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Politics : Don't Blame Me, I Voted For Kerry -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Amy J who wrote (53725)	10/20/2004 9:10:28 AM
From: cirrus	Respond to of 81568

As an individual who pays his own health care, I am furious that I cannot obtain rates and coverage anywhere near comparable to that offered to large groups. Kerry's plan of including all individuals as a "group" and eligible to purchase insurance at group rates from insurers doing business with the federal government makes sense because it's simple, straightforward and stands the best chance of getting enacted by Congress. It's certainly far better than the current situation. I don't want that kind of catastrophic care. I want a free market, where I can buy what I want, and I want Congress to regulate it so it's even better. Ah... that's where it gets interesting. A regulated free market. Conservatives and liberals fight to the last man over just how much and what kind of regulations are needed. Just the other day I read an article about a hospital that closed due to bankruptcy, meanwhile their employees can't even get Cobra insurance because their company went bankrupt. This is ridiculous. Under Kerry's plan, these employees would be able to purchase health insurance from any insurance company doing business with the federal govt at the same rates govt employees pay, possibly a better value than their COBRA plan would have offered. Like the Palo Alto, CA teacher whose government funded insurance booted him 100+ miles away from his home, because they decided they didn't want to keep him in a Bay Area nursing home after his catastrophic illness? I don't know the details, so I shouldn't comment, but here it goes anyway: "Govt funded" means the govt pays private insurers like Blue Cross for coverage. Most Palo Alto teachers have Blue Cross. Private firms like Blue Cross scramble to minimize catastrophic expenses, often to the disatvantage of the patient. That incident illustrates why we need Kerry's plan to have the govt handle the catastrophic situations. At least you could call your congressman if the govt did something totally out of whack with common sense.