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avidlearner 11-30-2007 03:27 AM

Require health insurance assistance
 
Not sure what to do. Been without insurance for a while now, but i know I need to get it eventually. One potential problem is I have chronic pre-existing condition. One thats not immediately dangerous, but will definitely require medical attention at some point. I play poker for a living, and make enough money where getting a real job just for insurance doesn't make much sense. I also don't want a real job, I love what i do.

Anybody in the health insurance field, or been in this situation before? I feel totally lose and am pretty scared. Please help.

Mitch Evans 11-30-2007 07:51 AM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
Not sure what your dilemma is. Just apply for insurance. You didn't state your age or what you pre-existing condition is, but I don't see what the problem is. You don't need a "job" to get insurance, you just need to pay the premiums. Depending on your health and whether the state you live in allows unrestricted medical underwriting will determine how high your premiums will be, if your existing condition will be covered, and how soon you can get covered. Shouldn’t take more than a few weeks…

mikalina 11-30-2007 12:18 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
The sooner you apply, the better. It depends on the state that you live in, but in general, for cases of pre-existing conditions, if you have had coverage under the company for x years without an issue with the condition, they cannot deny your claim due to pre-existing condition.

Someone chime in and correct me if I am wrong, but I believe in my state it is 3 years. This applies if you do not disclose the condition at the time of application. If you do disclose, they have the right to completely remove claims that relate to your condition from your coverage.

I would do a bit more research on this than what I just said (although I should know this [censored], it's my field). I just can't remember if this is one of the things that is excluded from the statute of limitations.

Nicholasp27 11-30-2007 12:21 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
EVERYONE should have health insurance in the US

even if you SELF-INSURE, you should get cheap insurance with a high deductible...it'll be cheap since insurance company will never pay out each year unless you have a major illness/surgery

so what's your benefit? you will pay what the insurance company allows

say u go to the hospital and have a few tests run on you...the hospital will try to charge say $2500 for this...if u don't have insurance, then you owe $2500

if u have insurance, even with a 10k deductible, then they send the bill to the insurance company...who comes back and says: this is only billable for $500...u then pay that $500 for your deductible and that's it

so u saved 2k because u pay those insurance prices

this has less of an effect on a standard doctor office visit, but will still save you $100 or so on those as well each time

MissT74 11-30-2007 12:24 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
Health Insurance companies can deny anyone for any reason UNLESS it's through an employer. So being self employed, and with pre-existing conditions you may have a hard time finding a company to cover you.

HOWEVER, if you're willing to accept a "rider" on your plan, then you can probably get coverage. It would basically state that any thing done related to your pre-existing condition would be denied, and you would be responsible for those charges.

Another idea that I would strongly suggest is Comprehensive Insurance only. It's much, much cheaper and would cover you in any emergency (broken arm, stepping on a nail, etc etc) and also cover you for anything major (cancer, AIDS, etc etc). For anything "normal" or routine (cough, cold, flu, etc) you simply pay cash at your doctors office.

For the most part people go to the doctor about 2-3 times a year at $120 a visit (average) vs. $200+ per month for health insurance. Unless you are on expensive medication, this is the way for most healthy to semi-healthy people.

(I own a medical billing service, feel free to ask any more questions that I may be able to help you with)

T

MissT74 11-30-2007 12:26 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
Nicholas is correct, but also realize that there are a lot of doctors offices out there that offer "cash paying" discounts. Some don't, so you would have to call around.

I know my clients offices LOVE cash paying patients, no paperwork, revenue for the office instantly vs. waiting 2 months to get paid, etc etc.

T

Ghazban 11-30-2007 12:30 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
The state you live in is key here. I just moved to Nevada and am also a professional poker player. Due to my pre-existing condition, nobody will underwrite an individual policy for me. In some states, there is a carrier of last resort that cannot turn you away for a preexisting condition (be careful, though, they may charge you through the nose for major medical).

