DaveH;204915 wrote:
Now that the voting is over, I don't mind taking Jason's thread on a tangent.

It seems most people think we "need" insurance. IMO, insurance is a huge part of the problem! What insurance does is add a huge cost. The insurance companies have to make a profit (typically not a small profit) plus you have to pay all the people who work at the insurance company processing claims, etc. Next, the doctors and hospitals have to charge more because now they have to pay accountants and paper-pushgers, etc to process all the freaking paperwork. So you think about all the money you are wasting paying all this overhead to a insurance company when you could put that money in the bank and save/earn interest and pay your medical bills out of that money.

Next, the price of going to the doctor has gone through the roof... why is that? A large part of it is because of insurance. If you have insurance, you don't care what things cost because insurance is paying for it. Heck, most people with insurance don't even have a clue what things cost. So basically doctors/hospitals charge whatever they want (within a little bit of reason). IMO insurance is a large part of why the average Joe without insurance can't pay their bill.

Whew, end of rant.

Heh, nice rant Dave. And you are right about a good portion of it.

Insurance is nothing more than a bet that in a given amount of time you won't get sick. They basically give you odds and if you "beat" those odds, insurance pays off for you in a very good way. If you don't (and most people won't) need insurance, it is a very wasteful investment...until you do need it. Of course, if you invested wisely, you could turn the amount of money that you "invested" into insurance into a very decent return on investment, at which point you would still be money ahead. But since most people don't invest the amount of what insurance costs them when they are uninsured, it is the "safe" bet to take the insurance.....just in case.

However, the uninsured often pay more than the insured do in the event of a doctors visit (worked both selling health insurance and have worked in the insurance/claims/collection dept of clinics in the past.) Insurance companies often negotiate pricing that is lower than the standard rate. Companies like BCBS have very good negotiating abilities as they are a very well known insurer that pays their bills on time, every time and has a LOT of patients that are covered, so they take the walmart approach and get volume discounts from hospitals/clinics/etc... Discounts that you and I would never receive.

However, they also pay for tests that may not be done on non-insured patients....at least not right away. This is partly why insurance goes up all the time. The other problem is because everyone runs to the doctor at the onset of every little sneeze/sniffle/scrape/bruise because they know they will only have to pay $15 as a co-pay. If we stopped doing that, insurance would probably not increase so fast.

It seems most people think we "need" insurance. IMO, insurance is a huge part of the problem! What insurance does is add a huge cost. The insurance companies have to make a profit (typically not a small profit) plus you have to pay all the people who work at the insurance company processing claims, etc. Next, the doctors and hospitals have to charge more because now they have to pay accountants and paper-pushgers, etc to process all the freaking paperwork. So you think about all the money you are wasting paying all this overhead to a insurance company when you could put that money in the bank and save/earn interest and pay your medical bills out of that money.

Next, the price of going to the doctor has gone through the roof... why is that? A large part of it is because of insurance. If you have insurance, you don't care what things cost because insurance is paying for it. Heck, most people with insurance don't even have a clue what things cost. So basically doctors/hospitals charge whatever they want (within a little bit of reason). IMO insurance is a large part of why the average Joe without insurance can't pay their bill.

Whew, end of rant.

2slo50h;204408 wrote:
LMAO...oh so true.

BTW...

What is everyones idea on a Universal, single payer, not-for-profit health care system?

Reference my signature below

tjamz;204397 wrote:
6. When did I turn into a Republican?

I've said it all along Chuck. :icon_rr:

GarageAlchemist;204405 wrote:
in our country

LMAO...oh so true.

BTW...

What is everyones idea on a Universal, single payer, not-for-profit health care system?

torbs;204383 wrote:
go live in germany if their health care system is so good...whenever the gov't gets ahold of an industry, all it does is collapse...

in our country

Should the people take back the media from corporations that spawn fear into the heart of American people?

It really is a never ending cycle...:icon_scratch:

Also, why should I have to pay for all of the lazy people's healthcare (the vast majority...some people would use it correctly...most wouldn't...just like welfare)...You can't take from one group that doesn't support the idea...that's like the gov't straight up robbing the person.

DaveH;204365 wrote:
edit you guys that want socialized health care are nuts.

amen.

edit you guys that want socialized health care are nuts.

naturalbornkeller;204318 wrote:
Do you guys really think ron paul has a chance? Ain't likely. Although it is nice to see people getting involved. The fact is the next president is going to be who ever the government wants it to be. I wish, like all of you that our votes really did matter but they don't. I wish we could take this country back. I don't like to get involved in politics because it is always the same big talk until they get in office, then its the same old situation, the rich stay rich and the working man gets fucked. No universal health care because then they would actually have to cure something instead of just keep selling you drugs. No money in curing anything is there? The government is to far gone. And this will be our downfall. 10 years from now America will be a 3rd world country. Sorry.

Do I believe Ron Paul will win the Republican nomination? No. Do I believe he has a shot at the White House? Yes. Just because he isn't winning, or won't win, doesn't take away from the fact that I believe my rights/liberty are best in his hands. I won't give up because the government wants me too! I understand your point....I really do....but I am not going to vote for someone, just because they are gonna win. The more support Ron Paul gets, the more the people of the USA will wake up to the current downward spiral we are all living in. Before Ron Paul, I didn't know or understand anything in politics. I knew our country was in trouble, but I felt it was just something that was happening. I investigated into the Constitution and learned how 'off' our country/government is. Some RP followers are straight up whacko's....no doubt...but that doesn't mean that they are wrong in believing in something. If Ron Paul wins in ND, he may just get the needed media to convince 1, 10, 100, 100000 people to look into the current government. I still have hopes of him running our country, but have not dismissed the fact that he probably won't. I for one, feel that it is better to fight on your feet than live on your knees.

My Grandmother had a stroke a few years ago and lost any use of the right side of her body. They had health insurance and it took care of it all just fine. Went through the hospitalization period, started rehab, then a few months later she had another stroke. That is when they found out that there was a stipulation on their health insurance that if you are hospitalized twice within a certain amount of days that they didnt cover it. They are very healthy people, paid for health insurance for their whole lives with very little use of it, and then when they need it, they lost out on a loop hole. So they had to sell the family farm to pay bills. That just seems wrong to me. A WW2 vet has to lose his home because of a loophole in something that he paid his whole life for.