vpFREE2 Forums

XVP Health Insurance

#1

$180 a month - and that's ALL? Good grief, don't gripe!!!

Decent medical insurance in this country is either for:
1. Those wealthy enough to afford insane premiums, or
2. Those destitute enough to have the government provide, or
3. Those lucky enough to have a job which covers it.

The rest of us are screwed. Either go bankrupt trying to pay the premiums
or go bankrupt when something ugly happens. Welcome to America.

- Brian in MI

···

________________________________________________

tbf1020 writes:

Ive been buying my own since I left my job in 2005. I'm a healthy 25
year old male, non smoker, and have had no major medical incidents in
the 3+ years I've been self employed. That hasn't stopped the cost of
my premium from doubling over the same time period. I now pay over 180
per month for good coverage. :frowning:

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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

#2

Pardon the "rant", but the subject is noted as XVP.

First, why is medical insurance something that is a part of one's employment? My employer
is not responsible for my auto insurance nor my home insurance nor my life insurance.

Second, we seem no longer to have "health insurance", but "pre-paid medical plans"?

Any opinions.

(Remember this is XVP!)

Sorry!

..... bj

#3

--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, "bornloser1537" <bornloser1537@...>
wrote:

Pardon the "rant", but the subject is noted as XVP.

First, why is medical insurance something that is a part of one's

employment? My employer is not responsible for my auto insurance
nor my home insurance nor my life insurance.

Medical insurance is job perk intended to attract and keep good
employees, just like paid vacations, paid sick leave, retirement
benefits, etc. (By the way, some companies actually do provide life
insurance, or at least offer employee-paid life insurance at reduced
rates.) Due to the variance reduction associated with large group
plans, insurance coverage provided by companies *should* be less
costly to the employer than if they were simply to pay the employees
the additional salary needed to obtain their own outside health
insurance. Over the years in this country company-provided health
insurance has become such a common perk that it is almost taken for
granted. However, this is changing. Some companies (even some
quite large companies) are starting to drop employer provided health
insurance as a cost cutting measure. Many other companies have been
gradually shifting the premium costs more and more toward the
employees. My own health plan at work has a near zero premium, but
the deductible is so high that the plan has become essentially "see
the doctor - pay the bill; buy medicine - pay the bill". I won't
see any insurance payments unless I have a catostrophic hospital
stay. On the other hand, if I don't get sick during the year, then
I'll have very few medical expenses and just about zero insurance
costs - so there are some benefits to this type of plan, IF one
stays healthy.

There is definitely the potential for a "health insurance crisis" as
more and more people are forced into going without medical insurance
due to job loss, elimination of the benefit by their employer, etc.
Using an overly-simplified scenario: With more people going without
medical insurance, more medical bills will go unpaid, which will
force a rise in doctor and hospital charges to cover the write-offs,
which will cause an increase in insurance premiums, which will force
more people to drop out of the system, etc., etc.

I don't have a solution to these problems, but I do expect that
within 10 to 20 years we will see a huge shift in the way health
insurance is handled. It may, or may not be for the better...

EE

#4

--- In vpFREE@yahoogroups.com, "bornloser1537" <bornloser1537@...>
wrote:

Pardon the "rant", but the subject is noted as XVP.

First, why is medical insurance something that is a part of one's

employment? My employer

is not responsible for my auto insurance nor my home insurance nor

my life insurance.

Second, we seem no longer to have "health insurance", but "pre-

paid medical plans"?

Any opinions.

(Remember this is XVP!)

Sorry!

..... bj

Dear bj,

I read this article in The New Yorker magazine (Jan. 26, 2009 issue)
and since it was available to email from newyorker.com, I thought
you'd like to see it. It doesn't answer your primary question
(although I believe the answer is that back in the '50s large
corporations - spearheaded by the Big 3 automakers - fought against
universal health care since they wanted to be able to provide health
care as a "benefit" 'cuz it was cheaper than increasing base
wages). However it does offer an interesting and informative
perspective on just how the "quote/unquote" Universal Health Care
systems of some other countries (e.g. Britain; Canada) came into
being and how our current conditions might be "jerry-rigged" to
create a more inclusive program.

Click here:
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/01/26/090126fa_fact_gawande

Neil M.