Health Insurance

I started a post on why we all need health insurance and it started to sound preachy...so I figured I would try again and just make it more rambly...that is what this blog is about after all!

It seems quite obvious to me that if we are required to insure an inanimate, fairly inexpensive thing like a car...we wouldn't even think twice about having insurance for our health...when costs can go into the hundreds of thousands of dollars if you are diagnosed with something serious. Yet....some ridiculous number in the multi millions of people don't have it. And those that do are upset that the big bad government is trying to force them to get it.

I get the whole "the government shouldn't tell me what to do" argument but most people arguing this point HAVE insurance. The idea is if more people have insurance that it will cost us less in the long run...it isn't that complicated to understand but I really don't feel like trying to explain it and if you haven't already heard the argument then you obviously don't care and are still stuck on the "don't tell me what to do" argument.

Most people currently without insurance will qualify for subsidies and if you don't....well then you DO have enough money to afford insurance, you just chose to spend it on things you think are more important...like a cell phone or a million cable channels. Oops..getting preachy again....but it's true....you do not NEED a hundred dollar cell phone bill (or more...add data and texting and so on)...NOT having a cell phone, or even having one but without all the bells and whistles, will NOT BANKRUPT you....NOT having health insurance could...it's a big gamble...and when you lose...we ALL pay.

I just don't understand why it's ok to be forced to have car insurance but you get indignant when you are told you have to insure your health....why is the body of your car more important than YOUR body?

I give up ....talking about health care just gets me preachy.... I have witnessed too many people without insurance end up with mounds of bills...that they walk away from...and pass that on for the hospital to absorb and where does that go??? Higher costs for the rest of us.  And then there are the people begging for money on the internet because "Woe is me...I didn't have insurance and now I have an expensive life threatening disease"....For Pete's sake, at least have a high deductible catastrophic plan...then you can beg me to help you pay for the deductible, I can live with that....

It will be interesting to see how this all works out in a few years...I predict a better America....having everyone insured can only be a good thing...the government watching insurance companies more closely can only be a good thing...the disparity in pricing among hospitals and other healthcare providers is ridiculous...call it socialism, I don't care....when, we, the people, are being robbed by unfair practices SOMEONE should be watching out for us.

If you think there is nothing wrong with the way it works now, you either have great insurance or are healthy and accident free. Trying to shop around for prices on knee surgery for my husband was frustrating and pretty useless. The pricing structures are more secretive than making a friggin' bomb. It is nearly impossible to get anyone to tell you what a procedure will cost with any accuracy. Their MRI estimate was off over $2000. And you don't find that out til AFTER the fact and there's no returning a scan, so you are stuck with an unexpected bill because there are no regulations requiring straight forward answers to how much you will be expected to pay.

Will Obamacare fix all of the problems? I highly doubt it. But just because something isn't the perfect solution doesn't mean it isn't better than doing nothing at all....a prime example would be the bullshit with guns in this country.....Let's just stick our heads in the sand and let people keep mass murdering people....that solution seems to working really well....oops there I go again.....off on a tangent and preaching.....