Oh, come on. The first is totally different from the second and the third. Income is a huge factor in where one "chooses" to live. When your options are limited, then you can't suggest that "choice" is completely voluntary. There are people of all backgrounds who work hard every day and make an honest living, but cannot afford to live somewhere safer than they do. Roberchr asked if you really think anybody "WANTS" to live in a place with a high murder rate. Your pointing out that people "choose" to live there in no way proves that this is what they "want."

typical attitude that is destroying this country. Someone else take care of me while I do what I want.

Also, do people post useless, redundant messages to thread that should have died long ago?

Reno wrote that living in dangerous places is simply a matter of choice. Thanks for pointing out that even you could see that he was incorrect, and that if you can see it, perhaps he should have.

For some, it's easier to stay in a bad area than to make the sacrifices necessary to get out.

IMHO, most all of our lives are simply matters of choices we make.

Yes, for some. But not all.

Perhaps most. But not all.

???
What is obvious to you might not be so obvious to Reno, who is - in fact - the person to whom I was replying. Reno wrote that living in dangerous places is simply a matter of choice. Thanks for pointing out that even you could see that he was incorrect, and that if you can see it, perhaps he should have.

So um, through Aetna, I buy insurance.

It's $92 a month, has a $3000 deductible and after that everything is totally covered.

If I get cancer, shove my femur into my stomach, blow my shoulder, or get a hit and run on my bike, I'm covered 100% after the first $3000. That and I get 2 teeth cleanings a year.

I'm completely self employed, there is no employer help, this is just the cost of insurance.

I don't have any conditions and I'm in generally good shape so I'm not into the doctor often. If you need to have regular visits, this would probably be a bit too pricey.

Look into it though, health insurance is affordable.

When I went to school, they covered 50% of what they considered a fair price.

I had an RA blood test. It cost 300. They said 50 miles away I could have had it for 200 so they only covered half of that price. That's just an example, not a huge money loss but you see their principles.

Our family insurance is over $750 a month and there is still a $2000 deductible.

Right off the bat, there is a huge difference between a "family" policy, and an "individual" policy. Kids get sick, get hurt, and get various immunizations on a schedule. They are expensive to insure. Plus it puts you in the pool that covers pregnancies.
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Speaking of which, you guys need to cut the OP some damm slack. If he can’t afford it, he can’t afford it. College students have no income (literally) yet they still have to pay all the same bills any other working class American has to (fuel, car payment, blah, blah).

If you guys were in college, didn’t make shit for income, could not afford insurance, and got injured you would be very quick to complain to your friends about how its bull shit insurance is so damm expansive and you can’t afford it.

The retiree in question won't qualify for Medicare for another 10 years.

Just because the gov't runs it doesn't make it cheaper.

I was curious as to how much insurance in the private sector would be for me. I called the most known university on the island and asked them what I would have to pay as a full time student at their college. They wanted $180 a month for me for a shitty ass plan that doesn’t even cover climbing accidents. I don’t smoke, I am in very good health, I am 22 years old and I go to the doctor about twice a year. All in all I cost the Navy maybe $200 a year in medical expenses at this time. Yet they want to charge me 12x what I created in medical bills last year and provide near useless coverage options. How the fuck is that reasonable? The insurance on my $18k truck is 1/3rd the cost of what my medical insurance would be and they have had to pay out many thousands to me for claims. With absolutely insane prices and near useless coverage plans that don’t even cover climbing accidents, it’s not hard to see how the OP can’t afford it.

And again, health care is EXPENSIVE. it won't get cheaper just because the gov't administrates it.

Insurance companies have to make a profit;

It should get cheaper if the government administers it properly. Insurance companies have to make a profit; government does not.

Health insurance shouldn't even exist. The idea behind insurance is to pool money from many individuals to cover the cost of a rare but expensive event. If everybody has one chance in a million of experiencing a 1 million dollar event, then insurance obviates the need for everyone to have 1 million dollars on hand that they will probably never need. But health isn't like that. Most people will, at some point in their lives, need health care that they will not be able to afford. It's time that we accept that and make health care a public service, like every other modern country on the planet does. The health system (or lack of it) in this country is little more than a giant scam to sell health insurance, an overpriced product that shouldn't exist in the first place.

Jay

Insurance companies have to make a profit; government does not.

It should get cheaper if the government administers it properly.

In some ways I agree, there shouldn't be health insurance. Straight fee-for-service, MDs will be forced to compete and lower prices, although the best MDs can charge more, just like any other product. The idea of third-party payers drives up prices.

Find me a large health insurance company that is turning a profit.

Next, in order for the government to provide a similar level of care as now exists, but costs less, one or more of several things has to happen (NOT an all-inclusive list):

1) payroll has to decrease- doctors, nurses, allied health services (PT,OT, speech, etc), adminstrator payroll must decrease.

The best minds won't be doctors here anymore.

Lots of Canadian doctors have moved here. How many Asian and Indian docs do you see here? Why do you think that is? They have socialized medicine in China.

Top MBAs wont work in health care anymore.

2) Taxes will need to go up (a lot).

WHERE, exactly, is the evidence the government can administer ANYTHING properly?

"In 2006, the nation's six biggest private health insurers collectively earned almost $11 billion in profits." — Consumer Reports

The purpose of a national health care system is not to produce rich doctors; it's to maintain a healthy population. If that makes the US a less attractive target to greedy doctors from other countries, I'm fine with that.

That's fine, since insurance premiums will go down by a greater amount.

That's fine. Doctors and nurses are overpaid.