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ORIGINAL: Pat-rebel_lady

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ORIGINAL: SurpassingPeace

So if you personally just had better insurance, then you would have a better opinion of it? I just don't understand because on one hand you seem to be saying we should just trust Christ to meet all our needs and not bother with health insurance but on the other hand, if you had better coverage then it might be okay. It seems like two different views.

What I'm saying is life insurance was/is a good investment for my dollars, I know for sure one day I'm going to die. And the insurance company doesn't used my life insurance money to pay for someone else who can't afford or didn't want life insurance and ended up unable to pay for their own Funeral and/or burial; Nor does the life insurance company have any dealings with the Funeral Home or your body's Final Resting place --- they deal with you or a family member, or authorized person --- I get what I pay for. Not so with health insurance. $5,045.81 a year on a chance I/we might get something (we don't want) that it actually pays for?? $5,045.81 a year to Not pay for what we really need and want it to pay for?? $5,045.81 a year for people like us is a lot of money!!

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ORIGINAL: Consecrated2God
I suspect some of the problem with people suing is that they have too high of expectations of doctors in the first place. Sometimes I watch commercials for hospitals and I think they portray themselves as being able to do more than they actually can. Maybe that's because they have to compete with other hospitals, and in that way they aren't any different than a breakfast cereal or beer commercials. If you put your practice up there practically guaranteeing that you can save everyone who walks through your doors, people are going to be mighty disappointed when they find you can't deliver

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My son had a swollen lymph node in his groin a couple of years ago, and we saw the doctor twice. She scheduled a third appointment to check on it after he took an antibiotic for a certain amount of time to make sure the swelling had gone down. I felt the lymph node myself and could feel that the swelling was gone, and didn't take him to the appointment. I couldn't see paying her another $80 to tell me something I could figure out myself.

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the 100 dollars from each paycheck for our insurance is well worth the price!

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ORIGINAL: Pat-rebel_lady

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the 100 dollars from each paycheck for our insurance is well worth the price!

And what I'm saying is when insurance (group insurance) is provided through an employer it IS well worth the price you pay. However, it is not worth it to most employers to provide this type (what you described above) to all employees; the ever increasing rising cost is throwing a lot of companies into bankruptcy. On top of that you could Not afford this type (group insurance) without the employer; it would cost much more then the $100.00 from each paycheck that you pay now. Be grateful for what you have while you have it.

I'm sorry to hear about you 5 year old's experience with respiratory distress, and your cyst, I pray you both are well on your way to total recovery;
even though the cost (2010 charges) of what your insurance company paid (or will need to pay) for it all --- out-rages me.
Guess that's because in 1950 I had a cyst removed from inside my throat on my Adam's apple that required an operation and two weeks stay in the hospital, and then 4 years later the same thing for one inside on and under my right jaw bone. At today's charges my parents --- without insurance (Singer Sewing Machine Co. didn't provide health insurance even to their department heads back then) --- would have been devastated financially.

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ORIGINAL: NotDoneYet
Then I guess I should be thankful I work for a very large multi-national corporation. And, the few times I've looked for another job, the benefits package has been a large part of my decision making process...

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I DO understand that there are many people who can't afford insurance...I'm well aware of that...I was one of them. However, I do not believe that gov't control of medical care is that great an idea...as a victim of military medicine years ago (total negligence resulting in a premature birth that had the worst outcome)...I absolutely am opposed to ANY sort of gov't "socialized" medicine...

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Remember, if you want "free" medical, you usually get what you pay for.

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So, you choose to cross your fingers instead? ONE ER visit with my 5 year old ran close to 10K. Insurance paid all but 100 dollars. I took her to the local ER for respiratory distress, they stabilized her there and she was transported to the children's hospital, where she stayed for 3 days. The bill for the transport ALONE was 500.00.

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I would cash-in the remaining life insurance policies and if need be sell my house. Why do you think I shared this info., if not to show that one does not really need to waste money on health insurance (scare-tactic's protectionism) --- God is still on His Throne.

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ORIGINAL: SurpassingPeace

Just curious, are you saying that if a Christian ends up in huge medical debt and they cannot pay it off, they are not trusting God enough?

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ORIGINAL: Consecrated2God

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So, you choose to cross your fingers instead? ONE ER visit with my 5 year old ran close to 10K. Insurance paid all but 100 dollars. I took her to the local ER for respiratory distress, they stabilized her there and she was transported to the children's hospital, where she stayed for 3 days. The bill for the transport ALONE was 500.00.

When does the cost become too high, though? For me, insurance is simply too expensive right now. At other points in my life it's been a good deal. If your insurance rates were to go up for whatever reason, at what point do you decide that the cost of insurance is no longer affordable? If it cost you $10,000 a year for insurance and you only made $30,000, would you make do on the other $20,000 and keep the insurance? What if it the cost is even higher than that? Where is the cut-off line where it no longer becomes worth it to you?

