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Why is health insurance so important? - 3/2/2010 9:42:24 AM
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Consecrated2God
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Health insurance can be very costly. Many of us would pay much, much less per month if we just paid for expenses as they came up.
Even if something really horrible happened and someone ended up with a really big hospital bill, couldn't they make payments on it that would be about what health insurance would have cost them had they had it? Even if they got cancer and then died before they were able to pay off their bill, the hospital could settle out of the person's estate.
What are your thoughts?
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/2/2010 11:16:05 AM
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Pat-rebel_lady
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I agree with you 100%!! It's the way most of us did it before the 70's; and the way I wish it would go back to --- personal choice to carry basic Health Insurance or more, or not at all; just like carrying Life Insurance is a personal choice.
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/2/2010 11:30:31 AM
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SurpassingPeace
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The problem is that many people without insurance simply never pay their bills. This isn't so much of a problem with drs because drs will make you pay upfront when you don't have insurance. But with hospitals and emergencies, many never are paid. I am not saying this from just guesswork but from experience in my former job. Many of the people feel they do not have to pay because they do not have that kind of money. In the long run, the hospitals jack up their prices higher and higher so that insured patients help defray the costs of those people who do not. Then insurance rates go through the roof because everything is so expensive.
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/2/2010 11:43:42 AM
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Consecrated2God
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Can't you be made to pay delinquent bills, just like in any other business? Couldn't they garnish your wages if you didn't make payments?
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/2/2010 11:48:09 AM
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stampinlady
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quote:
Even if they got cancer and then died before they were able to pay off their bill, the hospital could settle out of the person's estate.
And that's what they do. What if you had a family?
And those who have insurance are already paying high premiums because of those who don't have any.
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Deb
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/2/2010 11:53:54 AM
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SurpassingPeace
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Yes and no, for example, in Missouri where I live, your check can only be garnished up to 25%. There are also exemptions that can be filed that will make it less than that. Child support also comes first. My last c-section cost $28000, all in told. Let's say I don't pay my bill and I work a $10 an hour job. That means that after the hospital spends months to send me letters, sue me, and finally receive a judgment against me which can actually take years, they can now find my employer and garnish my wages. The very most they could receive would be $100 a week. Now, I will probably quit my job at that point and then they will have to start all over and find my work and garn again. It could easily take over a decade to finally get paid if at all. Missouri is actually a very creditor friendly state. Most states are not this easy to get their money.
So the answer is technically yes the hospitals have recourse to get paid but in reality they often are not.
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/2/2010 11:55:59 AM
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Consecrated2God
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If you had a family, I presume there'd be less inheritance to divide up among everyone if there were hospital bills to take care of. But that's true of any sort of bills that a person might have.
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/2/2010 11:59:26 AM
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SurpassingPeace
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I would rather pay insurance premiums than make my family of young children destitute because their father or I died. We carry life insurance so that our family will be okay financial should something happen to one of us, especially my husband. I would not be okay for that money to go to pay the hospital because we didn't have insurance.
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/2/2010 12:02:57 PM
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stampinlady
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quote:
ORIGINAL: Consecrated2God
If you had a family, I presume there'd be less inheritance to divide up among everyone if there were hospital bills to take care of. But that's true of any sort of bills that a person might have.
But the hospital takes all of your assets, Where would your family live?
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Deb
There is no "cosmic dog whislte. It's gonna be loud folks !!!
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/2/2010 12:07:16 PM
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Consecrated2God
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Sure, but then you'd have all the money you didn't pay out in insurance premiums over the years, too. What if you'd invested it, or maybe bought a term life policy that would pay for that hospital bill? I'm paying $12.25 a month for $250,000 dollars worth of coverage. If something happened to me right now, I'm sure that would pay for my hospital bill.
I just think there are other things I could be doing with the hundreds of dollars a month I could be spending on health insurance that would make my family more secure. I don't have health insurance, and you do. If you and I were to both get sick and die with big hospital bills, both of our families will lose out on a lot of money. For you, it will be the insurance premiums you've paid every month. For me it will be the life insurance money they would have gotten.
