What is the reason you do not have health insurance?

[tabbycat31]

[tridim]

1. I have crappy health insurance.

It's all I can afford. If I wasn't single I couldn't afford the crappy insurance.

[T Wolf]

2. I have shitty health insurance that leaves a lot uncovered. My OoP expenses are almost

what the premiums cost.

Now, if I am lucky enough to get cancer or have a terrible accident that would require a million dollars worth of care, I would only have to put up a couple of hundred thousand dollars for "my" share. Then, it will be worthwhile (NOT!).

But if I am unlucky enough to stay healthy and only do preventive medicine, I am screwed.

[Warpy]

3. When Blue Cross would still write a policy for me,

it would not have covered my pre existing condition and would then have been nothing but an accident policy. It was also too expensive. I had to choose between shelter and insurance and I figured shelter would be better for my health.

Now no one will write a policy, period.

Our system is irretrievably broken. I wish there were ways to force fools like Baucus to confront that fact. Bandaids like Masscare will no longer work.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. I bill insurance companies for a doctor--that's part of my job

And I see how the insurance companies work--they do their best to NOT pay anything, especially when it comes to a doctor working on diet/exercise/wellness issues. Why should I throw away my hard earned money just so BC/BS execs can have a billion dollar salary?

[TorchTheWitch]

5. can't afford it and pre-existing conditions

I'm an independent contractor and therefore get no health coverage through an employer. This makes getting affordable coverage - or ANY coverage regardless of price - an impossibility.

[Arkansas Granny]

6. I can't afford the premiums on my own and my employer has been unable to find

coverage for our small group that anyone can afford.

[guitar man]

7. I still have it- for now

But I'm afraid that if nothing changes between now and November, our next open enrollment at work, my family will not have any after the first of the year. I almost dropped it last year when I saw the premium increase and coverage decrease. They do the same thing this year and I'm out, what I've been paying all year log has broke me, I can't afford it anymore :(

[undeterred]

8. I can't afford to pay the premium and use it too.

Paying the premium is one thing. Paying the copays is another. It makes more sense for me to pay for prescriptions I can afford out of pocket than to try to pay a premium and copays too.

Everyone thinks you get health insurance with a job- but its optional for them to provide it.

There are companies that offer you "benefits" by presenting you with some different health plans- you pay the entire premium. They give you a glossy handout. But when you walk in the door and ask if they offer benefits, they say yes. They "offer" benefits but they don't provide them or pay for them.

[juno jones]

9. Can't afford it for one.

Because I take good care of myself, I also pay only a few hundred a year at most for my medical needs.

I've been offered crappy insurance a couple of times. High decuctable, low lifetime payment cap pieces of catastrophic shit which are almost worse than no insurance at all. I remember one capped out at 35,000. I'm not dumb and I know a scam when I see it.

Sure, I'm scared of catastrophe, but it's gonna wipe me out no matter what. In the meantime, I'm happy not to be paying for the salaries, junkets, perks, and parties of the insurance industry.

[KG]

10. non-employed.

[Vinca]

11. Can't afford it plus they don't want older people with a history.

[jannyk]

12. I Have Health Insurance - I Don't Have Health CARE!

$500 pm premiums, A $5,000 yearly deductible and no coverage for screenings or Meds, insures I do not visit a doctor for Health Care!