Universal Health Care, Pluses and Minuses

by watson 347 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Snoozy

  Well right now I pay $350. for my medical a month. I am on SS. I have free medicare but it has large deductables and no dental or prescriptions.

  So the $350. is for extras. It picks up the deductables and covers dental (Up to $1,000.) and Prescriptions. But even the prescriptions are limited. Over a certain amount you go iinto "the gap" and have to pay for all your prescriptions untill you hit another plateau. Then it starts picking them up again ..(The government did this smart move). Now I hear they are doing away with the gap in steps starting next year. That insurance also gives me the right to go to any Dr I want . It is a PPO. I will not have an HMO unless I have no other choice. I want to be able to pick my Dr and for that I pay.

  So...am I right in saying that in the Universal system I will NOT have the right to pick my doctor, certain procedures will NOT be covered? What about dental and RX? Who pays for that?

  One example comes to my mind, my daughter in law recently had to have a double mastectomy of both breats. She had precancerous cells in both of them and elected to just have them removed now instead of waiting for them to turn into cancer . Her family has a history of cancer. She was also able to have recontructive surgery at the same time. She had iimplants put in.

  I am wondering if the Universal healthcare would have covered that as her insurance that she has now did? Would she have even had that choice?
  Would it have even paid for the removal since it was only pre-cancerous? And would it have paid for the reconstruction as it wasn't absolutely necessary?

  Anyone know the answers?

  Snoozy..
• 

  purplesofa

  My son just had to go to the doc this am, he has no insurance.

  Thankfully there was money to cover the $65 office visit and the $285 for his medicine.....all paid in full, cash.......I might add there is no discount for paying cash either.

  Now there will be some weeks when it might be a few days when the account is low and the money would not be there and although not life threatening, there could not be a visit to the doc or any medicine.

  Some people never have over $300 bucks to take care of something like this.

  He has a small business and hopefully with the reform, he will be able to gain affordable ins for himself and crew.

  purps
• 

  John Doe

  Here's a little background on my situation. I'm a type I diabetic and have been since age 5. There is current technology--insulin pumps--that I would benefit from, but have insufficient funds or insurance to cover the new technology. So if universal health care were passed, I would benefit, assuming the new treatments are covered.

  However, the reason I am here is because a scientist conducted research and discovered insulin and diabetes. According to what I've seen from the left, I should ignore the fact that I'm here and able to live because said scientist has a more affluent lifestyle than myself. I should ignore the fast paced medical advancement (among the best in the world) and the possibility in the near future of cures for diabetes because pharmaceutical companies stand to make a few dollars--even when they invest billions in research. And, according to the left, if I am against removing the profit motive for health care development, I'm an elitist who sees people who don't have sufficient health coverage (this would include myself) as a lower class that I'm afraid of being levelized to.

  Does anyone else see the irony?
• 

  JWoods

  Is the original poster asking benefits/drawbacks of what - a single payer government controlled system? OR -

  A partial (at least for now) "public option"?

  The so-called non-profit coop option?

  Or - as the Obama WH has recently been calling the whole thing - "Health Care INSURANCE Reform"? (note - used to be just Health Care Reform) -

  All of this seems hardly worth arguing about any more what with the goalposts being moved on every play.
• 

  John Doe

  All of this seems hardly worth arguing about any more what with the goalposts being moved on every play.
• 

  beksbks

  And why are the goalposts being moved Woods? Because of the Republican shenanigans, and the foolish desire of the President to be bipartisan.
• 

  John Doe

  And why are the goalposts being moved Woods? Because of the Republican shenanigans, and the foolish desire of the President to be bipartisan.

  Beks, you've lost all credibility with me.
• 

  Snoozy

  Well I can see the benefits of both sides. There was a time when I had NO insurance because of my stupid employer that tricked a lot of their employees. Our bank got merged or bought out with another bank. It seems when they merged the fine print said that the former workers of MY bank would not have any insurance when they retired but the employees from their bank would. We all overlooked that in the fine print apparently because none of us knew about it until I decided to retire.

  So even tho another gal (from the other bank) that retired the same time as I did and had worked for the banks the same amount of time, walked away with a nice severence package, I got my 401 that I paid into but no insurance. No benefits. I got royally screwed. Thankfully others that would have been in the same boat someday learned from my experience and took out their own personal insurance while they were still working.

  I was able to get cobra for quite a while but when it ran out they wanted $1,500. a month to continue it. So I had to let it drop.

  I went two years without insurance and shutter to think what would have happened in an emergency.

  People like that would be helped tremendously with Universal insurance. But alas everything free comes with a price. I wonder if someone older had something major happen if they would strive to correct it or just say" they are to old to qualify".

  I guess I will just have to look it up. I haven't really bothered before this, I figure the government is going to do what they want to do anyway...............
• 

  beksbks

  Whatever Doe, do you really pay attention to what is going on? First they bitch and moan and cry Socialism about a public option, now they are doing the same thing about a very watered down "Co-op".

  Have you heard Chuck Grassley??

  I'm frankly pissed at Democrats right now, including Obama. We didn't elect them so they could behave like the GOP, nor so they could kiss GOP ass. But that's what's happening.
• 

  Snoozy

  Bek, when you vote for someone, you never really know what the package will bring. During the campaign speeches they only tell you the parts of the packages that you want to hear . The rest of the package is kept as a "BIG SURPRISE" for us...

  SURPRISE!