those higher prices so they can 'write off' the "loss".

[D-Chivas]

Medical bills are one of the top reasons families file a bankruptcy.

Medical bills are sometimes a FACTOR in people filing for bankruptcy. Most of the time it's a bunch of idiots who never learned how to use credit cards and live a lavish lifestyle on a pauper's salary.

[Twinkie]

Yep. We're praying we don't have to go to the hospital either. My husband and I both have some pre-existing conditions that have made so-called "health" insurance rise over time to about $1000 a month even with a big deductible, with no end in sight. So, a year or so ago, we just did it as long as we could and when we finally had to quit, we quit, and now the money we would have paid to an insurance company goes into our own personal medical emergency savings account. We do not touch it for any reason. We have managed to put back quite a bit, but anything complicated would deplete it pretty fast - anyway, the idea we Americans tend to have is to fight nature taking its course and attempting to live until we turn to rocks isn't natural anyway. I'm sixty; Scripture conditionally speaks of threescore years and ten (70) and fourscore (80) if we are really strong. People living to 100 is neat, if they feel fairly decent along the way.

[The Duke]

I definitely don't have a "gimme" mentality. I know that government sponsored health care doesn't work, but we're paying for our own insurance, and it's a fortune. We were spending more than $8000 for basic insurance with a $500 deductible. It came to $720 per month. To save money we switched to a $5000 deductible, which is $340 a month. That's great, but the minute we darken the door of a hospital, emergency room included, we are 100% on our own until that deductible has been met. So, we're gambling we won't have to go to the hospital.

Just put $5000/month into the bank and call it savings. Heck, with a little luck that could add up over a few years!

[MarkL]

Re: Expensive health insurance I know exactly what you mean... Rush was saying "do without..." Well, when I was self insured, I originally was able to purchase my own for less than $200 a month. But when the cost of insurance goes up by huge amounts, even if you don't use the insurance during the course of the year, it really starts to put a crimp in your finances. The first 2 years I had my insurance, it went up by over 20% a year. Then I was diagnosed with a chronic disease (Crohns Disease). It went up by 35% each of the following two years years. Then I needed emergency back surgury. The following year, it went up by 45%, to nearly 725 a month. At that point, I bumped the deductable to $5000 (the limit) which knocked it back down to $475. The following year, even with the maximum deductible, I was looking at nearly 700 a month.

I think that even Rush might think, "ya know, that's a lot of money for insurance." Thankfully, I was able to find a job that did offer health insurance, and I'm back to paying less than $200 a month. But for a while there, it was a bit sticky... I was getting close to having to make a choice between making my mortgage payment (which was only $540 a month) or having health insurance. I was afraid that I'd have to sell my house, and get a small apartment so that I'd be able to continue to have health insurance, payed for with the money from my home sale - Oh, and my car? At the time, it was an 8 year old Toyota Corolla. And my TV? I had bought it when I bought my house, 13 years before... Not exactly the sort of spend-thrift that Rush was talking about today.

Mark

[Jack Black]

Rush pontificating isn't gonna change this. The Dems have won this argument in the minds of most people. The disfunctions that are built into the system are working, and more and more people, even nominal conservatives, will say uncle. Health Care and a new car, or a vacation, are not comprible. Rush is resorting to 'reducto ad absurdem' to make his argument. Lack of insurance can and does lead to death. It is an existential threat, like the one Isreal faces from Hezbollah. Existential threats can make even stallwart conservatives bend in their adherence to conservative orthodoxy.

I expect what ever Dem gets the Donkey Ticket in 2008 to exploit the hell out of the massive dissatisfaction with our health care / insurance system. It may very well be the deciding issue in the election.

Look for the Dems to 'take the gloves off' and argue for full socialized medicine.

[bethtopaz]

Wow! Who are you getting your health insurance from?! I sell health insurance for a living and if you live in California I KNOW I can get you a better deal than that!!

[RipSawyer]

Health insurance IS a mess,

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Amen, and the prime reason is that the government has already been involved in medical care for many years, starting with Medicare forty years ago. There was a time when most working people could afford to pay the doctor for most treatment, all they really had to worry about was catastrophic illness or accident. I have coverage on my job and the part that I pay is very reasonable, the problem is that the copays and deductibles will eat me out of house and home before they are met. I once worked with a man who paid ninety dollars a week for his portion of the "employer-provided" health insurance and he told me that he and his wife never went to the doctor because they could not afford the co-pay! I asked why he didn't just cancel his coverage and use that money for office visits and he said his wife insisted on keeping the insurance in case one of them had to be hospitalized!

Health insurance truly is a mess but the answer is to get the government out of health care not deeper into it.