the new health care?

[Daseal]

Uninsured Unite!

Nope, learned my lesson. Personal coverage will kick in sometime this month!

Schneed -- are you able to go into specifics as to why uninsured and insured patients don't pay the same price for the same procedure? I just don't understand what's so pipe dream-ish about thinking that a service should cost a certain amount regardless. A procedure costs X amount, then add in however much to cover overhead/equipment/staff/profit/etc. Come to a fair price, that's your price. I know insurance companies say we'll only pay X amount, but couldn't the hospitals say 'fine' which would lead to consumers fighting for a real change to the system?

[Trample the Elderly]

Originally Posted by Daseal

Nope, learned my lesson. Personal coverage will kick in sometime this month!

You of little faith! Obama is going to take care of us.

[JoeRedskin]

Originally Posted by Daseal

Nope, learned my lesson. Personal coverage will kick in sometime this month!

Demonstrating my point of coverage dipping. Daseal is now part of a larger insurance pool. Being young and of relatively sound body, the odds are that he will not need insurance again for some time. I am betting his personal coverage is extremely expensive. Thus, he is exactly the type of person insurers need to be profitable and to make up for people like me. If Daseal, and others like him, are covered by a national policy, then people like me (married, kids) will simply have to pay more for insurance. In addition, we will be taxed to pay for Daseal's coverage and for those people my insurer rejected as being to expensive. Soon enough, people like me will not be able to afford our current coverages and have to drop into the national policy which, in turn, will just increase the cycle until the national policy is the only policy.

Is that a good thing? Not for me and those like me. Yes for the truly unisured or uninsurable - this would not include people like Daseal b/c he made the choice (either consciencely or not) to be uninsured. Eventually, under the current system, Daseal will likely reap its benefits. If it changes as Obama plans, then he will, basically, get the worst of both worlds.