This is not an easy question, particularly if you have a chronic preexisting condition so I'd recommend looking into your state's laws regarding individual policies. If you don't know where to start, just call around (BCBS, etc.) and get some quotes. If a given company will not underwrite a policy for you, they can probably tell you who in your state is the carrier of last resort (if such a thing exists).

mikalina 11-30-2007 12:49 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
All good responses. I guess I am the only one who likes to find loopholes.

Another suggestion (especially if you are a poker player earning a high taxable income) is to look into (here come 2 different names for the same thing) a high deductible health plan or a consumer directed/driven health plan.

Downside: high deductible (~1200/year for individual coverage)

Upside: all preventive care visits are covered for free (checkups, lab work, etc), you have access to an HSA

HSA is a Health Savings Account... think 401(k) but you are allowed to make withdrawals without penalty for health-related purchases (anything down to Advil qualifies). This is just a really slick tax shelter with a $2,900 annual max for tax-free contributions.

And the plan should generally be one of the cheapest available.

Edit to add: deductible is not ~1200, its >=1200... the higher you go the cheaper it gets. Sorry for the confusion.

neuroman 11-30-2007 12:52 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
[ QUOTE ]
EVERYONE should have health insurance in the US

even if you SELF-INSURE, you should get cheap insurance with a high deductible...it'll be cheap since insurance company will never pay out each year unless you have a major illness/surgery

[/ QUOTE ]
This does not seem to be the case. I tried inquiring into high deductible, catastrophic type coverage and it would be over $1000 a year for a completely healthy mid-20s non-smoking male.

If I am wrong feel free to point me in the right direction but I don't consider that "cheap."

z28dreams 11-30-2007 12:55 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
Mika's right - I'm in the process of changing jobs, and just applied for an HSA account w/ catastrophic coverage.

I'm 27, and it cost around $40 a month with a $5000 deductible. That's $480 a year... where are you guys seeing > $1000 a year ?!?!

HSA's are a GREAT idea if you are young and normally healthy. Even if you have a regular 9-5 job, you still still look into these and see if your boss will let you use it as an option. Think of it as being able to keep your premium at the end of the year if you don't actually use it.

Someone told me to use the Golden Rule plan, but I ended up going with Humana because for $10 less a month, it also allowed $300 of annual checkups and had a higher lifetime maximum.

For OP though, the preexisting condition will probably trump all other decisions - so check into your state laws.

hobbes9324 11-30-2007 01:14 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
Well, the problem is you young healthy male types are by far the most prone to being involved in traumatic injuries. To give you an idea, at our trauma center traumas come in three flavors -

T-5000 - pretty much nothing wrong, not much of a mechanism.

T-green - +/- hurt - say a rollover accident, or you fall off a ski lift from 15 feet.

T-blue - you're [censored] up - shot in the chest or stabbed in the belly, high speed car accident with open fractures, etc.

There is no minimum charge for a T-5000 - "just" the regular bill. For the ED fee, nursing charge, my fee, maybe an x-ray, radiologist fee - you MIGHT get out for a grand. Maybe. The meter spins pretty fast, though.
Now the bad news. If you come in as a green, with NO injury at all - automatic $8000 charge BEFORE I SAY HELLO.
For a blue $14000.

Last I looked, the average charge for a green came to about $20000 - for a blue, close to $100000 (yep, six figures)

note - before you bitch about expensive docs, I get a maximum of about $700 or so - for the sickest, most [censored] up patients. For the T-5000, I bill about $175. The rest goes to all the other place I mentioned.

So, anyway, that's why health insurance is so goddam expensive. Or at least a small part of the reason. And to the guy who thought we don't try to collect on the balance when the insurance company says "here's $500, take it or leave it" - we take it. Then we bill you for the rest, UNLESS we have a contract with your insurance company. (Medicare IS a take it or leave it deal, but you, by definition, don't qualify)

Best strategy - get a HIGH deductible policy from a WELL ESTABLISHED carrier. A lot of big hospitals have captive HMO's that offer these. BC/BS are a (poor) second choice - the coverage is fair, but they are god awful to deal with from both the patient and doc.) If you choose to go with Bob's great health care and pizza delivery, check with your state insurance board and make sure Bob is a real insurance company with the ability to pay if you bust your ass up. Believe it or not, a lot of people who think they are insured find out the hard way that they're not......

