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Let me find a link

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GOP isn't changing that 

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And they shouldn't, IMHO.  You can't blackball people from affordable health insurance just because they had the misfortune of getting sick.

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And they shouldn't, IMHO.  You can't blackball people from affordable health insurance just because they had the misfortune of getting sick.

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And they shouldn't, IMHO.  You can't blackball people from affordable health insurance just because they had the misfortune of getting sick.

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Bullshit it's not sustainable and a company should be able to refuse their services to whomever they want. .gov shouldn't be involved in private matter or health insurance. 

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And they shouldn't, IMHO.  You can't blackball people from affordable health insurance just because they had the misfortune of getting sick.

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Why shouldn't an insurance company raise rates on a known high risk pool?

What's next? Making sure car insurance for 17 year olds who have a Firebird is as cheap as for a 50 year old driving a 20 year old Buick?

Different risk pools get different premiums.

They're not in the insurance business to make people happy. They're in the insurance people to make themselves money. Otherwise they'd do it for free, no? And why is it expensive in the first place? Do you think doctors are doing all of this for free, too?

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So what do you do with everyone that can't get health insurance because they aren't sustainable?  Let them die?

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And they shouldn't, IMHO.  You can't blackball people from affordable health insurance just because they had the misfortune of getting sick.

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So what you're saying is, a smoker can go without insurance for years, maybe gets lucky and doesn't have any serious accidents.  A few years later he finds out he's gets lung cancer.  He should be able to pick up the same insurance plan as you and pay the same premium?

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Why shouldn't an insurance company raise rates on a known high risk pool?

What's next? Making sure car insurance for 17 year olds who have a Firebird is as cheap as for a 50 year old driving a 20 year old Buick?

Different risk pools get different premiums.

They're not in the insurance business to make people happy. They're in the insurance people to make themselves money. Otherwise they'd do it for free, no? And why is it expensive in the first place? Do you think doctors are doing all of this for free, too?

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Big difference is that people choose what vehicles they drive whereas people don't choose to get a chronic disease.  You are playing with people's lives here.

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I never met a group of people as cruel and heartless as you guys are.
I agree people that smoke, do drugs, eat like shit and get fat, and pop out 10 kids that they should be in a whole different category.
I'm saying, what if your kid is sick and needs help and you couldn't afford to pay out of pocket. The hopelessness you would feel would be unbearable.  I'm going to guess if you were in that situation your tone would change.
There are ways for this to work, nobody has come up with a plan yet.

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So what do you do with everyone that can't get health insurance because they aren't sustainable?  Let them die?

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I never met a group of people as cruel and heartless as you guys are.
I agree people that smoke, do drugs, eat like shit and get fat, and pop out 10 kids that they should be in a whole different category.
I'm saying, what if your kid is sick and needs help and you couldn't afford to pay out of pocket. The hopelessness you would feel would be unbearable.  I'm going to guess if you were in that situation your tone would change.
There are ways for this to work, nobody has come up with a plan yet.

Gee, Ya Think?
[Comments enabled]  

What more needs to be said?

   In Bangalore, India, heart surgeons perform daily state-of-the-art heart surgery on adults and children at an average cost of $1,800. For the record, that’s about 2% of the $90,000 that the average heart surgery costs in the United States. And when it comes to the quality of the heart surgery, the patient outcomes are among the best in the world.

Why?

Simple: There is no financialization.  

You can't make someone else pay for your medical treatment in India.

   Most families in India have no health insurance, and often need to borrow the money to pay for surgery.

And there are no guarantees on the debt either: You can't exactly repossess a heart operation!

Quality?  Better than in the United States.

How about drugs?  Let's talk insulin:

   The medication had identical action to what's sold in the U.S. And its preloaded syringes, with a sophisticated calibrating mechanism, were more accurate in dose than any I've seen. What was most remarkable was the price — less than 10% of what it costs Americans with diabetes today. The combination of massive scale and appropriate pricing accounted for the 10-fold difference.

What's missing from this article?

Any mention of the fact that the only reason drug prices haven't dropped like a stone is that it's illegal to import that Insulin here to the United States.  Were it not Novartis and the other insulin makers here wouldn't sell a single dose at 10x the price, especially when their dosing systems are inferior.

I've often said that the total cost of medical care would drop by 85% if we simply enforced the law, specifically 15 USC Chapter 1, against all medically-related firms -- including pharma, hospitals, device makers and doctors.

This article is evidence that I'm being conservative and the actual drop might even exceed 90%.

Of course to do that you need to take all the monopolists -- which means damn near all of the doctors, hospital administrators, drug company executives, "pharmacy benefit managers" and more out back and........







Indict them.

If we don't, and if we keep doing what we've been doing then eventually those who are condemned might just decide to take some of them out back and do something a less-lawful than indicting them.

Will Trump do anything about this?

Based on the best evidence available to date, NO.

Don't bet your first nickel on him doing a damn thing about any of this, despite it being very clear that mere restoration of a competitive market would make "health insurance" entirely unnecessary for essentially everyone in the United States.

Pfizer has already said they have no intention of altering their pricing model after the recent pharma meeting. Why should they until and unless their entire executive office gets indicted on many-thousands of counts of federal felonies under 15 USC?

In the meantime if you need treatment for something serious -- get on a plane.

If you currently have, or are on the path toward a chronic condition that requires continuing medical assessment and treatment if it's possible to stop or reverse that you had better or you're going to be bankrupted, dead or both.

And if you're already past the point of being able to do anything about it?  Make peace with God.

