How healthcare regulations affect even those who have good insurance plans
1–10 of 35 posts
Re: How healthcare regulations affect even those who have good insurance plans
#2I pay $800 for rent and once my monthly insurance cost got to $800 a month I canceled it and claimed "religious exemption" on my taxes.
Including deductibles, I would have paid over $12000 a year. Plus my wife used a birth center instead of a regular OB for delivery. That wasn't covered by insurance either, so my potential max per year on "healthcare" was $16,000.
That basically means that unless I get cancer, it is cheaper to forgo insurance, which is what I did. Now I'm actually saving money and getting ready to finally build/buy a house.
Screw healthcare.
Re: How healthcare regulations affect even those who have good insurance plans
#3I pay $800 for rent and once my monthly insurance cost got to $800 a month I canceled it and claimed "religious exemption" on my taxes. Including deductibles, I would have paid over $12000 a year. Plus my wife used a birth center instead of a regular OB for delivery. That wasn't covered by insurance either, so my potential max per year on "healthcare" was $16,000. That basically means that unless I get cancer, it is…
You're complaining about the cost of insurance and not healthcare. Not the same thing.
Re: How healthcare regulations affect even those who have good insurance plans
#4I pay $800 for rent and once my monthly insurance cost got to $800 a month I canceled it and claimed "religious exemption" on my taxes. Including deductibles, I would have paid over $12000 a year. Plus my wife used a birth center instead of a regular OB for delivery. That wasn't covered by insurance either, so my potential max per year on "healthcare" was $16,000. That basically means that unless I get cancer, it is…
You're complaining about the cost of insurance and not healthcare. Not the same thing.
If healthcare is bad enough, insurance becomes mandatory, at which point it's basically the same thing.
Re: How healthcare regulations affect even those who have good insurance plans
#5I pay $800 for rent and once my monthly insurance cost got to $800 a month I canceled it and claimed "religious exemption" on my taxes. Including deductibles, I would have paid over $12000 a year. Plus my wife used a birth center instead of a regular OB for delivery. That wasn't covered by insurance either, so my potential max per year on "healthcare" was $16,000. That basically means that unless I get cancer, it is…
But there are 15 million people (5%) living with cancer in the USA right now. Almost 40% of people will get a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime. https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/statistics Medical bills are the #1 cause of bankruptcy filings in this country. That means for a lot of people, paying for high-deductible insurance makes sense.
Re: How healthcare regulations affect even those who have good insurance plans
#6I pay $800 for rent and once my monthly insurance cost got to $800 a month I canceled it and claimed "religious exemption" on my taxes. Including deductibles, I would have paid over $12000 a year. Plus my wife used a birth center instead of a regular OB for delivery. That wasn't covered by insurance either, so my potential max per year on "healthcare" was $16,000. That basically means that unless I get cancer, it is…
And then when you do get cancer or some other expensive disease, the rest of us get to pay for your treatment.
Costs need to come down, but opting out of the system because you're currently healthy isn't good.
Re: How healthcare regulations affect even those who have good insurance plans
#7I pay $800 for rent and once my monthly insurance cost got to $800 a month I canceled it and claimed "religious exemption" on my taxes. Including deductibles, I would have paid over $12000 a year. Plus my wife used a birth center instead of a regular OB for delivery. That wasn't covered by insurance either, so my potential max per year on "healthcare" was $16,000. That basically means that unless I get cancer, it is…
But there are 15 million people (5%) living with cancer in the USA right now. Almost 40% of people will get a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime. https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/statistics Medical bills are the #1 cause of bankruptcy filings in this country. That means for a lot of people, paying for high-deductible insurance makes sense.
I'm rolling the dice.
My high deductible plan is now $400/month (I'm fully out of pocket for the first $6500); its $750 to cover my wife and my daughter on their own low deductible PPO plan. That's $1150/month | $13800/year. I spend $500/month to cover my disabled mother's health insurance and some of her medical expenses. I'm still paying off hospital bills from my daughter's birth in August.
With Trump's executive action, I can now drop my $400/month high deductible plan and still receive my tax refund next year. If I have a catastrophic emergency medical expense, I'll declare bankruptcy (Florida protects your primary residence and your retirement accounts from all creditors except the bank with your mortgage). If I get cancer? That's what my life insurance is for.
Disclaimer: I fully support single payer. These are the perils of healthcare in America.
Re: How healthcare regulations affect even those who have good insurance plans
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
But there are 15 million people (5%) living with cancer in the USA right now. Almost 40% of people will get a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime. https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/statistics Medical bills are the #1 cause of bankruptcy filings in this country. That means for a lot of people, paying for high-deductible insurance makes sense.
I'm rolling the dice. My high deductible plan is now $400/month (I'm fully out of pocket for the first $6500); its $750 to cover my wife and my daughter on their own low deductible PPO plan. That's $1150/month | $13800/year. I spend $500/month to cover my disabled mother's health insurance and some of her medical expenses. I'm still paying off hospital bills from my daughter's birth in August. With Trump's executive…
Is there a significant difference between paying for healthcare with insurance premiums & deductibles vs. paying with taxes? (I realize this is a big question, just looking for a starting point because it's not clear to me.)
Re: How healthcare regulations affect even those who have good insurance plans
#9I think this article does touch on something that's always bothered me regarding healthcare. Specifically on the problem that insurance is tied to healthcare. To me insurance is about covering risks that are liable to occur no matter how much one may minimize them. In contrast, healthcare is about routine and extraordinary care of human beings. It's not something I believe follows properly with insurance business models which is why often they cut corners to make it profitable. Otherwise, I suspect many health insurance companies today would be bankrupt if they didn't attempt their corner cutting. Rather than leaving healthcare to insurance business models we need to finally admit that maybe it's no different than roads or other infrastructure and have it handled by the US federal government for better or worse.
Re: How healthcare regulations affect even those who have good insurance plans
#10I pay $800 for rent and once my monthly insurance cost got to $800 a month I canceled it and claimed "religious exemption" on my taxes. Including deductibles, I would have paid over $12000 a year. Plus my wife used a birth center instead of a regular OB for delivery. That wasn't covered by insurance either, so my potential max per year on "healthcare" was $16,000. That basically means that unless I get cancer, it is…
But there are 15 million people (5%) living with cancer in the USA right now. Almost 40% of people will get a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime. https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/understanding/statistics Medical bills are the #1 cause of bankruptcy filings in this country. That means for a lot of people, paying for high-deductible insurance makes sense.
Sometimes I wonder if it would make sense to have a healthplan that covers cancer and absolutely nothing else. I honestly have zero concern about any other ailment and figure I could make due, but I know enough about cancer to realize it is a completely different story.