And yes, we should have a national health care system. With the special interest groups against it, though - no time soon.

MM MD

iron81 11-30-2007 01:21 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
You should look into what assistance the government can provide, either through your state's medicaid program or another program. Public hospitals are often avaialable as well in major cities that provide free care, although the quality of care usually sucks there.

Nicholasp27 11-30-2007 03:27 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
EVERYONE should have health insurance in the US

even if you SELF-INSURE, you should get cheap insurance with a high deductible...it'll be cheap since insurance company will never pay out each year unless you have a major illness/surgery

[/ QUOTE ]
This does not seem to be the case. I tried inquiring into high deductible, catastrophic type coverage and it would be over $1000 a year for a completely healthy mid-20s non-smoking male.

If I am wrong feel free to point me in the right direction but I don't consider that "cheap."

[/ QUOTE ]

<100/month is cheap...i don't know about prices, as i work for an employer, but u can shop around to see if can get cheaper with like a 5k deductible, co-insurance, and such...it only takes one trip to the hospital because u get sick/injured after 5pm and the difference u pay because u have SOME insurance is more than $1000 off

Nicholasp27 11-30-2007 03:30 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
the $40/month plan sounds perfect for a self-insurer

otherwise, u are gonna need to fund your self-insurance account a lot more than $40 more a month to cover the difference in what u pay by being uninsured vs what u pay by being insured

Nicholasp27 11-30-2007 03:31 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
btw, walmart and cvs now have 100s of generic drugs for $4/prescription...that's great if u have or don't have insurance...things like pain killers and such are only $4 now...so go to one of those or call around before u just go to the nearest pharmacy and pay your $20 copay or pay $100+ because u don't have insurance

some doctor's offices also sell prescriptions now for maybe $15 for popular drugs...but the $4 now trumps that

jogsxyz 11-30-2007 04:09 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
[ QUOTE ]
EVERYONE should have health insurance in the US


[/ QUOTE ]

That's nonsense. The US should be like every other industrialize nation in the world. There should be universal care for all. It should cover preventative care and emergency care.
Only those who want more coverage would need to buy health insurance.

Nicholasp27 11-30-2007 04:55 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
obviously the US should have universal health care

but since it doesn't currently, everyone should have health insurance in the US

NajdorfDefense 11-30-2007 05:19 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
EVERYONE should have health insurance in the US


[/ QUOTE ]

That's nonsense. The US should be like every other industrialize nation in the world.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's nonsense.

I don't want to wait 6 months for a /MRI/CT-scan or 12+ months for 'emergency' brain surgery.

If you're too cheap to buy insurance, it's your neck.

If you have no $, there's Medicaid/care. Medicaid in NYC, for example, offers far MORE comprehensive coverage than any private policy you could ever buy, even for $40-50k a year for 1 person.

'A typical Canadian seeking surgical or other therapeutic treatment had to wait 18.3 weeks in 2007, an all-time high, according to new research published Monday by independent research organization the Fraser Institute....
Saskatchewan (27.2 weeks), New Brunswick (25.2 weeks) and Nova Scotia (24.8 weeks) recorded the longest waits in Canada...Patients waited longest between a GP referral and orthopedic surgery (38.1 weeks), plastic surgery (34.8 weeks) and neurosurgery (27.2 weeks)....The median wait for an MRI... Newfoundland and Labrador residents waited longest (20.0 weeks). '

You fall in the US and injure your skull/brain, go to emergency room, you get your MRI or CT-scan that day, not 5 months later, insured or not, as it is a Federal crime to deny emergency care.

UK and Canada have well-documented literature, studies, and commissions that show the disgraceful nature of their health systems. Millions of people die off while waiting so that the gov't never has to pay for their care. In France, they just leave the old people in no-HVAC homes all summer and tens of thousands die during heat waves.

