The only way I am able to afford health insurance these days is by taking a policy that is only good for a catastrophic event. Otherwise, I pay out pocket for any medicines or doctor visits I need.
As you should. That's what insurance is for -- to spread the risk of a catastrophe. My deductible is $2500 and I never meet it and I hope I never do. Why should I pay what it costs to cover doctor visits (and give the insurance company a profit on that) when I can just pay for them out of pocket? That would be stupid.
In other words, I don't go to the doctor
That's on you. If you want coverage for doctor visits you're going to pay through the nose. As you should. It is the same reason paying for contraception is stupid. Nobody needs insurance for that.
starting charges here just for a consultation is $200......that's for ten minutes of the doctor's time. And we're talking a clinic.
That's not for ten minutes of a doctor's time. You think the time you spend in the room is the time the doctor spends on your case. But he has to chart the visit -- either dictating it, making notes, or entering the details into the computer. He has to examine your xrays and lab results. A busy family practice physician can do 30 or 40 average (established patient) visits in a day. New patient visits and physicals take much longer. Also, $200 is his base price; by the time he writes off what he has to because of your insurance, he'll get half that if he is lucky. If you're on Medicare, he'll write off about $135 of that, leaving him with $65 to pay him for the 20 minutes or so he spends on your case and to pay office overhead. Would YOU work for that mount of money? I wouldn't.
Medicine and health insurance have become luxuries that only the wealthy can afford.
This is nonsense. When Obama took office, something like 18% of Americans who are under 65 did not have health insurance. That is, 82% did have. Most of the 18% didn't have it, not because they couldn't afford it, but because they didn't want to spend the money. Which is their choice.
Its why very few companies provide health insurance as part of their employee compensation.
Very few? WTF are you talking about? See the previous paragraph.
Now you can believe that Americans are squandering their money on 'toys' or trips to McDonalds........and that they do not have your priorities.........but that's not my experience. The health system in this country is broken. Obamacare is an attempt to correct some of the problems. However, its only a partial solution because Rs and conservative Dems have fought it every step of the way.
Obamacare is not about improving health care. It is about expanding government's role in it, in an effort to kill insurance companies, which ultimately will lead to a total government takeover of the system. Liberals will tell you that -- it is a first step to getting to single payer, but it is a big first step -- kill the private insurance companies.
You people are idiots. You view the same government that gave us Medicare, the postal service, the IRS, Social security, and myriad other failed institutions, as the government that will provide, somehow, better health care for us all. It is just ignorant.
In your case, you are just woefully uninformed about the subject. This is not atypical amongst liberals. |