On the other hand, if neither of us gets sick, you still lose money every month and I get to keep it. It just seems like it costs a lot of money to maybe save the money later on.
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/2/2010 12:09:30 PM
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Consecrated2God
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quote:
ORIGINAL: stampinlady
quote:
ORIGINAL: Consecrated2God
If you had a family, I presume there'd be less inheritance to divide up among everyone if there were hospital bills to take care of. But that's true of any sort of bills that a person might have.
But the hospital takes all of your assets, Where would your family live?
I'm pretty sure that the courts decide if the hospital can take your home or not. For example, if a husband dies and his wife is still alive, I don't believe they can take the home to settle the debt.
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/2/2010 12:41:26 PM
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stampinlady
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I found this site very interesting. http://www.hospitaldebtjustice.org/rights.html
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Deb
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/2/2010 12:50:07 PM
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Consecrated2God
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Good stuff! It sounds like the uninsured have a lot of legal rights and protections.
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/2/2010 1:29:03 PM
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SurpassingPeace
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I am not willing to gamble with my children's health. There are certain treatments they could only get with insurance. Why? Because the hospital is only required to give base care in the case of emergency. There are many other treatments they do not have to provide, and would not provide, unless you paid up front. So while an uninsured family was trying to find the money, a grant, or a program that would give their child care, my child would be receiving the care. It is the same for adults as well but I am more concerned for my kids.
My parents medicines would also run into the thousands per month without health insurance. The way preexisting conditions are often handled, you are not always able to get insurance if one of these illnesses come up.
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/2/2010 1:30:46 PM
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Consecrated2God
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Well, I don't even make $3,000 a month. So if I found out I was diabetic and had those kinds of expenses, they'd have to take some kind of payment plan.
But why so high? I'm doing some quick google searches on the cost of insulin, and the numbers I'm finding are much lower.
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/2/2010 1:37:07 PM
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SurpassingPeace
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But they don't have to take payment plans. If you cannot find a way to pay or qualify for Medicaid, then often people simply do without. It does happen in this country.
edit for spelling
< Message edited by SurpassingPeace -- 3/2/2010 1:43:13 PM >
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/2/2010 1:42:42 PM
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SurpassingPeace
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The truth is, in our country if you have money or good insurance you flat out get better care in most instances. For example, my son may need physical therapy. First Steps is coming out to do an evaluation but he probably will not qualify for the no charge care. Because we have insurance, he will still get the physical therapy that he needs if he needs it. We probably could not afford it if we didn't. Health insurance is peace of mind to me that whatever comes up, we will be taken care of and I won't have to be concerned how that will happen.
Things move faster and more easily with insurance. Providers would rather deal with you because they know that they will get a substantial portion of their charges.
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/2/2010 1:45:11 PM
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Consecrated2God
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I'm also pretty sure that if you can't afford your prescriptions, many companies have programs where they will give them to you.
Really, though, I think that most people who can afford the cost of insurance could manage to pay medical bills if they had to pay them instead. We had insurance with the last church my husband pastored and we managed to work the price down to around $250 a month. That was with very high deductibles and co-pays. Most of the plans were in the $700-$800 per month range. It would basically cover only in the case of a big medical emergency, and we'd still have to pay the first few thousands dollars ourselves. During that year and a half we had the insurance, we had one time where a child needed to see a doctor. The insurance covered a part of the doctor visit and none of the prescriptions. It seemed like such a waste of the church's money to pay $250 a month for a year and a half, and the only money it paid out was around $60.
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/2/2010 1:55:52 PM
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Consecrated2God
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If a person had medical bills that totalled $100,000 and they made monthly payments on them in the same amount that they would have paid in health insurance, I don't understand how that could financially ruin them. After all, eventually they'd be paid off, whereas if they were paying insurance payments they'd never be done paying them.