Some provinces in Canada report 18-MONTH waiting time for brain surgery for some patients:
http://www.sasksurgery.ca/specialty/...gery.htm#table

'Holmes began losing her vision in March 2005, she told a press conference at Queen's Park yesterday. An MRI in May 2005 revealed a tumour in her brain. Her family doctor couldn't expedite appointments booked with specialists for July 19 and Sept. 19, 2005. As the tumour pressed on her optic nerves, her vision deteriorated. Afraid to wait any longer, she went to the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Within a week she met three specialists and was told she had a fluid-filled sac growing near her pituitary gland at the base of her brain. They urged her to have it taken out immediately. She went home with the hopes of quickly removing what is known as a Rathke's cleft cyst.

Unable to get surgery fast, she returned to Arizona and had the mass removed on Aug. 1, 2005. Her vision was restored in 10 days. The Holmes family is now in debt $95,000 because of medical costs.

...A computed tomography or CT scan showed a large wedge-shaped brain tumour. He was discharged from hospital four days later with a diagnosis of stroke and a prescription for anti-seizure medication.

Worried the tumour might be cancerous, McCreith and his family wanted an MRI. He was given an appointment date four months later. McCreith went to the U.S. and paid $494.67 (U.S.) for an MRI. Armed with the scan, he saw his Ontario family doctor, who referred McCreith to a neurologist. He was examined on Feb. 8, 2006. He was referred to a neurosurgeon but would have to wait three months.
Unhappy with this, he returned to Buffalo. In early March, during a biopsy, the tumour was found to be malignant and surgically removed.'

RustedCorpse 11-30-2007 05:58 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
EVERYONE should have health insurance in the US


That's nonsense. The US should be like every other industrialize nation in the world.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's nonsense.

I don't want to wait 6 months for a /MRI/CT-scan or 12+ months for 'emergency' brain surgery.

If you're too cheap to buy insurance, it's your neck.


[/ QUOTE ]


Funny that everyone is quick to point out the examples like these. I can't help but think they are more rare than people like to imply.

I've been hurt overseas twice, once with a broken limb another time with minor internal surgery from a stab wound.

I paid nothing for either (I wasn't even a citizen of either country)the limb and follow up were immediate, and I didn't wait more than 3 weeks for the second surgery.

In the US, I waited 5 weeks for a specialist, and WITH insurance still shelled out $1200 bucks for kidney stones.


As for the too cheap to buy insurance line, sorry we're not all millionaires. And if you're implying insurance is affordable to everyone I want to live in your world.

dylan's alias 11-30-2007 06:15 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
$1000 per year (if that is an accurate figure) is more than affordable. I find it hard to believe that you couldn't find $3 a day to trim from your budget.

Many of the uninsured in America are young and healthy, who choose not to buy health insurance because it will cost more than their likely expenditures for the year. If they all joined the insurance pool, it would drive costs down across the board.

MissT74 11-30-2007 06:48 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
I WISH I could get health insurance for 1K a year, heck, I'd wish for 2K a year. Right now the going rate for me and my daughter would be about 5K a year. Thank goodness I work for dr's and get free health care. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

T

Ghazban 11-30-2007 06:50 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
Many of the figures thrown around in this thread may not apply to somebody with a pre-existing condition (as the OP has indicated he is). I am diabetic and would orgasm all over myself if I could get coverage for less than 1K/year.

Death Valley 11-30-2007 06:52 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
Id suggest you go 12 months without seeing a doctor about your chronic issue. Once youve done that you should be able to get covered for it as there wont be a recent history of it on your medical file

mo42nyy 11-30-2007 07:10 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
I live in Nevada, but spend 2-3 months a year in NYC with my family
I really just want coverage to cover me in the even something terrible happens, for doctors viits etc Ill pay out of pocket.
However what happenes if I get hurt in NY (or anywhere else for that matter)
If I broke my arm or some stupid [censored] like that in NY would I have to go back to Nevada to get it fixed?

donfairplay 11-30-2007 07:16 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
[ QUOTE ]
Id suggest you go 12 months without seeing a doctor about your chronic issue. Once youve done that you should be able to get covered for it as there wont be a recent history of it on your medical file

[/ QUOTE ]
Um... what is your source for this?

