How many people here currently have insurance but can't afford medical treatment?

[Political Heretic]

The number could be small, given the fact that I firmly believe DU demographics are similar to KOS demographics, which means something near 70% of DU would be upper middle class (i.e. rich to those living in actual poverty) white people....

But I was just curious to see how many people currently have insurance but cannot afford to actually use use it when they need serious medical care.

That was me when I had insurance.

[Donnachaidh]

1. That's the situation in my house. n/t

[rox63]

2. I do use it when I'm sick, and pays a good portion of those costs

But it doesn't cover preventative care, like checkups and prescriptions. So I have to pay for those myself, which is why I haven't had a checkup in a couple of years.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

3. That would be me.

I am on a Kaiser plan but cannot afford a surgery I should have but can live without for now.

[Warpy]

4. Not only that, but getting diagnosed with something chronic

means you are locked into your job forever, afraid to leave because you know you'll never be able to get insurance again that will cover it as a pre existing condition.

For profit insurance is worse than useless, it's downright deadly.

[cdsilv]

7. Me. I was hospitalized earlier this year....

...the bill amounted to ~$21k (w/o insurance benefits applied). I got the statement from the hospital yesterday - after a ~$14k CONTRACTUAL DISCOUNT, my insurance paid ~$5k and I'm on the hook for $1300, which I can't afford. I'll work something out, but I can't believe that the hospital is not making a profit on the ~$6300 that they'll end up getting.

What about the poor folks w/o insurance who would be expected to cough up the entire $21k without a 'contractual discount'?

They want some followup tests that I can't afford the co-pay or deductible for, so I'll just have to do without.

Oh yeah, I'm not below the poverty line, but I am making about 1/2 of what I made just a few years ago. In IT.

[Marr]

5. Right here. In fact, my insurance payment *is* the reason I can't

afford to visit the doctor. I'm supposed to go about every three months to have check-ups for condition. If I paid it out of pocket, those visits would be about what three months of insurance payments cost.

Insurance refuses to pay for a dime of my costs, so I go every six months.

[leftofcool]

6. I do, I do!

Have the insurance with a 2400 deductable, each for hubby and self. Can not afford to have yearly colonoscopy after bout with colon cancer so have to do it every other year after saving money. Going to the doctor for regular cancer check ups is out of the question.

[Ozymanithrax]

8. My Health insurance covers medical care ($20.00 deductible)

and medicines ($20.00 deductible) and pays for annual checkups. It is worth every cent.

[Mari333]

9. me. catastrophic care is all thats available.

ergo, no doctor visits no anything. just keep my fingers crossed til I hit 65.

[emsimon33]

10. $500+ a month premium and $10,000 deductible before they pay one cent

I have had and have no serious medical conditions. In fact, I take no over-the-counter or prescription drugs, I eat vegan, exercise at least 30 minutes a day, don't smoke or drink alcohol or coffee, and have parents in their 80s and grandparents who died in their late 90s.

I go to a clinic in Mexico once a year for my check up. It costs about $1000 but at least I know that I am healthy. I sure could not afford a check up here in this country.

[napi21]

11. Good Lord? Is that the best deal you could find? That's crazy!

I can't imagine anyone able to afford such high premiums for something they can't even afford to use!

[emsimon33]

13. Hey, I am not so very unusual.

I have several friends who health insurance cost far exceeds the cost of their mortgage. What people sitting smug with health insurance now don't realize is that if there is no public option, soon they will see their insurance rates go up so high that their companies will either make them pay part or will drop coverage.

No one, except CEOs and those in Congress and the administration, are safe.

And you fool yourself if you think otherwise.

The cost to tax payers to pay for those who can not afford mandated health insurance will bankrupt this country (not that we aren't already)unless there is a public option.

[truedelphi]

18. Toitally agree withyou. It is amazing to me that most people do not understand that

But then 22% of the nation believed that we won the war in Iraq.

So go figure...

[subterranean]

17. How much does a checkup cost in this country??

I've never had one, but I can't imagine it would cost more than $1000. Maybe I'm wrong about that.

[emsimon33]

22. Ah, you forget the price of all the tests, blood work, etc.

I get a very thorough check up with all types of tests in Mexico. Here, I can't even begin to guess the costs.

On edit, for example, my skin check alone in the US the last time I had it here--with the removal of some moles that turned out to be OK, was over $1000! That's included with my checkup in Mexico.

[leftyladyfrommo]

12. That would be me!

I'm paying $6,000 a year for absolutely nothing.

[saracat]

14. Thats me. I soon will no longer be able to afford treatment and I have

already stopped taking some of my medications. I just stopped. Even the generic of one was $65 a month and another would also be about that and there is no generic available. Adding it all up with other things I take I could be paying several hundred a month in drugs.I can't afford them but I am not eligable for any programs , yet. Maybe if I lose my house and everything is gone I would qualify.Another reason HCR is crap.BTW this is all with private insurance that we are bankrupting ourselves for at $1600 a month.Thank god we have a drug plan:sarcasm:

[TheKentuckian]

15. I have nothing now but my last policy did that

The payments left nothing for even the $65 co-pays much less anything else medically related.

I don't think a good segment of folks have any idea about not having $65 on hand at any given time and with cost sharing increasing people may be required to come up with significantly more than that.

Insurance you can't afford to use is a "Death Panel" of one. You don't use unless you think you're going to die and even then you might have to borrow some of the price of admission, if you can.

[boobooday]

16. Sometimes the copays are expensive n/t

[Dappleganger]

19. That would be us.

Wasn't like this a year ago. The new insurance we bought is extremely expensive with a very high deductible and highly-rationed care. Pretty close to catastrophic insurance as you can get. But you know what, even the last employer's insurance deductibles went up extremely high so it's not that far off.

Thankfully the selling on craigslist is going pretty well this year, it does help to offset the cost.

[Mimosa]

20. Me!

My primary medical problem is excluded from my policy coverage. We are over 50, and way too young for Medicare, therefore we cannot 'switch' from BC/BS individual policies because competing policies cost the same and would also exclude pre-existing even if they would accept us. (DH self-employed). Our 70/30 annual $10,000 deductible policies cost about $800 a month in GA. Prescriptions not covered due to excluded conditions!

Also, the cost of the policies means that we've no leftover money to pay for the high deductible costs of treatments for dermatologist stuff like mole examination biopsy and removal, etc.

If the economy doesn't get better SOON we might have to drop health insurance in favor of paying our mortgage and eating.

[Political Heretic]

21. Kick for more feedback - a lot of people won't be much better off under "insurance reform"

if you can't afford to access medical care now, you can't afford to access medical care after this insurance bill passes.

[Mimosa]

23. K&R n/t

[Political Heretic]

24. Kick.