Mandatory medical insurance

[Bright Star]

I saw an article in my local paper that Congress is thinking about making getting medical insurance mandatory just like when you get a car & are required to get car insurance. So if you don't then they you get fined $1,000!!
Now what if you can't afford medical insurance to begin with cause you don't make enough money to afford it or don't have a job? What would they do then?
This thing they are proposing stinks. They better put their collective asses together & come up with something better.
& to pay for this proposal? Taxing current medical coverages that people already have!!
I say leave it the way it is. It may not be perfect but it's certanly better than forced health insurance.

[BroomJockey]

Actually, mandated health coverage would cheapen it for everyone, so you would be able to afford it. Since insurance works by spreading the cost out amongst everyone, the more people paying in, the less each person has to pay. If all 300,000,000 people in the US had health insurance, it'd probably work out to be $200/year, and you'd be able to get subsidies and help if you were on public assistance.

[ladyneeva]

But when has any company ever lowered prices unless forced to? I myself am not old enough to remember this, but my mother is. The same argument was made in favor of mandatory auto insurance (that with more people paying in the price would go down) and, if anything, the price has actually gone up.

[BroomJockey]

if anything, the price has actually gone up.

Auto insurance is a different kettle of fish. That's based on the number of collisions and infractions a driver has, and since there's more infractions possible now than previously, companies charge more for worse risks.

Besides, why not just do it the Canadian way, instead? Make regular health insurance covered by the government, such as broken limbs, doctor's visits, etc. and the companies cover prescriptions, vision, and dental.

Or take Saskatchewan's Drivers Insurance route! A government-provided plan that everyone takes, so the rates are controlled by them, and not done for profit.

[BlaqueKatt]

sadly in the US most people don't trust the government to do anything.
Look at the 9/11 conspiracy theories, the election conspiracy theories, people convinced that the fluoride/chlorine in the water causes cancer......sigh I want to live in a cave.....

[blas87]

I think it would be a good idea, if what BJ is proposing could actually happen in the US and it could lower insurance costs for individuals.

[AdminAssistant]

Conservative fearmongers have put out commercials featuring (supposed) Canadian doctors and patients, telling horror stories of how patients are dying, waiting months for the doctor, can't choose your own doctor, patient's rights, and blah blah blah.

One of the main problems I see with our current system is those on the lower tiers can't afford preventive care. Mammograms, colonoscopies, annual check ups, pap smears, birth control - all of these things should be affordable for everyone. That would actually bring health care costs down by reducing cancer rates, catching illnesses early, emphasizing wellness.

[blas87]

Actually, Admin, it's not just poor people who can't afford health insurance or the preventative care....

There are lots of people with steady, full time jobs that cannot afford their health insurance premiums or stuff like the Paps and tests and BC you mentioned.

Pap Smears cost as much as my monthly rent. That's ridgoddamndiculous.

[daleduke17]

Besides, why not just do it the Canadian way, instead? Make regular health insurance covered by the government, such as broken limbs, doctor's visits, etc. and the companies cover prescriptions, vision, and dental.

No. No. No. Not a chance. The US Government would fuck it up in a heartbeat. They'd either "forget" to give it enough funding, not fund it at all or have all sorts of stupid qualifiers before you could get treatment.

Plus, there needs to be less government intervention into private lives, not more.

[LeChatNoir]

I am in agreement that something needs to be done regarding the state of health coverage in the U.S. I've been without insurance before, a few times, and it sucks. In fact, I switched jobs about 4 months ago, and was still not eligible for insurance when I found out I was pregnant. I ended up having to get on Medicaid (thank goodness I qualified, wasn't sure that I would). It cost almost $100 just to go to my regular doctor and do a pee test confirming that I was pg, which I needed so I could apply for Medicaid.

Anyway...I don't know enough about how the system works to offer constructive ways that it could be improved. I just know that it is failing. It makes me sad and angry, hearing about women who can't afford preventative care, cancer patients who go untreated, simply because it's too expensive.

[blas87]

I agree with you all the way, TheBlackCat.

[DesignFox]

I cant see how making medical insurance MANDATORY is going to fix anything.