The Medical Information Bureau keeps records for seven years after you apply for individual health or life insurance (plus, I believe if you reapply, that restarts the timeline).
http://www.mib.com/html/mib_faqs.html

jogsxyz 11-30-2007 07:29 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
[ QUOTE ]
$1000 per year (if that is an accurate figure) is more than affordable. I find it hard to believe that you couldn't find $3 a day to trim from your budget.



[/ QUOTE ]

It's not. What's affordable got to do with it?
Is there any value? For healthy individuals who
have no health insurance, health insurance premiums
are a ripoff. It's not the rich subsidizes the poor.
It's the healthy subsidizes the sickly and all
health care middlemen. For healthy people it would
be cheaper to pay for health care when we need it.

jogsxyz 11-30-2007 07:37 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
For individuals health insurance premiums are based solely on age. Even those who have never made a claim will have their premiums raised when they move into a higher age bracket.
How would you like your car insurance premiums based on the driving records of others?

tshort 11-30-2007 07:43 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
$1000 per year (if that is an accurate figure) is more than affordable. I find it hard to believe that you couldn't find $3 a day to trim from your budget.



[/ QUOTE ]

It's not. What's affordable got to do with it?
Is there any value? For healthy individuals who
have no health insurance, health insurance premiums
are a ripoff. It's not the rich subsidizes the poor.
It's the healthy subsidizes the sickly and all
health care middlemen. For healthy people it would
be cheaper to pay for health care when we need it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Then why do you want the government to make you pay for health care you don't need?

jogsxyz 11-30-2007 08:05 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
[ QUOTE ]


Then why do you want the government to make you pay for health care you don't need?

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't. I want to remove the greedy insurers out of the equation.

DonkeyKongSr 11-30-2007 08:11 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
$1000 per year (if that is an accurate figure) is more than affordable. I find it hard to believe that you couldn't find $3 a day to trim from your budget.



[/ QUOTE ]

It's not. What's affordable got to do with it?
Is there any value? For healthy individuals who
have no health insurance, health insurance premiums
are a ripoff. It's not the rich subsidizes the poor.
It's the healthy subsidizes the sickly and all
health care middlemen. For healthy people it would
be cheaper to pay for health care when we need it.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is not really true, as I recently found out. I'm nearly 30, been healthy my entire life up until this year and recently went in to check out a problem I was having.

I ended up having outpatient surgery with a bill over $20,000. With great insurance, it cost me only the $20 copayment for the first office visit and nothing else beyond my deductible. I just checked my paycheck and I pay around $90/mo for medical. It would take me 18.5 years of working to pay $20,000 on deductibles at that rate. I'm basically coming out way, way ahead on the "pay as you need it" plan.

I can't imagine going through life knowing 1 accident can mean tens of thousands of dollars out of my pocket.

tshort 11-30-2007 08:29 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]


Then why do you want the government to make you pay for health care you don't need?

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't. I want to remove the greedy insurers out of the equation.

[/ QUOTE ]

You said:

[ QUOTE ]
That's nonsense. The US should be like every other industrialize nation in the world. There should be universal care for all.

[/ QUOTE ]

What am I missing? Can you have universal care without paying for it?

Ghazban 11-30-2007 09:47 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
$1000 per year (if that is an accurate figure) is more than affordable. I find it hard to believe that you couldn't find $3 a day to trim from your budget.



[/ QUOTE ]

It's not. What's affordable got to do with it?
Is there any value? For healthy individuals who
have no health insurance, health insurance premiums
are a ripoff. It's not the rich subsidizes the poor.
It's the healthy subsidizes the sickly and all
health care middlemen. For healthy people it would
be cheaper to pay for health care when we need it.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is not really true, as I recently found out. I'm nearly 30, been healthy my entire life up until this year and recently went in to check out a problem I was having.

