What's the Rush? Almost 5 Million Lose Insurance in 9 Months

[Sofiyya 1,687]

I don't have medical insurance, and I go to the doctor when needed.

Are you nucking futz?!?!?!?

What if you needed a heart transplant (no pun intended)? There's no way in hell you've got that kind of dough lying around.

Why not?

Let's say you do.

Why would it be a good financial decision for you to spend your money on health care? Wouldn't it have been a far better financial decision to have invested in at least a catastrophic health care plan?

No. I can earn substantial interest on investments which would cover just about anything. In the same period of time that I would pay premiums just in case something happens, I'm gambling that something will, but still leave my health care coverage up to a third party who would decide if they will pay for what I need based on how the payout affects their bottom line. If you can take care of your own bottom line without a middle man, that's already a better financial position to be in.

Um - no. That makes no sense.

The premiums for a catastrophic plan are ridiculously low. You can take a little bit of that interest you have earned, pay the monthly premium and protect the assets that are generating the interest.

It's called asset preservation in case you've not heard of the term.

My assets are protected, thank you. I don't need medical insurance. If premiums are so low, why all the whining about the urgency for universal health care?

Also - a little known secret about healthcare is that its like just about everything else; if you pay cash, you get a much better deal.

So freaking pay cash and get a good deal. Nobody would begrudge you that.

I will sit here though and laugh at you if you expect me to believe that you are any better off than the beggerman in the street who has no health cover.

Hmmmmm. I didnt answer the question because I was concerned about what you believe or don't believe.

And a financial adviser told you this was a smart move? To go without health insurance? How about life insurance? Homeowner's? Car? Do you pay for any insurance?

All the financial advisers I know are also health and life insurance salespeople. For a reason.

Because there are people who need health and life insurance. And, then, there are those who don't.

[Sofiyya 1,687]

What I found comical was that he puked up the scenario that 10000 ppl a day are losin theyre HC! Then he blames Bush! You all see it!

If HC is a RIGHT! How can it be controlled or taken from you? Go dig a hole, throw yourself in it and then start screamin for help!

Then see if your lib freinds come to pull you out!

I saw it. What I find interesting is that Barry considers health care to be a "right", but if you don't want to exercise that "right" by choice, they want to fine you for it. What kind of "right" is that?

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

What I found comical was that he puked up the scenario that 10000 ppl a day are losin theyre HC! Then he blames Bush! You all see it!

If HC is a RIGHT! How can it be controlled or taken from you? Go dig a hole, throw yourself in it and then start screamin for help!

Then see if your lib freinds come to pull you out!

I saw it. What I find interesting is that Barry considers health care to be a "right", but if you don't want to exercise that "right" by choice, they want to fine you for it. What kind of "right" is that?

Hes just wantin to make you his slave! The monkey boy is goin DOWN!

[rebeccajo 14]

My assets are protected, thank you. I don't need medical insurance. If premiums are so low, why all the whining about the urgency for universal health care?

Please quote what I said. Catastrophic premiums are low. Please don't twist the logic here, tempting though it might be for you.

[GaryC 7]

What is the rush? Why does this have to be done by August? If it is something we need then why not take the time to do it right? We have been without "universal" health care for 233 years. Why not take one more year and really think through all the details and do this right?

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

What is the rush? Why does this have to be done by August? If it is something we need then why not take the time to do it right? We have been without "universal" health care for 233 years. Why not take one more year and really think through all the details and do this right?

He says 10000 ppl a day are losin their care but nedless to say none of this ####### even kicks in till 2013! Remember what Rahm Emanuel said "never waste a good crysis"

Edited July 23, 2009 by ={Rogue}=

[rebeccajo 14]

Because there are people who need health and life insurance. And, then, there are those who don't.

Saying a person doesn't need health insurance just because they have sooooooooooo much cash that they could pay for anything is as financially irresponsible as betting your fortune at the horse track.

The truly rich take steps to stay that way. Blowing a few hundred a year on catastrophic health cover would be a no-brainer for a real millionaire.

[Sofiyya 1,687]

My assets are protected, thank you. I don't need medical insurance. If premiums are so low, why all the whining about the urgency for universal health care?

Please quote what I said. Catastrophic premiums are low. Please don't twist the logic here, tempting though it might be for you.

Have I said anything to you that justifies your condescending tome toward me, RJ? If I don't NEED catastropic coverage, and get a better deal paying cash, it is a waste of money to pay for it. It's as simple as that.

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

My assets are protected, thank you. I don't need medical insurance. If premiums are so low, why all the whining about the urgency for universal health care?

Please quote what I said. Catastrophic premiums are low. Please don't twist the logic here, tempting though it might be for you.

Have I said anything to you that justifies your condescending tome toward me, RJ? If I don't NEED catastropic coverage, and get a better deal paying cash, it is a waste of money to pay for it. It's as simple as that.

Dude she's a free rider!

[Sofiyya 1,687]

Because there are people who need health and life insurance. And, then, there are those who don't.

Saying a person doesn't need health insurance just because they have sooooooooooo much cash that they could pay for anything is as financially irresponsible as betting your fortune at the horse track.

