Of course if that family of four wants things like preventive care and routine tests such as a colonoscopy, that $219/month is pretty meaningless in terms of what they will really pay. I've been reading this thread with interest for some time now. The issue has affected me as I am a full time self employed trader, and my wife is also self employed. My greatest hassle and fear (probably moreso than facing the market every day) has been obtaining decent health insurance. Until last year I lived in NYS, had insurance thru a third rate agent that tried to pool a bunch of us into a group and say we formed a union to obtain insurance. That turned out to be a scam and we in effect didn't have insurance. We now live in the Chicago area where the choices are better, so we have decent coverage with a high deductible and hefty monthly payments. Keep in mind my wife and I have absolutely NO health issues, otherwise I probably would not have been able to obtain insurance at ALL. Giuliani's plan where he would simply increase your tax deduction is worthless if you can't obtain insurance in the first place, and I didn't catch his solution to that small problem <ggg>. It's too bad that someone who wants to be a small entrepreneur in this country may not be able to do so because he/she can't get insurance. By the way, interesting article in today's NY Times, the American Cancer Society is focusing it's ENTIRE ad budget not on the disease, but the lack of decent insurance in the US...
nytimes.com
The article also mentioned some surveys that show 25% of people without insurance that get cancer become essentially
destitute, and 20% with also do so. Welcome to America!!!
"Census figures released this week show that the number and percentage of people in the United States without health insurance rose last year, to 47 million and 15.8 percent. A 2003 study estimated that one of every 10 cancer patients was uninsured.
Other surveys have found that one of every four families afflicted by cancer, which is projected to kill 560,000 Americans this year, is effectively impoverished by the fight, including one of every five with insurance."
Best regards,
John
PS - I did see Sicko, and while Michael Moore can be a bit outrageous, especially with his Cuba trip, the piece he did on French healthcare where they have doctors cruising around in cars waiting to take home calls was quite an eye opener. Especially when he interviewed that large group of Americans that moved there for the benefits and then switched right over to that piece of film that showed the LA hospital dumping it's patients back on the street.... |
