Do you currently have health insurance?

[FormerRepublican]

Given the abysmal state of the economy and the health care system since Bush took charge, I thought I'd do an informal poll to see if the health insurance coverage numbers they're handing out hold water.

So, do you currently have health insurance?

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. you've got to be kidding

I get $8 an hour, and my husband works part time for less. I've looked into some sort of major health insurance with a huge deductible, and the cost would be about a fourth of my salary, which would mean we either couldn't buy food, pay rent, or eat food. Luckily, I volunteer at a holistic health clinic and can pay off my bills there over time and have Aflac in case I get in an accident.

[Sammy Pepys]

2. My health bennies were bumped up this year....

And they were pretty good to begin with.

[FormerRepublican]

8. Are you in top management or something?

:shrug:

Everyone else I talk to says their medical is being cut to contain costs.

[Sammy Pepys]

22. Nope, not even close

I work in a very small, tightly knit office.

[RaleighNCDUer]

3. A lot of out-of-pocket.

It's a plan that supposedly covers 80%, but when everything is figured in it works out to be more like 65%.

And don't get me started on the dental.

[bookman]

4. Thanks to my "union"

I'm retired with full health care benefits thanks to my teacher's union.

People love to bad mouth unions, but they represent their members. Mine did a wonderful job in that respect.

[sarge43]

5. Hubby and I

have Tricare, military retiree's insurance. So far, it's been good. However, we're kicked off it at age 65 and place on Medicare.

[izzybeans]

6. 1/4 of my salary goes to a family plan.

[onyourleft]

7. How about this one?

I'm self-employed, my husband just got laid off and we lost our health insurance. Oh, did I mention that there are no jobs out there? :banghead:

[mike_c]

9. I went without health insurance until my early forties...

...and the last few years were a bit stressful. I got my first health insurance in nearly two decades when I got my first university job. Now I'm in my fifties and things are starting to fall apart, LOL-- if I didn't have health insurance I could see myself joining the disabled ranks in a few years and being unable to continue working. During the last couple of years I've had a pretty steady stream of health issues that I've been able to deal with, but which would have worsened considerably if I didn't have access to affordable health care, even in the crappy managed care environment.

on edit: I too owe my health care to my union, along with many other employment benefits!

[Lorien]

10. Yes, but it's ROTTEN coverage and I have to spend thousands out

of pocket. $8,000 for an emergency room visit. $7,500 for a much needed surgery. All out "out of pocket"No prescription drug coverage, huge deductible for office visits. The only reason I have it is that I can afford it, and emergency rooms here in Florida won't admit you without some kind of insurance.

[qanda]

11. I have no health insurance

Just got a bill for $4,000 from my stay in the hospital last week and that doesn't include the doctor's fee. Oh well, life goes on.

[bunkerbuster1]

12. You forgot "Yes, and I pay for every penny of it."

You can add "and it sucks ass, covers next to nothing, and will only get more expensive next year and the year after that." if that fits.

[raccoon]

14. Ditto. Sounds like you have an individual plan.

Me too, and it has all the characteristics you mentioned.

In addition, it doesn't cover 2 pre-existing conditions I have.

[China_cat]

15. Most health insurances I've seen lately

should include the line in their fine print "good only until needed".

[triguy46]

13. "..a lot of out of pocket expenses..."

This seems subjective at best, and relative for sure. I had kidney cancer last year and my total out of pocket expense for a nephrectomy, including all the tests, doc visits and 48 hours in hospital was $3000, the max annual out of pocket expense per plan year per individual, ($5000 per family). Is this a lot or not? It just depends. It think it was just peachy. My insurance is nothng special, the plan offered all state employees, with 80/20 coverage up to the out of pocket max, then 100%.

[Dora]

16. Public employee, here.

Good bennies, even in Texas.

[Straight Shooter]

17. Self-employed.

I won't go into details but I know that part of the bush agenda has directly affected my work and slashed my income by a third. I couldn't afford it before, sure can't afford it now.

Oh, well, I'm useless in the eyes of the bush administration anyway. I don't contribute to the GOP, so if I get catastrophically ill, I can go wander off in the woods and die. :(

[Swede]

18. I live in Canada.

That the richest country on the planet doesn't have universal healthcare is a travesty.

[Bridget Burke]

19. Pretty good insurance through my employer....

But--ever since we had Governor Bush in Austin--choices have been reduced. And co-pays have gone up.

[zippy890]

20. I've got good coverage - thanks to the state of Mass.

I'm a tenured state employee (worked for the state for 10+ years) and the Group Insurance Commission provides good health insurance benefits.

Important to note, however, that wage levels have been frozen for 4 years, so low pay and no raises(non-union)plus each year my portion for health insurance has gone up, so in effect my wages have gone down, down down.

But, thanks to the commonwealth of Mass. my family at least has good health care ( and dental insurance)

[Gregorian]

21. After 20 years, I just cancelled mine after a 55% increase.

I am now uninsured.