If you don't mind my asking, how much do you pay for health insurance?
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/2/2010 2:06:17 PM
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SurpassingPeace
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We pay around $250 a month. Why would it ruin us? We would be sued. Contrary to popular belief, hospitals do not have to except anything you send them. If you are not paying a high enough percentage that they agreed to, they will sue so that they can garn your wages for higher and the biggest thing, put a lien against your house and other property. If we were sued, my husband would lose his job. It is the nature of the beast. We would be financially ruined.
But more than that, my children would not get the best care available. My son would not get the physical therapy. My daughter would not have been seen by one of the best neurologists around. In general, I don't care about having the best of whatever. I am of a different opinion with medical care. I live near St Louis. We are very blessed to have just outstanding hospitals in both adults and pediatrics. These doctors are responsible for amazing achievements in medicine. Without health insurance, my children would not be able to take advantage of that without getting into the right study or experimental treatment. With our insurance, my children and my husband and I, have some of the best doctors and hospitals in the world.
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/2/2010 2:12:20 PM
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SurpassingPeace
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If I am not mistaken, I am tired, I would have to save $250 per month for a little over 33 years to even get close to that 100,000 insurance payment. That would be assuming I didn't have another medical issue. That being said, I will definately keep my health insurance.
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/2/2010 2:20:00 PM
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Consecrated2God
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It sounds like you are getting a pretty good deal for your money. For our family size, we couldn't find anything in that price range that would cover all of that.
I'm not against health insurance. If it's a good deal for you, go for it.
I do have to wonder, though, if the way it used to be, like Pat-Rebel-Lady said, was better. My parents said that it used to be that insurance was looked upon as a form of gambling. My great-grandpa never did buy insurance. He didn't believe in it. He's the only millionaire in the family and he's paid all of his bills, plus many of his kids' and grand kids' bills. My family didn't have insurance while I was growing up, either. We could never afford it. When we were sick, we went to our family doctor and he took care of us and we paid him off when we had the money.
Now everyone is pushing for everyone to have insurance, and the uninsured are blamed for the high cost of medical care. I can't see how that is, since my uninsured grandparents and parents always paid for their medical care. I don't see why they should be required to carry it.
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RE: Why is health insurance so important? - 3/2/2010 2:42:42 PM
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davelinde
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Personally I'd be fine with a pay-as-you use cash system except for a few things.
1. The quoted price of many medical services is MUCH higher for cash than for the negotiated rate insurance pays. As an individual I have no buying power, so getting fairly priced services is difficult (assuming insurance and Medicare are paying a fair rate?)
2. For many services, yes... it makes economic sense to pay $0 for insurance and just come up with the cash when you need it... even for things like a single $100,000 surgery the average person would come out ahead in the long run. HOWEVER, it is not impossible for bills to go much higher for even a single event (say quad bypass heart surgery with complications, or maybe a cancer treatment) and for some chronic conditions the annual costs may not be terrible... but it's a fixed cost for the rest of your life - maybe 20, 40, 60+ years more?
The purpose of "insurance" is to pool risk so that the lack of issues for the many can pay for the catastrophe of the few. I would not want to end up in an situation, disabled (unable to earn again) and have my illness exhaust all my savings and put my family on the street. So I think insurance is important.
I think a good argument can be made for high deductible policies that cover catastrophe only and are cheaper... then paying out-of-pocket only to a point -- though I have not seen any really good plans like that from my employer so we go with a middle of the road plan - moderate premium co-payments from me with moderate co-payments for services used and we come out ahead on that vs either the "cadillac" offer (where my premium copay would be huge, but low service copay) or the bare bones where my premium copay is low but I'd pay thousands in deductible each year. My situation is dictated by what my employer offers. If I ended up in the open market my calculation could be different.
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MARRIED TO A MILITARY PILOT 
PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR TROOPS! 
) etc., has easily totally over a 100,000. We didn't have nearly that much lying around the house. We would have been financially ruined.