I don't have Health Insurance and I don't need Health Insurance

[Blue State Blues]

A rant in 4 parts.

Part 1: I don't have Health Insurance.

Don't get me wrong, I pay for coverage. I pay nearly $1000 a month in premiums for a healthy family of four. As of the end of this month, I face a 21% increase in those premiums. But what I get for that outrageous monthly fee is not really, "insurance."

"Insurance" is something that is there when you need it. You pay your premiums every month, and then IF something happens, you're insured. So no, what I have isn't insurance.

Because I buy my coverage through the poorly regulated individual market, what I have is "insurance" only as long as no member of my family is ill. But if anyone becomes ill and the illness becomes expensive, my insurance company will work very hard to find a pretext to deny or cancel my coverage.

So I don't really have insurance. It's more like a weather report -- I have a 20% chance of insurance if I really need it. So, to recap, next year, paying more than $1000 a month will buy me an 80% (or greater) chance of getting nothing in return.

Part 2: I don't need Health Insurance

But here's the thing, I don't need health insurance. I don't need insurance at all.

Insurance is the wrong model. Insurance is something I get in case I need it. I insure my car, though I've never been in an accident and hope not to be. I insure my home knowing that it will probably never burn down. I insure my life through term insurance which is essentially a bet between me and the company -- they're betting I won't die before the term expires, and while I hope they're right, just in case, I want to be sure that my family would have that protection if I did. In all of these cases, I pay my premiums and I may never use my coverage. The insurance company makes a profit by spreading the risk around a large number of customers, knowing that only a relatively small percentage of them will ever need to be paid the benefit.

But when it comes to health, the question isn't IF I will need it, it's WHEN. Sooner or later every one of us will need health care. And sooner or later, it will be expensive care.

Currently, the industry is making a bet: they cover only the young and employed betting that by the time health care gets expensive they will not have to pay. Either the customer gets old enough to become eligible for Medicare, or looses the ability to work and looses work-based coverage. In any case, no longer the industry's problem. It's a good bet for them and the house usually wins.

But for consumers, it is a system that sucks money out of the economy. It's a system that fails to provide care. It is a system that is morally unconscionable. Or, to put it plainly, it's not simply a stupid investment, it is wrong.

So I don't need Health Insurance. I don't want Health Insurance. I need HealthCARE.

Part 3: I don't need more choices

I have choices right now, but they're all bad. I can pay too much for unreliable coverage from Company A, or I can pay too much for unreliable coverage from Company B, or I can take my chances and go without.

I have read proposed plans that would allow me to choose a level of coverage based on my needs, paying more for more coverage and less for bare-bones plans that provide less.

But here's the question, how do I know what I need? I'm healthy, so at the moment I don't need a plan that would cover certain reoccurring costs that for example someone with a chronic condition might need. I don't take any prescriptions, so I don't need a drug benefit.

But I have seen, sadly, how in a moment all of that can change. Young, healthy people get cancer, even with no known risk factors. I have no assurance that when I least expect it, I might be hit by a car, or struck by lightening, or eat cookie dough tainted with E. Coli and suddenly need a level of care that I didn't plan on when I signed a contract.

I know what I need now, but I can't know what I might need tomorrow, so I don't need choices.

Part 4: What I need ...

I need a system that spreads the risk around, including the young and the healthy as well as the aged and the ill. I need a system that doesn't just cover me and my family, because we don't live in a universe unto ourselves, we live in a community. My community suffers when my neighbors are forced into bankruptcy by medical bills. My community suffers when my neighbors are too sick to work. My community suffers when my neighbors die because they lack access to care they can afford. I need a system that covers everyone.

I need a system that doesn't suck money out of my pockets and put it in the hands of lobbyists who work against my interest. (Believe me, I have other places to spend that money -- my local economy, for example.) I need a system that doesn't put healthcare choices in the hands of MBAs, but leaves them in the hands of my MD.

I need a system that covers a minor illness or a major illness, an acute illness or a chronic illness, and doesn't rely on my ability to predict the unknown. I need a system that covers my kids as well as it covers their grand-parents. A system that covers my day-care provider every bit as well as it covers the CEO of my company, but charges them based what they can afford to pay.

What I need is affordable, reliable, universal healthcare.

It's called MEDICARE FOR ALL.