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ORIGINAL: JustaFan

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ORIGINAL: Consecrated2God

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So, you choose to cross your fingers instead? ONE ER visit with my 5 year old ran close to 10K. Insurance paid all but 100 dollars. I took her to the local ER for respiratory distress, they stabilized her there and she was transported to the children's hospital, where she stayed for 3 days. The bill for the transport ALONE was 500.00.

When does the cost become too high, though? For me, insurance is simply too expensive right now. At other points in my life it's been a good deal. If your insurance rates were to go up for whatever reason, at what point do you decide that the cost of insurance is no longer affordable? If it cost you $10,000 a year for insurance and you only made $30,000, would you make do on the other $20,000 and keep the insurance? What if it the cost is even higher than that? Where is the cut-off line where it no longer becomes worth it to you?

You have options. We don't have to passively accept where we are in life. We have control to change things for ourselves.

If I only made $30,000 a year I would start looking for another job, insurance or no insurance. I know jobs are hard to find right now, but I would certainly be out there looking.

If I didn't have job skills, I would look for schooling, training, apprentice programs. Something to make myself more marketable.

I would get a part time job, even if it was flipping burgers at MacDonald's, to pay for insurance.

I would investigate what help is available. Here in Penna. we have CHIP, which provides insurance for children based on the family's income. My kids would never go without medical care because I was foolish enough to not have insurance.

And yes, I would change my lifestyle. I'd consider health insurance a necessity, right behind food and shelter. So, I would eliminate cell phones, Internet access, cable TV, etc. I would live in a smaller house in a lesser neighborhood. I would economize on food and clothing. There would be no vacations, no pets. If I had a car it would be used, and we'd have only one. That would save on car insurance. If I was in that situation I would not have children while I was in that situation.

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ORIGINAL: NotDoneYet
So...instead of passively bemoaning the cost of this and that, take action to CHANGE your own situation. It usually involves a lot of hard work, blood, sweat, tears, exhaustion, too many hours away from home...but the pay-off is oh so sweet!

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ORIGINAL: heremainsfaithful
All of this makes me very glad that the decision to have or not to have health insurance is, in fact, a PERSONAL decision and not a MORAL one. And nobody's level of spirituality can be assessed based on that decision...period.

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ORIGINAL: tacitus

Your last couple of posts are really all over the place. Why would anyone want to compare the US system with the old communist systems? As for British health care -- dental care is an entirely separate category from regular health care, just as it is in America. You cannot get decent individual dental insurance in either country, the economics of dentistry doesn't allow it. The best individual plans I could find here in America about $500/year for $1000 max coverage, with a 6 month waiting period -- useless. Your far better off just looking after your teeth properly and paying about $200 / year to get them cleaned. I just paid over $1500 for a root canal -- poorer people have no option but just to have the tooth pulled. Not exactly a high quality care option.

British dentistry is almost all private these days anyway, because the economics are just as difficult as they are in the US. But it's still cheaper than here in the US.

As for the British National Health Service, I can guarantee you that I, and my extended family has had far more experience of it than you could possibly have, and the caricature you paint is completely untrue. I've had at least six surgical procedures under the NHS and they were all professionally done with high quality outcomes -- and a couple of them were at a time when the quality of care was not even as good as it is today. That is the experience of the rest of my family too -- including my mother and father who have been successfully treated for cancer and heart disease under the NHS. There are problems, no doubt, and the occasional horror story, but they happen no less frequently in the USA, especially considering the millions of people who can't even afford basic care.

The simple fact is that America is the *only* wealthy western democratic nation that actually has to run all-volunteer health clinics like some third world country where doctors give their time free and people often drive a 100 miles or more to get there and line up for hours just to get outpatient treatment. That fact alone is shameful enough in this day and age.

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I would investigate what help is available. Here in Penna. we have CHIP, which provides insurance for children based on the family's income. My kids would never go without medical care because I was foolish enough to not have insurance.

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BTW, I DON'T think someone working and making $6.25 an hour are living in the pit of poverty; life has a whole lot more to offer then how much a person can make an hour and how many benefits your employer pays.

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I am sorry, but you are sadly mistaken. Making $6.25 an hour is not a living wage in some parts of the country - it won't even provide food and housing - not to mention taking care of a family.

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ORIGINAL: Pat-rebel_lady

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ORIGINAL: NotDoneYet
So...instead of passively bemoaning the cost of this and that, take action to CHANGE your own situation. It usually involves a lot of hard work, blood, sweat, tears, exhaustion, too many hours away from home...but the pay-off is oh so sweet!

Sorry I'm not looking for an early grave; and you shouldn't be either --- no matter how much insurance you carry; it's always wise to stop and smell the roses --- often.

BTW, I DON'T think someone working and making $6.25 an hour are living in the pit of poverty; life has a whole lot more to offer then how much a person can make an hour and how many benefits your employer pays.

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ORIGINAL: heremainsfaithful
All of this makes me very glad that the decision to have or not to have health insurance is, in fact, a PERSONAL decision and not a MORAL one. And nobody's level of spirituality can be assessed based on that decision...period.

AMEN!!!

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ORIGINAL: jhuperetes

Virginia's minimum wage is $7.25.