when i enrolled in private health insurance, i was sent a letter by the insurance company stating that by law they must offer plans that do not deny pre-existing conditions and that i'm entitled to enroll in them if i choose. i don't know if this is a state or federal law.
What state was that and how much did the plan cost? California has a similar law. When I checked 3 or 4 years ago it was already well over $1000/month.
Does anyone know what legally defines a "group" under group health insurance? Would it be possible to start "the group of people who don't belong to any other insurance groups"?
It's state law. In Arizona, they don't have to cover pre-existing conditions. It sucks for some people, but the rates are so much lower. I pay 96/month. I priced a similar plan in NY and it runs about 300/month. You can see for yourself at https://www.ehealthinsurance.com My zip code is 85012 in Phoenix, AZ. I used my sister's zip code of 10033 for NYC.
'Actually I think that hospitals should serve illegals on the spot when they come in. It's the humane thing to do, and a human responsibility.' Agree but that illegal will be immediately deported after the treatment or will have to pay back the system in some way reasonable and just.
There are many problems with the US health care system. The very first, service provider over charge. I went to a a physical recently, the doctor charged like $700 for the services. About 250 for doc, and 450 for the labs. Right next to it, the insurance pay them under 200. Around 175 for his service, and then 20 or so for the lab. If a non-insured try to negotiate, he will never able to reduce half of the cost they charged.
I highly doubt illegals ever pay their hospital bill, especially if they are deported. They can't afford it.
Send the bill to their home country. Might get Mexico to make an attempt to keep their people there. Like Calderon has said "wherever there is a Mexican, that is Mexico". So I would say he just accepted the responsibility to pay.
I kept hearing the same OT. My newspaper did an exhaustive comparison that went on for several weeks. It was a mix of statistical and anecdotal - most of the anecdotal from those fleeing across border into Canada for healthcare cost reasons. I'm an employer so I try to read this stuff. I could find no instance where the US system represented a clear better value or graded better. Even in the horror sections of the comparison - typically something like wait time for specialists, and a few other hot button categories I can't remember - - both countries were abyssmal - but they still beat us. And on anything drug cost related - they soared - nothing new about that though. The big clicker though was that they are delivering to just 38M. We deliver to 303M. Also, some of their data was confined to more eastern provinces - the most eastern of which - Nova Scotia - only had 84K people I think it said. Also, and this is really big according to a cardiologist bud of mine - the study did not seem to address futile care costs and rationing. Europe rations - we are "skies the limit" at the end of life because someone else picks up the tab adn Americans believe rationing = euthanasia. So I had been looking for the golden bullet answer in the series - and I didn't get it. But it sure dispelled a lot about substandard Canadian care. I do think we'll be national - it's a quality of life/living standards thing that's coming - the hybrid capitalist/socialist countries will pull away from us. A few insurer bankruptcies will put the lie to the US privatization thing. As for the taxes, I don't care - I have it because they are pegged to my prosperity or lack thereof - and idiots in DC keep cutting them anyway. Plus taxes don't go up 35%+ a year like ins. does. I can't raise prices or drop pay to deal with that kind of hit. BTW - that's a great policy you have Old Trader. Something similar for a couple, <60, WITH DRUGS, possibly a little less deductible, runs around 17K where I looked.
Well, that's your opinion, as I have my own too. At the end of the day, they are just opinions, but you have to weigh the pro's and cons of both to benefit everyone I don't think it's too hard to notice that there are more Americans complaining about their healthcare than Canadian's complaining about ours. I think this should basically tell you something. The street will put up a big fight to keep the US system the way it is, so you can sleep well at night knowing that things likely won't change.