[LynzM]

1. Very excellent points.

Pass this one around! :thumbsup:

[Junkdrawer]

2. K&R

Well said

[cascadiance]

3. Great job, maybe add a line as follows...

My community could get wiped out if many without insurance don't get treated with a mutated pandemic virus like the swine flu, and it spreads to us that have insurance, but we still die because of lack of "community prevention".

[Lifelong Protester]

4. You got me with a great teaser topic line

and made excellent points in your post.

Rec'd, BTW.

[SandWalker1984]

5. Excellent post - you get it, we get it, why not Congress?

Because they are being heavily influenced by corporate lobbyists donations. We can't fight them on that playing field.

We can, however, change the field to even up the fight.

I suggest the following:

If Obama and the Democrats cheat us out of a public option equivalent to Medicare, without triggers, that gives every American the option of joining an affordable public plan....

If they give us instead the corporate designed Baccus plan that calls for MANDATES to buy PRIVATE insurance, without any controls or restrictions on what they can charge us....

then I say we should start an organization similar to MoveOn.org, one perhaps called ThrowThemOut.org that's goal is to THROW EVERY MEMBER OF THE HOUSE AND SENATE OUT OF OFFICE THAT REFUSES TO SUPPORT A TRUE PUBLIC CHOICE OPTION FOR EVERYONE IN THE SYSTEM.

Democrat or Republican, it makes no difference. You vote against us, we vote against you.

That's the only true power we have against the big corporate donations to Congress -- our votes. We can vote in elections, corporations cannot.

If we band together, along with all the groups and organizations that support a single payer or public option health care plan, including labor unions, then YES WE CAN throw the bums out of office!

We need to organize NOW so those in Congress understand there will be consequences for their actions.

[markbark]

29. We can vote in elections, corporations cannot.

Tell that to Diebold....

[wolfgangmo]

47. Our vote is only as good as the method of tabulation.

There is no doubt among the online community of internet and network security experts (bugtraq) that the election, if not stolen in 2004 in Ohio, could have been by a not too bright monkey, and we had no method of tracking or auditing.

Our election process has been compromised.

[ooglymoogly]

45. The only true power we have left is the power to strike

in mass; To stop buying from anyone or anything of corporate origin that we know to be against us. To buy only from mom and pop grocery stores, to buy pizza from locally owned shops etc. I am not saying stay home from work at this stage though that in the end might become necessary. That is the power we have and that is the power we must use; To buy from only those entities that have proven friendly to our cause like Jet blue and the like. We must parse very carefully who we buy from and all the info necessary to do that is plain to see. The so called msm is a good example; They are not even vaguely for the people of this country. If they have been bought off or are buying people off to do their bidding, they should be off limits. If we could just organize to do that, you would see how quickly things would change. It is putting to action the phrase "I am tired of this and I'm not going to take it anymore".

[glinda]

6. Obermann should read this out loud on tv. Someone should. So true.

But you are getting a deal as we paid 1300/mo just for two people.

[Blue State Blues]

17. $1300/mo for two?!

Ok, first off, I'm blushing over the compliment, thanks ... but this:

But you are getting a deal as we paid 1300/mo just for two people.

That reeks. And another example of how unlevel the playing field is -- another post I read somewhere, maybe here, maybe it was a comment on a blong, I don't really recall, but it was a guy who was paying $950 a month, just for him. He was hoping to hold on long enough to reach medicare eligibility.

My current coverage has a high deductible, no drug benefit, and doesn't cover lab work. I'm hoping that for that price, your coverage is better, at least on paper.

[glinda]

25. Husband now is able to be on Medicare. It actually pays for the first time most of his Drug cost.

I on the other hand, pay 400/mo with little benefits at that rate. It stinks. I also cannot work until I can get help paying for my mandatory surgery (thousands) so the money comes from my husband's retirement premiums. If we did not have that I would be sunk. We actually just have my Insurance so that if I get sick while trying to figure out how to pay for my surgery, then at lest we will have a small bit of help but not much.

[Dr.Phool]

27. My wife was paying over $800 per month, just to add me!

[oldironside]

54. I'm stunned by this.

I never realised just how much it costs. I'm English, but live and work in Germany. I earn a decent (but not outrageous) salary, am covered by the excellent universal German system (prescription drugs cost 10 euros whatever they are, visits to the doctor or specialists are free at the point of use apart from a 10 euro per quarter practice fee), and my total monthly tax bill is roughly what you are paying for health insurance. There is something very wrong here.

