<p>“^^ He’s doing an awful lot of good in the world. I don’t particularly care that he’s eccentric.”</p>
<p>Indeed. I didn’t mean to imply any negatives.</p>
<p>Full agreement with 1of42. This expectation of a certain standard of living, which, if not completely met, results in a significant amount of the compaints about the lousy economy/poor government services.</p>
<p>^ It is the same way when admissions and fin-aid packages roll in.</p>
<p>“Full agreement with 1of42. This expectation of a certain standard of living, which, if not completely met, results in a significant amount of the compaints about the lousy economy/poor government services.”</p>
<p>That’s part of the reason I asked. I haven’t reviewed Mini’s information yet, but I remain curious as to how many people choose other things than health insurance, how many are temporarily uninsured, how many are here illegally, and how many genuinely need a helping hand.</p>
<p>Well, in my opinion, none of the children “chose” one way or the other.</p>
<p>“Well, in my opinion, none of the children “chose” one way or the other.”</p>
<p>They also don’t “chose” to be fed nutritional food versus junk food, but you don’t rely on the government to give them 3 nutritional meals per day if their parents don’t provide this for them.</p>
<p>“Well, in my opinion, none of the children “chose” one way or the other.”</p>
<p>There are adults at issue, here, as well, and parents do have a responsibility for their own children.</p>
<p>“That’s part of the reason I asked. I haven’t reviewed Mini’s information yet, but I remain curious as to how many people choose other things than health insurance, how many are temporarily uninsured, how many are here illegally, and how many genuinely need a helping hand.”</p>
<p>You’ll find that the single most common reason that folks don’t have insurance is that their employer doesn’t offer it. 46.5 million are uninsured for a year, 80% of whom are employed, 80% of whom are citizens, virtually all the rest are legal immigrants; over 5 years, probably 100 million are “temporarily insured” - they fall in an out of jobs in which there is insurance, or they get a job and lose their Medicaid coverage.</p>
<p>Here is the promised article from Health Affairs:</p>
<p>[The</a> U.S. Economy and Changes in Health Insurance Coverage, 2000-2006 - Kaiser Family Foundation](<a href=“http://www.kff.org/uninsured/kcmu022008oth.cfm]The”>The U.S. Economy and Changes in Health Insurance Coverage, 2000-2006 | KFF)</p>
<p>“A Foundation study featured as a web-exclusive Health Affairs article examines health coverage trends from 2000-2006 showing that over this period the dominant factor contributing to a rise in the uninsured population has been the decline in employer-sponsored insurance, even as the economy rebounded from the last recession.”</p>
<p>Sorry, simba (#202). I’m not sure why I misinterpreted your post.</p>
<p>“As Zoosermom says, parents do have a responsibility for their children, IF THEY CAN AFFORD HEALTH INSURANCE.”
The context of my statement was to separate out the different groups of uninsured to see who really is in need of a helping hand.</p>
<p>“To blame anybody in the U.S. who does not have health insurance just indicates a lack of understanding of how the system works.”</p>
<p>Anyone who thinks there aren’t individuals making choices is naive.</p>
<p>Who, among you, includes illegal immigrants into their number of uninsured?</p>
<p>NYMomof2: It is OK…It can be misinterpreted.</p>
<p>“Who, among you, includes illegal immigrants into their number of uninsured?”</p>
<p>Actually, there aren’t that many of them because a) MANY of them have health insurance through their employers, and b) in many states, they may be able to access Medicaid. So their numbers among the 46.5 million without insurance for a year is relatively small, though those numbers grow, proportionate to their incomes, among the 100 million or so who go on and off over a 5-year period. </p>
<p>Again, 80% of the uninsured are working, 80% are citizens, most of the rest are legal immigrants, and the main reason they don’t have insurance is that it is increasingly not offered by their employers (and they don’t qualify for Medicaid).</p>
<p>“That is the whole point Zoosermom. People (lots) really don’t have choices. Hopefully you won’t personally ever have to face the situation.”</p>
<p>What makes you think I haven’t? Really. Where do your assumptions come from? Don’t lump everyone on CC together, ok, because not everyone is wealthy, educated, anything.</p>
<p>I personally know a bunch on younger people who choose not to have health insurance and, in fact, have/do other things instead. My nephew was one for a while just after grad school.</p>
<p>Mini, I appreciate the statistice, but I was really trying to get a picture of what other posters were thinking, rather than hard facts. To try and see where other people are coming from, if that makes any sense at all.</p>
<p>Got it. The first “issue brief” I posted, gives lots of data on the “affordability” question, as well as the makeup of the uninsured, both children and adults. </p>