I ended up having outpatient surgery with a bill over $20,000. With great insurance, it cost me only the $20 copayment for the first office visit and nothing else beyond my deductible. I just checked my paycheck and I pay around $90/mo for medical. It would take me 18.5 years of working to pay $20,000 on deductibles at that rate. I'm basically coming out way, way ahead on the "pay as you need it" plan.

I can't imagine going through life knowing 1 accident can mean tens of thousands of dollars out of my pocket.

[/ QUOTE ]

It's a simple EV calculation. Since you *needed* the insurance, you qualify as one of the "sickly" in the other poster's definition. In any case, aren't you going to work 18.5 years anyway? If you end up working 25 years without another expensive incident, you'll be behind again.

DonkeyKongSr 11-30-2007 09:52 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
[ QUOTE ]
It's a simple EV calculation. Since you *needed* the insurance, you qualify as one of the "sickly" in the other poster's definition. In any case, aren't you going to work 18.5 years anyway? If you end up working 25 years without another expensive incident, you'll be behind again.

[/ QUOTE ]

The whole point is I had no idea I'd need any insurance for anything, but something suddenly came up. The same thing happens with "healthy" people all the time (like cancer), especially as you get older. Plus, everyone is constantly running the risk of hurting themselves via car accident, random household accident, etc.

Also, if could get to 55 without needing any medical attention, I would be probably in like the top 5% of healthiest people on the planet.

jogsxyz 11-30-2007 10:02 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
[ QUOTE ]

You said:

[ QUOTE ]
That's nonsense. The US should be like every other industrialize nation in the world. There should be universal care for all.

[/ QUOTE ]

What am I missing? Can you have universal care without paying for it?

[/ QUOTE ]

Universal care is not health insurance. No middleman. No insurance CEO getting a billion dollar retirement package.

Health care and health insurance is NOT the same thing.

MissT74 12-01-2007 02:57 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Id suggest you go 12 months without seeing a doctor about your chronic issue. Once youve done that you should be able to get covered for it as there wont be a recent history of it on your medical file

[/ QUOTE ]
Um... what is your source for this?

The Medical Information Bureau keeps records for seven years after you apply for individual health or life insurance (plus, I believe if you reapply, that restarts the timeline).
http://www.mib.com/html/mib_faqs.html

[/ QUOTE ]

Not only that but all insurance application forms usually ask about the last 5 years, and if you're caught lying, DENIED!!

T

NajdorfDefense 12-01-2007 04:13 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
EVERYONE should have health insurance in the US


That's nonsense. The US should be like every other industrialize nation in the world.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's nonsense.

I don't want to wait 6 months for a /MRI/CT-scan or 12+ months for 'emergency' brain surgery.

If you're too cheap to buy insurance, it's your neck.


[/ QUOTE ]


Funny that everyone is quick to point out the examples like these. I can't help but think they are more rare than people like to imply.


[/ QUOTE ]

You are wrong.

[ QUOTE ]

As for the too cheap to buy insurance line, sorry we're not all millionaires. And if you're implying insurance is affordable to everyone I want to live in your world.

[/ QUOTE ]

Only millionaires can afford it? rofl_Copter

first webhit on Google - msnbc.com news story --
'According to comparisons from eHealth Insurance.com, the online market leader, a healthy family of four (thirty-something parents and school-age kids) can get a major-medical plan — with a $1,000 annual family deductible and co-payments of $30 per doctor’s visit and $10 for generic drugs — for about $400 a month.

The price falls to $200 a month with a $5,000 deductible.

A healthy 30-year-old single male can pay about $160 a month, or $50 with the higher deductible.'

If you are too cheap to pay $600/yr on his own HEALTH than I got no sympathy. Cancel your cellphone and HBO if you must, zomg!
If you are unable to obtain private insurance due to pre-existing conditions, [actually rare] your state will have a coverage plan that you can sign up for if you don't qualify for Medicare/Caid.
If you can't afford $50/mo because of low income, you would qualify for Medicaid anyway.