I've been out of work or had part time jobs before that did NOT offer health insurance. I did NOT make NEARLY enough money working part time to afford health insurance. The cost was absolutely fucking ridiculous.

And I've seen some of those conservative commercials mocking the idea of a universal health care system. Bullshit. You already can't pick your own doctor unless you pay MORE for a PPO, and even THEN if your doctor isn't "in network" or willing to accept the insurance, you have to pay out of pocket and jump through fire hoops to get reimbursed for the treatment! How is the government telling me which doctor I HAVE to go to any worse than the fucking insurance company deciding?

The issue of health care angers me. Especially when a socialized system obviously works in other countries. Why the hell can't we take care of our people here? There has to be a way to balance this out.

I have been in that place where I had 0 health coverage. It sucked. I got very sick. And I couldn't seek treatment. Fortunately, it was a mild illness, but I would have gotten over it a lot sooner and spread a lot less germs around if I could have just gotten some treatment.

My boss at the time even asked me why I didn't go to the doctor and take off of work. I told him flat out, "Well, if this company would pony up for some health insurance, and hire me full time so I could get paid sick days, I would!"
He shut up fast.

It's horrible that anyone should even be in that position.

Now If I had gotten knocked up...then I could get health coverage for free. But being part time with no kids, you're not eligible for assistance. That's so fucking stupid on so many levels.

I would think if everyone could get some type of basic coverage it would lower costs because it wouldn't put the common people in such a dire position. AND as everyone's health improved, we wouldn't see so many helpless cases that could have been prevented.

Fuck this forced shit, though. You can't tell a poor, or lower middle class person than they've got to puke up $500 a month for health insurance when they can barely afford to pay rent. OR ELSE!

[ladyneeva]

For the record, I wasn't saying that the system we have now is a good idea... it isn't. It's insane, it's stupid, and it's CRUEL. But forcing people to spend money they don't have isn't the answer either. Yes, they pay lip service to the whole "oh well there will be state assistance for the poor!" thing, but it will be exactly like other forms of state assistance... you only qualify if you have children or are catastrophically crippled. And they'll fight to the death to deny that you actually ARE handicapped unless you are literally missing limbs and or confined to a chair or bed.

Like DesignFox said... other countries manage to provide health care for their population, why can't we? I also still maintain that the insurance companies will not lower rates if they suddenly have a captive income pool. They'll probably raise them and claim that the added funds are needed for all the employees that they need to hire for paperwork and all the already sick people they're being forced to cover now.

That is, assuming they don't just blame the fatties. Which to judge from a LOT of the things I've read on the health care debate is already happening. Apparently thin people never ever ever get sick. *sigh*

[Giggle Goose]

I admit that I don't know too much about socialized medicine, but I do agree with DesignFox about all the red tape and hoop-jumping with private insurers. I honestly don't see what's so different than if the government ran things

Insurance certainly isn't free...I have it, and it eats up a HUGE chunk of my paycheck. This is an issue that there is no easy answer to...

But I would like to ask folks that live in places with universal healthcare: Are there people that abuse the system and drain it? Like people who live unhealthy just because the government's paying the bills? Or people that are trying to get prescriptions to get high off of? I'm not trying to be ignorant or mock anyone; I honestly think that could happen if we had it in the U.S. I'm just curious.

[Pedersen]

I think that I do have one issue with this idea, and that's that it imposes a requirement for living in the US.

Every other law that I can think of right now (with the exception of taxation) imposes a "do not": Do not speed, do not kill, do not steal, etc.

Taxes, at least nominally, go to the government. With this idea, it would be illegal for a US citizen (and/or resident) to simply live someplace without being forced to pay some company money.

Right now, if you really want to, it is possible to go someplace and live, on your own, without significant worry about government intrusion. For instance, I could move to Alaska, and learn to live off the land. I could actually set myself up to live someplace where I would be left alone. My life wouldn't be comfortable, but I could do it.

With this idea as law, the government would be able to come to my door and demand that I prove I have paid my money out to some private company whether I wanted to or not. I don't like that, not one little bit.

Let's hope the politicians figure out how bad of an idea this is before they pass it into law.