[SammyWinstonJack]

7. How many of the Town Hall brawlers would be opposed to MEDICARE FOR ALL?

And for what reasons? :shrug:

For that matter, how many Americans would be opposed to MEDICARE FOR ALL?

[DesertFlower]

8. K&R. nt

[Vinca]

9. A great post. You boiled it down to 4 important talking points

even a Republican could understand.

[Blue State Blues]

20. I was trying for something simple, clear ...

that might get through to my right wing relatives.

But I think it would take at least another editing pass through the text ... too many big words.

[Joe Fields]

10. I really liked you rant. Well reasoned. k&r

[Generic Other]

11. Bookmarked and rec'd!!

A very articulate well-laid out argument!

[CrispyQ]

12. An excellent commentary!

"So I don't really have insurance. It's more like a weather report -- I have a 20% chance of insurance if I really need it."

The comparison to a weather report was brilliant! And funny. But sad, too.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[SallyMander]

13. Awesome post. K&R

:toast:

[teknomanzer]

14. Did you read my thoughts yesterday?

I was mulling over the health care crisis and came to the very same conclusion. Health INSURANCE is a very poor model for health care. In life there are three unavoidable truths. You will will get old. You will get sick. You will die. Sorry to bum you out but those are the facts.

What that means is that everyone who lives will need some type of health care in their lives - it is inevitable - unavoidable. That is why all people need access not insurance. Just as you stated insurance was designed to help manage risk, such as driving a car. Private insurance can't be used to cover the unavoidable condition of being human - unless you rig the system to create losers by denying people's claims.

The best solution to this problem is single payer universal health care. Why should anyone have the right to profit off the suffering of others. Its fucking sick! The public option is weak, but better than nothing. The public option started on a "trigger" is a bullshit cop out. And if I am forced by law to pay for some weak ass private insurance so some bottom feeding assholes can stay rich - well, I can't tell you how angry that would make me.

[ejpoeta]

15. AMEN!! exactly right!

[Zenlitened]

16. K&R

[Hissyspit]

18. .

[Lydia Leftcoast]

19. I agree with everything you said

My insurance premiums aren't as high as yours, since I don't have any dependents, but since I'm self-employed with a variable income, there have been many months when I would have preferred to use that money for something else, or at least to choose when in the month to pay it.

But forget that last wish. About two years ago, my insurance company informed me that I had two choices: either pay my full premium for the year by check or have it withdrawn from my bank account on a date of THEIR choosing (fortunately, the same date every month--mighty big of them, but earlier than is usually convenient for me).

I have paid about $18,000 in premiums for...NOTHING. OK, well, I get about a 20% discount on services from preferred providers, but that doesn't even begin to balance out all those premiums. Think of all the health care I could have bought for $18,000.

Oh, and with deductibles and co-pays, my out-of-pocket is $10,000, which goes up to $25,000 if I have the nerve to get sick out of network.

[Blue State Blues]

22. the "for nothing" is what burns me, too

It's not even that I have to spend the money ... ok, so that bugs me too. But to know that everything I pay goes to fuel a corrupt, wasteful and bloated industry ...

I just imagine what it could be if instead that money were INVESTED in a system that provides CARE. If it were instead an INVESTMENT in the health of my community and my country.

Instead of investment, we have gambling; we place our bets and take our chances with an industry, that, like the casinos, knows the odds and sets the game so the house always wins.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

23. I would have no problem whatsoever with paying the same premium

and getting actual CARE, either free at point of service or with a modest co-pay.

But paying all this money for NOTHING is infuriating.

Yes, I pay for car insurance, but it's much less than my health insurance, and my car insurer actually PAYS UP when I have a problem.

[wolfgangmo]

51. I would go so far as to say that my bookie pays up.

The insurance guys tend to ... not pay.

If I had to pay for insurance (no I don't have any nor do any of our employees at our MEDICAL CLINIC (we can't afford to offer it even to me - the owner) then I would be more likely to take the premium and lay it on a horse.

At least I know it would pay off if it came in.

[Laelth]

21. Agreed. k&r n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[dysfunctional press]

24. obama could have chosen to be seen as a great president...

but he's apparently decided that he'd rather be just another corporate lackey.

go figure...:shrug:

[Dr.Phool]

26. Send that as an e-mail to the White House.

And to your representatives.