The truly rich take steps to stay that way. Blowing a few hundred a year on catastrophic health cover would be a no-brainer for a real millionaire.

I wasn't aware that you are more familiar with what I need to do to preserve and increase my financial stabilty. There are a lot of fewer millionares since Madoff went under. Not all rich people are smart about money, btw.

[GaryC 7]

June 26, 2009

How To Lie With Statistics -- Again

By David Harsanyi

Did you know that about 300 million Americans went without food, water and shelter at some point last year?

I am a survivor.

If you were blessed with the prodigiously creative and cunning mind of a politician, that kind of statistic -- meaningless but technically true -- could be put to good use.

In the entertaining 1954 classic "How To Lie With Statistics," Darrell Huff writes, "Misinforming people by the use of statistical material might be called statistical manipulation... (or) statisticulation."

One of the most persistent examples of modern-day statisticulation is the sufficiently true claim that 46 million (it becomes 50 million when senators really get keyed up) Americans don't have health insurance.

Set loose on the public's compassion, this number is a powerful tool in the hands of eloquent orators, such as President Barack Obama, when they're peddling government-run health care reform. And no matter how often the figure is debunked, no matter how many studies point to its inexact nature, it's just too politically inviting not to embrace.

Wherever we stand on health care policy, surely we can admit that it's just as important to understand why Americans are uninsured as it is to get a handle on how many Americans are uninsured.

It is true that the 46 million figure is based on unreliable Census Bureau data. But even the less unreliable Congressional Budget Office puts the number at about 31 million. And even that number, former CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin claims, is an "incomplete and potentially misleading picture of the uninsured population."

For one reason, the uninsured figure counts all Americans (and illegal immigrants) who have been uninsured for any amount of time during a year, even if they happen to be between jobs or changing insurance plans or on family visits to Guatemala.

According to the CBO, 45 percent of the uninsured are uninsured for four months or less, which seems like a pretty positive number to me.

Then, another portion of uninsured Americans already qualify for existing government health insurance programs -- and government already controls 46 percent of spending on health care -- for which they have not signed up.

The CBO estimates that as many as 15 percent of the chronically uninsured are already eligible for help. The Urban Institute (hardly an advocate of free market fundamentalism) found that 25 percent of the uninsured qualify for some program.

Surely, most citizens would concur that health care is too expensive (though most citizens likely would concur that everything is too expensive) and something should be done. So when President Obama tells us that 46 million Americans are uninsured, he is implying that 46 million people can't afford health insurance. That, too, is absurd.

In a study for the National Bureau of Economic Research called "Is Health Insurance Affordable for the Uninsured?," Stanford economists say, "Based on a plausible range of definitions and assumptions health insurance is affordable for between one quarter and three quarters of adults who are not insured."

Turns out that 8.4 million uninsured Americans are making $50,000 to $74,999, and 9.1 million more are making more than $75,000. Health insurance is just incompatible with their lifestyles, I guess.

There are obviously inconveniences -- children and mortgages, for instance -- that quickly can make $50,000 seem like a pittance. Then again, 27 percent of all adults in their 20s (many, I presume, without offspring) choose not to have health insurance. Many of them surely have the means to purchase insurance but after meticulously considering the trade-offs (imbibing or insuring?) say no thanks.

These facts do not undermine the argument for nationalized health care. (History and common sense do that already.) They do, however, point out that many statistics, to quote Huff again, get by "only because the magic of numbers brings about a suspension of common sense."

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/...gain_97189.html

[rebeccajo 14]

What is the rush? Why does this have to be done by August? If it is something we need then why not take the time to do it right? We have been without "universal" health care for 233 years. Why not take one more year and really think through all the details and do this right?

Because premiums rose 91% in just seven years - between 2000 and 2007?

Because 45 million of the insured population spend 10% of their income for coverage?

Because when you add the total of the uninsured to the underinsured, you get 42% of the population? Almost HALF of us!

How much longer do we wait, Gary?

[rebeccajo 14]

It is true that the 46 million figure is based on unreliable Census Bureau data. But even the less unreliable Congressional Budget Office puts the number at about 31 million. And even that number, former CBO Director Douglas Holtz-Eakin claims, is an "incomplete and potentially misleading picture of the uninsured population."

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/...gain_97189.html

Oh well gee that's only 10% of the population then.

[GaryC 7]

What is the rush? Why does this have to be done by August? If it is something we need then why not take the time to do it right? We have been without "universal" health care for 233 years. Why not take one more year and really think through all the details and do this right?

Because premiums rose 91% in just seven years - between 2000 and 2007?

Because 45 million of the insured population spend 10% of their income for coverage?

Because when you add the total of the uninsured to the underinsured, you get 42% of the population? Almost HALF of us!

How much longer do we wait, Gary?

Just long enough to get it right. You want something no matter how bad it is just so you can say you have it. Weird.

And to say that almost half of us don't have enough insurance is a damn lie. Stop the fear mongering.

[Pinocchio Liberal 268]

Gary do it your own words. Alot of these folks aint gonna read all that! I just cant believe so many are willing to give up their privacy to the govament.

I want my doc to decide what tests I need! I dont need my doc referin to a list what I can have!