Is health insurance unaffordable?

[Crabcake Johnny]

Things that need to be addressed:

1) No more than a 63 day break in coverage. What if it takes longer than 63 days to find another job and you can't afford Cobra?

2) Small employers don't have to offer Cobra. Coverage may stop immediately after job termination.

3) Complete lack of options for uninsurable self-employed people.

4) Rule that employers cannot contribute to individual premiums. I understand the theory; owners will cancel group, just offer an extra "$200" in their employee's check and all the uninsurable people will be left hanging. I thing that's more theory than reality. Micro-business owners should be allowed to contribute.

5) Many states not offering a risk pool.

 

[johnrocks]

I personally don't think that affordable health coverage is right guaranteed by our Founding Fathers in the U.S. Constitution

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

It's not. But I think any decent society should make sure its citizens are protected.

 

[J.R.]

1) No more than a 63 day break in coverage. What if it takes longer than 63 days to find another job and you can't afford Cobra?

Short term insurance for people w/out pre-existing conditions or who are willing to obtain STM and not have protection for pre-existing conditions.

Obtain individual health insurance while you're are young and healthy or at least healthy. This boils down to understanding the risks of developing a pre-existing condition while on a group plan. I don't want to be the ass here, but it really comes down to education.

2) Small employers don't have to offer Cobra. Coverage may stop immediately after job termination.

Yes, see comments above.

3) Complete lack of options for uninsurable self-employed people.

This one I am still working on.

Rule that employers cannot contribute to individual premiums. I understand the theory; owners will cancel group, just offer an extra "$200" in their employee's check and all the uninsurable people will be left hanging. I thing that's more theory than reality. Micro-business owners should be allowed to contribute.

D#$M right!!

5) Many states not offering a risk pool.

Have states own up and be responsible for putting something together.

 

[Sam]

If you look through the insurance section of yahoo answers, every day there are questions like
I am 3 months pregnant, how can I get insurance for me for $28 a month, or, I just got into an accident, can I get insurance, and have them pay for it?

 

[Crabcake Johnny]

The answer is there is no answer. You have people clearly out to burn the system weighed against the person who was born with juveline diabetes - and we're asking one set of rules to handle both situations. Cannot be done.

 

[Krono]

If you look through the insurance section of yahoo answers, every day there are questions like
I am 3 months pregnant, how can I get insurance for me for $28 a month, or, I just got into an accident, can I get insurance, and have them pay for it?

I hear ya. A few years ago while selling individual health, I had not one...but TWO morbidly obese ladies call me looking for a plan that would pay for their lap band surgery

 

[johnrocks]

I get people all the time wanting dental insurance,when they smile it looks like they just got through eating a box of oreos. I really don't think they feel like they are burning the system. It's like going to work at someone else's office and bringing home a box of pencils don't feel like there stealing

 

[johnrocks]

I remember when I was a youngster I loved listening to my granddaddy's stories. PaPa was born in 1888 and he was a great storyteller. He would tell me about working in the woods sawing timber from before dawn to after dusk for a dollar a day. I remember saying PAPA you worked for WHAT!!! He would lean forward spit in his coffee cap and then lean back and roar like a den of lions. Son flour was 50cents a barrel, land was a buck an acre, we would go into town twice a year and get coffee,sugar maybe a pair of shoes, we raised everything else,grew it and we didn't depend on anybody for our living but people stuck together if someone got sick or needed a barn raised, we would all pitch in. Charity worked back then, they depended on friends and family and the govt. was a provider for the common good such as defense. My mother bought 20 acres of land in 1951 with a hugh house on it for $8000, but she made $200 per month, I saw a copy of her electric bill stub from 1957 and it was less than $5. Now is $5 a bigger chunk out of her $200 or is $150 a bigger bite out of someone's $10000 monthly income. If you compare things from then with things from today, I would think that these are "the good old days"

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

$150? Boy...my bill was more than $400 last month. Of course, Feb. was a cold (but short) month.