[unapatriciated]

48. I think with Blue State's permission we should all send it to the WH and all Congress Critters.

[Blue State Blues]

49. Permission granted

I hereby set this post free. Use in part or in whole with attribution, rework into your own words, whatever works for you.

[unapatriciated]

53. thank you.

[autorank]

28. Brilliant k*r

[NikolaC]

30. K&R

[SavageDem]

31. Well spoken.

Just one quibble, and it's grammatical in nature. In Part 2, paragraph 4, you say:

Either the customer gets old enough to become eligible for Medicare, or looses the ability to work and looses work-based coverage.

The correct word to use in each of the bolded instances in loses. To "loose" is to set free, whereas to "lose" is to suffer deprivation of.

Sorry. Pet peeve of mine. But I loved the essay!

[Blue State Blues]

35. Thank you

Thank you for the edit. I know the grammar, but I don't have an editor's eye.

Even though I occasionally muff looses/loses or even it's/its, however I guarantee that I never commit the sin against English of "utilize" instead of "use."

[scarletwoman]

32. Excellent! k&r (nt)

[onlyadream]

33. Very logically put!

Mediare for All! I said this the other day and I don't know why the politians haven't been saying it. It is easy to understand and much easier to implement. Just expand the program to everyone!

[Soylent Brice]

34. K&R

[OwnedByFerrets]

36. I'm sorry, its not in your future. Nor are lower costs.

And I am heartsick over it. Good luck.

[d_r]

37. great post

thank you

[Paper Roses]

38. Fantastic post and correct on all points. I have paid for health

insurance all my life and have been fortunate enough not to really use it except for things like annual exams, sinus infection or other small things. When I was self-employed, I lived in dread of anything happening because my coverage was not very good and I didn't trust the insurance companies. Could not afford a policy with good coverage. Why the self-employed get slammed is beyond me. The only reason the insurance companies would tell me is that my premiums were high because I was not in a "group". Nuts, the self-employed are a huge group and should not be singled out is this way. Everyone should be equal based on the fact that they ARE, not on the fact that they are PART OF. This "group" stuff is bogus!!!

So now I am a senior and the insurance situation does not go away. Medicare for all, people say and that is probably a good idea. There are problems with the current Medicare arrangement too. With the economy so bad, and with many of us having dated skills,the possibility of finding and keeping a job is very hard. Many of us have been laid off and cannot find work. We rely on Social Security to survive.

Medicare, with it's co-pays, deductibles, balance billing, and with the current $96.00 a month cost before any supplements, It can easily reach about $5000.00 a year-for one person. Basic Medicare does not come without strings attached. Need drugs? Supplement. Need Tests and Doc exams-supplement. No dental, no eye. I know Medicare is better than nothing as long as people have the means to pay for the parts that make it a complete package.

So I guess what I am saying is we need Medicare for all, revamped to make all things equal for all citizens. I don't think I'll live to see it.

[Blue State Blues]

42. it's not just the self-employed who get slammed

even with "group" it all depends on which group you belong to.

When I was working for one company that provided group benefits, they were able to offer plans for individuals for a few hundred dollars a month, but almost every year they would switch insurance companies because the rates would jump every year. Talk about not being able to choose your doctor, I've had to change my doctor 3 times because my insurance changed!

Then a few years later, I worked for a larger company, and because they were a bigger company, they got better rates from the insurers.

On the other hand, a small company or a small non-profit gets rates almost as bad in the individual market -- worse, if they dare to keep employees who are over 35 or employees who have illnesses, or are fortunate enough to have survived cancer.

Think about the impact that has to have on hiring practices, on raises and retention -- having older employees costs more. Having employees with chronic conditions or a history of illness costs more. Having female employees of child-bearing age costs more. Is in any way possible that employers don't factor that in to the equation when they are hiring new employees or laying of current ones?

And yes, Medicare is not perfect, but boy is it an improvement over what we have under Private Insurance.

[unapatriciated]

52. I lost my job and Insurance in the early 90's because my son dared to get sick.

It was in the second year of my son's ten year battle with active Dermatomyositis.
He was put on my ex's group plan, his illness wasn't covered for six months because now it was "pre-existing". He still needed his care and medication, so we had to sell our home to pay for the six months of care not covered.
After a year my ex lost his job, by this time I had found employment with benefits but had to fight to get my son enrolled and another wait time for coverage and more debt.
Oh did I mention all the fighting, denials and "reviews" that interrupted treatment when he actual had insurance coverage, which created more debt.
Yes we didn't need Insurance Coverage, we needed Health Care, something the Insurance Industry made almost impossible to get.
My I have your permission to send your Op to the WH and Congress? saw that you already granted it, thank you.