OP didn't want to pay up for insurance previously [as he specifically noted], and now wants society to pay the price for his poor decision-making, so he can keep playing poker.
GG OP!

NajdorfDefense 12-01-2007 04:34 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
[ QUOTE ]
$1000 per year (if that is an accurate figure) is more than affordable. I find it hard to believe that you couldn't find $3 a day to trim from your budget.

Many of the uninsured in America are young and healthy, who choose not to buy health insurance because it will cost more than their likely expenditures for the year. If they all joined the insurance pool, it would drive costs down across the board.

[/ QUOTE ]

winner winner winner

And most [not all] when they have ducked the costs for years will come crying to tell us that the rest of us should pay for them because *now* they have a pre-existing condition.

Most people with a pre-existing condition can still get insurance, if you have diabetes, if you have Parkinson's, if you have a heart murmur, etc. Certain groups like hiv+/hemophiliacs are poorly served, and certainly should vocally use their voices and votes to agitate for more gov't help, and I'm certainly willing to support those efforts.

Price of insurance is typically going to depend not just on you but how many other people are in the pool, their health, and what state you live in, + whether you smoke, drink, are obese, etc.
I know many elderly who are retired and too ill to ever work again and we'd all love some Utopian slush fund that pays for every single medical expense, and costs little/no $ to the customer.

Yogi Rob 12-01-2007 04:50 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
I live in New Jersey. I'm 41 years old, in perfect health and pay $430/month for minimal allowable coverage for a self-employed person. It has a $10,000 deductible. The premium goes up 10-20% every year.

$1000/year??? Where do you guys live?

NajdorfDefense 12-01-2007 04:54 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
[ QUOTE ]
For individuals health insurance premiums are based solely on age. Even those who have never made a claim will have their premiums raised when they move into a higher age bracket.
... premiums based on the driving records of others?

[/ QUOTE ]

driving record <> age.

Old people get sick more. This is a fact of life, not some 'unfair ripoff' the insurance companies are scamming on us. 22-yr olds don't often get Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, clogged arteries, etc.

All of these things will continue to raise the National health bill:
more people
aging population in general
more senior citizens as a % of pool
new drugs and surgeries
more demand for treatment.

But no one thinks *they* should have to pay for it.

Look - the answer is there is NO magic bullet. With an aging population you can either:
1 - pay more
2 - deny care like in UK, Canada, elsewhere,
3 - not pay for new medical advances.

Offer people this deal - you can pay 1977 prices [+inflation] for your insurance and care, but you only get 1977-era treatment. Would anyone take that deal?

New treatments for HIV cost upwards of $20k a year just for the pills. That's with no insurer markup. Society cannot pay for everything for everyone's needs for all expensive treatments and experimental surgeries and etc that 300m people want offered to them 24/7 with no waiting.

Most estimates of countries that promise 'universal care' and deny patients treatment for months at a time, spend 17-22% of GDP, a system where millions die off in line and new drugs/procedures take years and decades to be covered, if ever.
Get enough voters to put in politicians who think the Gov't makes better HC decisions than individuals, and the system will change. Are you going to make it a crime to have private insurance and doctors like those countries also have in many places? Do you think smokers and drinkers and skydivers and fatties should pay more? No system will make everyone happy.

NajdorfDefense 12-01-2007 04:59 PM

Re: Require health insurance assistance
 
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EVERYONE should have health insurance in the US

even if you SELF-INSURE, you should get cheap insurance with a high deductible...it'll be cheap since insurance company will never pay out each year unless you have a major illness/surgery

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This does not seem to be the case. I tried inquiring into high deductible, catastrophic type coverage and it would be over $1000 a year for a completely healthy mid-20s non-smoking male.

If I am wrong feel free to point me in the right direction but I don't consider that "cheap."

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$600 see above. That *is* cheap, ftr.


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