I've had some health problems over the last five years, but living in America I wasn't able to just pop in to a doctor's and have them look me over. So when it got bad enough, I went to my local hospital, where they have just finished rehiring after a bunch of doctors left. This is typical for small areas like this. The last place I lived also had a doctor exodus. And the doctor I saw was a newly arrived and hired "kid" from Bombay. He did a blood test and sent me on my way. I know I have a problem, but since I'm not willing to spend thousands of dollars of my savings to find out what it is, I'll accept Mr. Bombay's diagnosis that I'm fine, and move on. But what really irked me was when I realized that after 20 years of paying insurance premiums, I still had to pay for everything that was done during that visit. And then to top it all off, it coincided with an increase in payments, that had nothing to do with my visit. And my bill went from $220 per payment, to $340 per payment, at which point I decided that insurance companies can screw themselves.

I'm pissed. My country spends $400 billion on bombs, and I can't see a fucking doctor. What kind of idiocy is that.

[titoresque]

23. Where my wife works the employees

bring home (after taxes) about $700-8 bi-weekly for a 40hr week. For a family of 4 the health insurance would cost them over $300 out of that $700. I'm talking about the lowest wage employees...the ones who do the hard work! Who the hell can afford insurance working there and still afford to live?!
My wife is in management so our situation is a little better. She is covered and our kids are covered, but not me. Too expensive.

[Greyhound]

24. None here because the cost would leave me nothing to live on.

But I can assure you if I become terminally ill I'm taking as many of those bastards with me as I can. I will not be one of those poor folks that have killed themselves in anonymity out of despair or desperation, just to end the pain and frustration.

:grr:

[wicket]

25. I finally have it again

Did not have it for most of last year due to losing my job.

[Maine-ah]

26. doesn't offer it

my employer doesn't offer it, they can't afford it. So they have no insurance, and neither do we.

[sybylla]

27. Self-employed with insurance and huge deductibles

Bought it because we're relatively healthy and couldn't see forking out $8000+ a year for full coverage. That was when we started the business 8 years ago. This year, we'll fork out $8000+ a year for our fat deductible policy - provided we still have a business at the end of the year.

[countryjake]

28. Nope, haven't seen any doctor for more than a decade, either!

(And that's NOT because I'm so healthy!) Simply can't afford that type of luxury.

[graywarrior]

29. No. And I'm a hypochondriac

[npincus]

30. Suggestion: Add option

"No I don't but am covered by my spouse" (That's me! Without him, I'd be f*cked!)

[catabryna]

31. I checked the box that says,

in essence, my employer offers it but it is too expensive...

My deceased husband's employer offers it (COBRA), but I finally had to drop last month after the rate to keep my son and I insured increased to over $700.00 per month. And, I am not happy that I had to do it.

[michreject]

32. Have company paid full coverage

Also have full coverage from my wife's employer. What mine doesn't cover, my wife's does. Dual dental and optical.

[hunter]

33. Up to $10,000 we pay. After that insurance pays...

...cross fingers, knock on wood, because that's all there is for us.

For a supposedly "first world" nation the health care system in the United States
SUCKS ROTTEN EGGS THRU A STRAW!!!

If you are middle class in the United States and you require serious medical care, you will face bankruptcy. That's just the way it is.

This nation is stark raving insane not to have some sort of universal health care system. GM and other big U.S. corporations ought to be sending their lobbyists to Washington D.C. with shotguns, DEMANDING universal health care, but instead they seem to want this country to become some third-world sort of labor pool for the international elites. FUCK THEM ALL!

Pitchforks and torches.

Whew. Okay, let me take a few deep breaths.

There. I'm calm again.

O8)

[Orrin_73]

34. Here in Holland we had a very good healthcare

until the beginning of this year. Our minister of healthcare (Hoogervorst, member of VVD a liberal read libertarian party) changed the entire system. According to him healthcare in holland lacked competition so the universal healthcare provided by the state was abolished and given to the insurance companies. Until the end of last year we paid about 55 euro (63.8$) per person since the beginning of this year we pay 112 euro (130$) per person. Thats an increase of 200%. No one in Holland is happy with this we are totally screwed by these people. Now the insurance companies say they will raise the premium 13% this year and next year. We are becoming more and more like the USA and we dont like it.

[nickinSTL]

35. yes, but...

It doesn't cover the extra expense of my nutritional maintenance (I have mild PKU and have to take a VERY expensive protein supplement, which Missouri law doesn't require coverage for).

And, my fiancee, who has been (essentially) unemployed for almost 5 years now, has no medical coverage at all.

[Blue_In_AK]

36. We have health insurance though my husband's pension

but whereas they've been deducting $187 a month for his premium, this year it is almost $800 per month for the two of us. We don't even spend $800 a YEAR on medical care, but what are you going to do? At our age, it would be kind of risky to do without. But it's kind of a shock, given that his base pay hasn't changed.

[sandnsea]

37. A better polll would include Medicaid/Medicare

And also break down government employee health insurance. I'd like to see how many of us out here in no man's land have good health insurance.