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To: Tumbleweed_Connection
From the article: Economists call those who could afford to buy insurance but choose not to "free riders," because they might turn to public hospitals or emergency rooms for care if they fall ill.

What an obnoxious statement. They are only free riders if they seek medical treatment and then ignore the bills. There's nothing wrong with paying your own way when you need health care.

By the way, why are health care charges higher for the uninsured than for the insured? Whether you have insurance or not shouldn't affect the charges for your medical care.

The whole concept of insurance with low deductibles, covering things that you can afford to pay for when they happen, is silly in general. If everybody can expect to require a certain level of health care costs in life, one should budget for that, just as you budget for food or shelter or anything else. Buying insurance just adds administrative costs to the actual health care costs. [Catastrophic medical insurance, to cover just the things that you couldn't afford to pay for, does make sense, but many employers do not make it available.]

7 posted on 11/22/2002 10:11:35 AM PST by Mitchell
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To: Mitchell
You're correct, deductibles should be higher. It simply doesn't comply with the Leftist theory. Never forget the fact that this began with FDR by design.
9 posted on 11/22/2002 10:23:59 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
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To: Mitchell
By the way, why are health care charges higher for the uninsured than for the insured?

Answer; Doctors.

The whole concept of insurance with low deductibles, covering things that you can afford to pay for when they happen, is silly in general.

Welcome to the real world.

13 posted on 11/22/2002 10:32:08 AM PST by elbucko
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To: Mitchell
By the way, why are health care charges higher for the uninsured than for the insured? Whether you have insurance or not shouldn't affect the charges for your medical care.

Oh but it is. The uninsured get hit with the absolute highest rates. Old farts are covered by Medicare which refuses to pay even fair rate to doctors and hospitals. Employer based insurance squeezes all the profit out of health care and pays a negotiated low rate. Those not covered by Medicare/Medicaid or employer based insurers are left paying whatever the market will bear and since the other payers have all mandated or negotiated low rates, that means we pay through the roof as an offset.

19 posted on 11/22/2002 11:25:37 AM PST by Dave S
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To: Mitchell
The whole concept of insurance with low deductibles, covering things that you can afford to pay for when they happen, is silly in general.

I pay an extra premium for low co-pays through my employer's group plan. It has paid off in spades to have taken advantage of it. You roll the dice and take your chances, eh? For the next guy it might have been a losing proposition.

47 posted on 06/19/2003 3:39:15 AM PDT by Glenn (What were you thinking, Al?)
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To: Mitchell
I know! That "free rider" statement really rankled me.
50 posted on 06/19/2003 4:43:39 AM PDT by dinodino
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