<p>There are people who “choose” not to have health insurance. In my opinion, the public cost of that is too great for society as a whole to afford, and the employer mechanism way too cumbersome a way to try to deal with it (as I think the failure of RomneyCare is increasingly demonstrating).</p>
<p>“I thought it was clear I was referring to people who “want” health care and don’t have choices. Sorry you misunderstood, or if I didn’t make myself clear.”</p>
<p>You said to me directly that you hope I never face that choice and I pointed out to you that you don’t know that.</p>
<p>i’m trying to stay out of this debate but I just wanted to give some input from someone who works in the health insurance field.</p>
<p>i talk to people EVERY DAY who have not had insurance in years, because they “cannot afford it”</p>
<p>there are HUGE amounts of people who simply cannot afford to pay 200-500 bucks a month for their own individual health plan - per person. i’ve seen individual policies rated at 1300 per month per person. </p>
<p>insurance costs are out of this world, and yes you can say that insurance companies are getting rich off it and this and that, but sometimes you have to step back and look at it from the other side. i had someone get a bill from a hospital for 109,000 dollars for an overnight stay. for one night in the hospital. medical costs are out of this world… and then you have all the malpractice suits and the fact that people will sue over the most minute details… plus you have the fact that doctors salaries are crazy high just as insurance salaries are crazy high… </p>
<p>it’s the entire system that needs looking at… there needs to be ways to reduce costs overall for everyone. </p>
<p>i think if people looked at what the costs of their health insurance plans actually are some of you may be very suprised and have a better understanding of this “cannot afford” situation… i have a feeling most of you are covered by group plans, which have lower rates then individual plans, plus a lot of you probably have employers subsidising the premium. </p>
<p>i’ll put my numbers out here right now as a 25 year old single female with 0 kids from PA just to make an example - i pay 73.12 every two weeks and my employer pays 146.04 every two weeks as well… so the cost of my plan for 26 pay checks (52 weeks) is 5698.16 and that’s just for me… now mind you, i have the best plan that my company offers and there are lesser expensive options, but i’m just making an example here. A lot of jobs aren’t providing insurance anymore, which is prompting people to have to get their own invididual coverage - which as i mentioned above, is more costly. not everybody in this world has such wonderful, great paying jobs so 6000.00 for health insurance for one person is quite a lot of money.</p>
<p>and as far as people saying the “cannot afford it” but they “can afford” other luxaries, that is true of some people yes, but not for all. I had a woman cancel her insurance the other day because “150 a month is 3 rounds of golf”. i wanted to ask her who was going to cover the medical bills when she gets hit on the head with a golfball but instead i told her to call us back if she changes her mind. but then on the other hand i have far more people who only have 300-400 a month left after rent and its either insurance or food - they just simply cannot afford insurance. i would say my most commonly asked question at work is “what do you have for less then 50 dollars?” and let me just say now, you’re not going to get much coverage in this day and age for 50 dollars a month. i’ve actually had people list all of their income and all of their expenses trying to find something that can work in their budget and believe me these budgets are tight. i try to find at least something for everyone - some coverage is better then no coverage… but it would be much better if there was a more affordable option for people.</p>
<p>I am uninsured. Our family lost our insurance when, many years ago, my husband’s employer had financial difficulties and stopped paying the premiums without informing the employees. We did not find out until months later when the insurance company sent us a bill for $5500 for back premiums that we had to pay if we wanted to continue insurance. We could not afford to pay the back premiums owed in addition to the future premiums. So we applied as an individual family and we were able to get coverage for my husband and two children. Because of pre-existing health conditions, I could not get insurance. Our premiums have risen from about $500/month to $1700/month. (that’s like a mortgage payment, isn’t it!!) Occasionally I try to get insurance.
Let’s see, the best offer I have had is $1000/month and no coverage for pre-existing health conditions for five years. If I took that offer, our total health insurance premium would be $2700/month and I would have basically no coverage for anything. (except maybe breaking my foot!). In any case, we can’t afford $2700/month. And we are a middle class family and would not qualify for Medicaid.</p>