Until and unless Trump does start indicting this entire segment of the economy (or he makes clear that if they don't cut the crap right now he will, and if challenged, he does) he is not your friend, he will not stop the detonation of this nation's finances nor your financial and personal destruction and yet it is entirely within his power to do both right now, without Congressional involvement since the laws necessary to do so already exist.

Trump may be my President just as he is yours if you live in the United States, but any President who has the power of the Executive to put a stop to this crap under existing law and fails to do so, when it constitutes nearly one dollar in five spent in America today and 37% of last year's federal spending is a five-alarm dickhead, irrespective of what other policies he may or may not implement.  That refusal literally kills hundreds of thousands of Americans a year and financially ruins millions more -- far more than any terrorist or even war has managed to claim.

And that's a fact.

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get a job with an employer that offers health insurance

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What I don't understand is how insurance went from "I need this in case of a catastrophic issue that will cost tens of thousands of dollars suddenly" to "I need this to pay my routine medical bills all the time"?

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And they shouldn't, IMHO.  You can't blackball people from affordable health insurance just because they had the misfortune of getting sick.

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Here we go again.   It's not insurance that's the problem, it's the cost of medical care.   I should be able to pay 20,000 cash for a major open heart survey and hospital stay, not 100,000 with or without insurance.   That is what it costs in most other countries.   Medical and insurance together are working a collusion scheme of epic proportions.

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Why shouldn't an insurance company raise rates on a known high risk pool?

What's next? Making sure car insurance for 17 year olds who have a Firebird is as cheap as for a 50 year old driving a 20 year old Buick?

Different risk pools get different premiums.

They're not in the insurance business to make people happy. They're in the insurance people to make themselves money. Otherwise they'd do it for free, no? And why is it expensive in the first place? Do you think doctors are doing all of this for free, too?

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I never met a group of people as cruel and heartless as you guys are.
I agree people that smoke, do drugs, eat like shit and get fat, and pop out 10 kids that they should be in a whole different category.
I'm saying, what if your kid is sick and needs help and you couldn't afford to pay out of pocket. The hopelessness you would feel would be unbearable.  I'm going to guess if you were in that situation your tone would change.
There are ways for this to work, nobody has come up with a plan yet.

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No, there really isn't a difference. Let me explain.   Everyone, let me repeat that everyone, has the possibility of getting insurance before they were diagnosed with any type of sickness. When you were born you were given the option to be put on your parents insurance. Once you were put on there insurance as long as your parents keep paying for your insurance you have coverage.  Assume that you come down with the sickness at the age of 1 or 17. You are covered under your parents policy. Assuming that your parents weren't dip shits and didn't cover you with insurance.

Once you go out on your own and 18 you were covered. It don't give me this bullshit about underprivileged children being uncovered. Actually ALL underprivileged children (living in poverty) are covered due to Medicaid.   I'm not gonna talk about those children leaving living on the brink of poverty whose parents are complete idiots and don't cover them out of sheer stupidity.  

The only chance that a young adult has to have an existing sickness, and to be uncovered without insurance, is if they were stupid enough to drop coverage themselves after they turned 18.

The other chance that a person becomes uncovered is if after they turn 18 they were healthy, and then they therefore drop their personal coverage, and then I get diagnosed with an illness. This is an unfortunate circumstance, but it was still a matter of personal choice to be put in this position .

Just like choosing which car you want to drive. Everyone has gotten into this position due to personal choice . Or the choice of their parent when they were a minor.

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Wait until the day comes when you start having health issues and it bites you in the butt. I like how all you guys love to spout off about this stuff . Some day my friend you will get sick if you live long enough. You can not tell people they have to have insurance and then tell them you won't insure them.

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Here we go again.   It's not insurance that's the problem, it's the cost of medical care.   I should be able to pay 20,000 cash for a major open heart survey and hospital stay, not 100,000 with or without insurance.   That is what it costs in most other countries.   Medical and insurance together are working a collusion scheme of epic proportions.

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So what do you do with everyone that can't get health insurance because they aren't sustainable?  Let them die?

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Bullshit it's not sustainable and a company should be able to refuse their services to whomever they want. .gov shouldn't be involved in private matter or health insurance. 

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And they shouldn't, IMHO.  You can't blackball people from affordable health insurance just because they had the misfortune of getting sick.

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No. That man does not work in a hospital. I doubt the Indian courts aware 7 figure sertlements because the doctor must have done something wrong to smoking and drinking while pregnant moms kid during the delivery. The fat ass two pack a day smoker who refuses tof follow medical advice is not the problem, it must be the medical staff not treating him correctly so no reimbursement. 98 years old with multiple organ failure? Who cares, the family says full steam aheads. But India complies with this, right? Where do you think the money is coming from for those people? Nevermind OSHA, JAACHO, and HIPPA requirements.

But yeah, greedy doctors.

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I never met a group of people as cruel and heartless as you guys are.
I agree people that smoke, do drugs, eat like shit and get fat, and pop out 10 kids that they should be in a whole different category.
I'm saying, what if your kid is sick and needs help and you couldn't afford to pay out of pocket. The hopelessness you would feel would be unbearable.  I'm going to guess if you were in that situation your tone would change.
There are ways for this to work, nobody has come up with a plan yet.

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And they shouldn't, IMHO.  You can't blackball people from affordable health insurance just because they had the misfortune of getting sick.

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And they shouldn't, IMHO.  You can't blackball people from affordable health insurance just because they had the misfortune of getting sick.

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Insurance is assessing risk.

Fact is it's the same on property/homeowners insurance.  Period think it's a warranty and file claims for stupid shit that doesn't even make their deductible.   Then they get upset when underwriting deems them high risk and drops them.

Everyone wants to be provided for, the millennials are entering their 30s, it's only going to get worse once their offspring grows up.