Americans will be forced to buy health insurance under Obama's plan?

[John.St]

... But the reality of the situation is that over 80 percent of the people are happy with their insurance.

(your link):

4. Thinking about health care in the country as a whole, are you generally satisfied or dissatisfied with the quality of health care in this country?
2006 Sept. Dissatisfied, very: 23% Dissatisfied, somewhat: 31% - Net 54% Dissatisfied

5. And are you generally satisfied or dissatisfied with the total cost of health care in this country?
2006 Sept.
Dissatisfied, very: 22% Dissatisfied, somewhat: 58% - Net 80% Dissatisfied
Satisfied , very 5% Satisfied, somewhat 12%

31. (Of those who have health care coverage) Has your health insurance plan ever refused to pay for all or part of a medical treatment that you believe should have been fully covered, or not? All covered Yes: 32%

This is at odds with the summation in:

14. For each specific item I name, please tell me whether you are very satisfied with it, somewhat satisfied, somewhat dissatisfied or very dissatisfied.

The quality of health care you receive
52% Very satisfied and 37% somewhat satisfied

How can 89% be satisfied to any degree, when 22-23% are very dissatisfied?

Reminds me of elections in the good, old Sovjet Union where more than 100% voted.

 

[bigbadwolf]

What's the choice? Renouncing citizenship? The federal Internal Revenue Service retains the "right" to attach income and assets up to ten years after renunciation. Besides, what country (besides Argentina and a scant handful of other first-world states) would admit an American émigré to its own citizenship?

Which first-world states?

 

[Cheney]

But it is mandated. As a somewhat civilized country we do not turn people away at emergency rooms when they are in serious trouble or dying. Most of the people without insurance will never pay the bills. They will either disappear or declare bankruptcy.

The alternative would be to let people die if they show up at the emergency room without insurance, cash, or a credit card that can take the charges.

This is why insurance needs to be mandatory.

This argument makes generalities that "Most of the people will never pay" since you have no data to back of these facts is it really a poor argument. We do not have the choice of not paying without serious consequences.

 

[steveinba]

We do not have the choice of not paying without serious consequences.

Really? And do you think someone who has no money and a $100,000 bill for an emergency surgery has a choice to pay? That person will never pay more than a small fraction of the bill and it happens all the time. What are the "serious consequences?" Is the hospital going to break your kneecaps? Kill your children?

More likely just damage your credit score and send bill collectors after you. Big deal. Millions of people declare bankruptcy in American each year and the number one reason is medical expenses. That is a fact.

 

[RWS]

Which first-world states?

Under circumstances favorable to many Americans (I'm not one, but roughly forty percent of the population are estimated to be among them), Portugal, Ireland, Italy, a few others.

 

[citygirl]

I read that poll to mean that 80% are pleased with the quality of their healthcare. I don't disagree with that but I wouldn't extrapolate that to mean that 80% are pleased with their insurance provider. For example, I thought the care I received was great in the US. Dealing with the insurance companies was a living hell. They tried to come after me for bills that they screwed up paying, I was always having to try & calculate what was covered, what wasn't, which needed approvals and pre-certs, which didn't. Nightmare, nightmare, nightmare.

Cheney - I have Swiss Medical 02 plan. I pay 350 (roughly) pesos a month for full coverage. In the last few months, I have had to go to the hospital for the flu, a bad fall and a compressed nerve in my back. In each case, I walked in, handed them my card and that was it. Had CT scans, Xrays, MRIs, etc - no problem, no fuss. Love it.

 

[Cheney]

.I have Swiss Medical 02 plan. I pay 350 (roughly) pesos a month for full coverage. In the last few months, I have had to go to the hospital for the flu, a bad fall and a compressed nerve in my back. In each case, I walked in, handed them my card and that was it. Had CT scans, Xrays, MRIs, etc - no problem, no fuss. Love it.

I had a compressed nerve in my back many years ago. It was terrible but they were able to fix it in minutes.

Compared to the USA premiums 350 pesos a month is nothing. But do you think that you get more service than the money that you pay into it? Do you have any experience with the public hospitals?

I agree with you about the Bureaucracy of insurance companies is terrible. But from my experience the Bureaucracy of the government is no prize.

 

[Cheney]

I am also not sure what you mean by "not taking into account income" ? There is no pay scale for insurance plans- they do not cost less if you earn less. I did not give a concrete example as a sad story, I gave it to show how expensive healthcare is in the US. How is a family that earns 20-30 k a year supposed to afford that, or even half that, per month? My point is that people who do not have insurance, by and large do not have it because they cannot afford it. And the bill will not change the lives of a whole nation- if you like your private healthcare, you can keep it. Government run healthcare is never as good as private, but as we see here, there can be really good private healthcare in addition to public healthcare that can do good saving lives and minimizing costs and strain on emergency rooms.

[FONT=&quot]
What I am saying is that we can all find, personal or not, of extreme cases of people that are having a hard time finding affordable insurance.[/FONT] [FONT=&quot] But health care insurance also varies from state to state.[/FONT] [FONT=&quot]

Did you try varying states?[/FONT] [FONT=&quot] Did you know that Medicaid is a joint Federal and State program that helps pay medical costs for some people with limited incomes and resources.

There are some people that are stating that people are dying every day because they lack adequate healthcare insurance and there are people dying with adequate healthcare insurance.

This whole issue is being addressed by my intellectually athletic president consistently uses generalities or specific tragic situations to bring home his point instead of using genuine facts and studies.[/FONT]

 

[citygirl]

In my experience - the service here has been incredible and worth every penny. Good medical care, good customer service, everything.

As far as the public hospitals - I have not been in them but as I posted, I had a friend with life-threatening injuries who was treated in Fernandez and she received great urgent care while she was there for several weeks. I know the care varies in the hospitals but if I didn't have health insurance, I wouldn't hesitate to go to a public hospital here.

 

[John.St]

I read that poll to mean that 80% are pleased with the quality of their healthcare.

How does that agree with

4. Thinking about health care in the country as a whole, are you generally satisfied or dissatisfied with the quality of health care in this country? 2006 Sept.

Dissatisfied, very: 23%
Dissatisfied, somewhat: 31%
Dissatisfied, Net 54%

No matter how you calculate, even (unrealistically) including all the 31% somewhat dissatisfied as being somewhat satisfied, there is no way to reach above 78% somewhat satisfied.