[earcandle]

39. Well done!

[Bill McBlueState]

40. excellent

About your point 4:

we don't live in a universe unto ourselves, we live in a community. My community suffers when my neighbors are forced into bankruptcy by medical bills. My community suffers when my neighbors are too sick to work. My community suffers when my neighbors die because they lack access to care they can afford.

The problem in the US is that we have a smallish but politically powerful cadre of people who absolutely fail to understand this type of reasoning. Our national myth of rugged individualism really hurts the quality of life in the US.

[sui generis]

41. A-friggin'-men!

[Eyerish]

43. Excellent post! K&R

You are exactly right, it's about HealthCARE not Insurance. It's an absolute shame more people don't understand that.

[Melissa G]

44. This post exactly sums up my feelings and experience

It is why I have not really gotten into this discussion. I'm not fighting for Obama's plan because I don't believe it will solve my problem or the country's problem. It may solve a perceived political problem, but it just entrenches a bad fix and a bad framing.

We need affordable, reliable, universal healthcare for our families security and to make America competitive in the world. Universal Healthcare for all just makes sense. A lot more sense than all the money we pour into senseless wars that never should have been. Lots cheaper, too.

I find it sad that Obama has to say Healthcare is not worth paying one extra penny in our budget for, but no problem if we need to pay billions for bombs half a world away. There is something inherently wrong with our country's budget and priorities.

[mirrera]

46. Exactly! K&R

[NNN0LHI]

50. Doesn't Blue Cross process claims for Medicare?

Isn't Blue Cross considered an insurance company?

Don

[lame54]

55. We allowed the Insurance Company's a "seat at our table"

and they have eaten lavishly leaving us scrambling for crumbs.

Medicare needs work, part D should be the first thing we change.

[jonestonesusa]

56. Excellent post.

What a succinct way to get to the core of the health care issue. I wish this is what we were hearing from all Democratic elected officials (and Republicans too).

[progressivebydesign]

57. Bravo! That's what I have.. Individual INSURANCE, but I don't have healthcare.

I am able to purchase a private insurance with a ridiculous deductible... and hope that nothing in between health and catastrophe happens. I should be covered, should anything big happen, but if I break a limb, I'm paying for it. I don't have prescriptions (luckily I don't need any), and it only covers 4 regular doctor visits a year (with coinsurance of 50%) When I fell and broke a bone in my foot a few years ago, I actually didn't go to the doctor because I didn't have the money to cover it... because the insurance wouldn't kick in at all. Every time it's going to snow, that spot in my foot aches wildly the day before.

[BREMPRO]

58. MY VOTE FOR BEST RANT OF THE YEAR! Very well crafted argument.

One thing that occurred to me after reading your post is that the reason that Medicare/Medicaid passed in the first place, is that it was a compromise to the Insurance "industry" that allowed them to make more profit- so instead of medicare for all, we got medicare for the people with the highest cost of care! It was a financial boon for them. And look what they have done with this gift- turned their profit into a money sucking, monopolistic, obscenity.

I just heard on the Diane Rehm show a caller who is self employed and pays $1000 per month for her coverage, which is already too much. She just got a letter from Blue-Cross saying her premium was going up to $1300 (a 30% INCREASE!) because....they claimed that they were now going to have to cover pre-existing conditions! So in essence they are pre-emptively increasing her rates in anticipation of having to actually do what they should be doing anyway! OMFG! I was so boiled by this. I'm sure there are other reasons for the increase and they may have just used this excuse to both raise her premium- and to kill health insurance reforms. Fuck THEM! THIS is why we NEED a non-profit PUBLIC OPTION. The insurance companies won't let there profits decrease- they will find some way to keep their 30% middleman do nothing but create paperwork and grief cut.

We've been had and it's time to take a principled stand against this blood sucking industry.

We also need to get out of the "fee for service' model of care, and model best practices.

[valerief]

59. I need that, too!

:applause:

[Kermitt Gribble]

60. K&R!! Excellent post! n/t

[Uncle Joe]

61. Excellent!

Thanks for the thread, Blue State Blues.:thumbsup:

[Butch350]

62. I'll buy that for a dollar!