47 million are without insurance in U.S. Associated Press Nov. 10, 2010, 10:16AM ATLANTA â The government says the number of uninsured Americans is now nearly 47 million, up about 7 percent from 2006. And a large percentage of people say they have put off health care for conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure. However, the rate of uninsured has not increased significantly in recent years. That's in part because the population has also been growing and because the proportion of uninsured children has been shrinking. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a report this week on the uninsured based on tens of thousands of in-person interviews for the years 2006 through early 2010. The number of people who said they were uninsured at the time they were interviewed is up from almost 44 million in 2006. People also were asked if they had been without health insurance at some point in the previous year. About 59 million said yes. Last year, more than 40 percent of uninsured adults said they recently skipped some medical care because of cost
What if they cant ?You do know about pre exiting conditions clauses right ?What about middle aged people who work 40 hours a week for minimum wage but their employer offers no benefits ?Do you expect them to be able to pay 500.00 a month for health insurance?What do people with high blood pressure, diabetes,had cancer in the past do when no insurer will insure them ?
wanna lower health insurance costs the right way? start looking at tort reform. stop malpractice suits ranging in excess and insurance companies can lower malpractice insurance costs to doctors - which sometimes range as high as 50% of the doctor's cost of running a practice. but that would go against the left's viewpoint. show me one single member of the GOP that said health care was just fine as it was. health insurance needs to be reformed the right way - not by putting together a 2200 page (i forgot how many pages it actually is) bill stuffed with pork, side room deals, all sorts of shit the country would balk at if they knew about and then call it "change you can believe in." horseshit.
Really ? Then why are states that have tort reform laws health insurance costs just as much as states without tort reform laws ?
The number cited is off.. its 59 Million without insurance out of a tax paying base of 118 million individuals. These politicians are insane flip floppers. First they give these guys a monopoly in exchange for contributions. Next they pass a law requiring all citizens to purchase health insurance. Now they cry that these companies are making huge profits... that they themselves conspired to setup. Without a single payer plan or the expansion of medicare to be available to all citizens these guys have no competition. An alternative is to allow foreign insurance companies to offer and underwrite policies.. This will bring the costs down but also move all the premiums collected overseas. http://www.icicilombard.com/app/ilom-en/PersonalProducts/Health/floater.aspx# Just for kicks I did a quote for a family of 4: $400 per year for floating family coverage up to $10,000. Obviously this is a rupee to dollar conversion... $10K won't cover much here in the US as the medical charges are rarely disclosed upfront. Its a shell game between insurance company, patient and doctors to get paid. There is an insane and unjustified markup on medical services provided in the US versus the rest of the world. Same with the markup on drugs and medical equipment. One example is Hyperbaric Oxygen treatments. $2500 per 1 hour session in the US requiring pre-approval. $15 for 2 hours in India. Same equipment, same procedure just the difference between a cash based medical economy and one that is insurance controlled. I would argue that the insurance companies are essentially practicing medicine without a license by exercising judgment on the pre-approvals and denials for services. This situation gets dumped back onto the welfare rolls of the country. As long as private companies and their lawyers control the conversation and legislation it can only get worse for individuals.
Thats capitalism. Walk on a treadmill hooked up to EKG= $1200. " " " " " " " " and lung capacity test= $4000. and change. Had to badger them to get the cost. They told me I needed it. I'll take my chances.