FACT: You will still need to afford medical treatment after the HCR bill is passed

[mdmc]

I support passing this crappy bill. I think it is crappy because I have health insurance and I do not have access to affordable medical treatment. The corporations are willing to give us the reform in the HCR bill. Time alone will tell if these reforms increase access to affordable medical treatment.

So pass the bill - if it increases access to affordable medical treatment for working people, then the Dems will be booming. If working people see the cost of medical treatment go up, then the Dems will be busted. Time alone, time will tell.

[tekisui]

1. Yeah, I have insurance, and won't go to the doctor.

I can afford to pay for the tests, lab work and treatments. It is always something. I have to get insurance as a student. I have lived with a mandate for health insurance for years now. It is relatively cheap, compared to the cost of tuition, but it is shitty insurance, nonetheless.

[mdmc]

3. My insurance was great for me until I got sick

to be honest, if I made more money or if I was healthier it wouldnt be such a sore point with me..

[Walk away]

2. I am a "working person" who has to insure myself.

This bill is going to help me and the millions like me who are paying almost twice the premiums companies pay for the same insurance.

I am used to paying for treatment. I just don't want to lose my house if I end up in the hosital.

[mdmc]

5. We all pray that same prayer - please dont let me get very sick

because paying for expensive medical treatment will bankrupt us all..

[quinnox]

4. "It will give access to millions of people and save their lives"

Talking point number one from this bills supporters.

But you still have to have money to pay the premiums and the insurance, If you have no money, then you are exempt from buying the insurance. How does this save their lives and give them health care? It doesn't.

[Schema Thing]

6. well it does help 32 million of us

And the people you mentioned ARE helped at least some, even if it is just that emergency rooms won't be as crowded.


Also, it would seem that most of the people who "have no money" will be in the Medicaid system. Which sucks, but sucks far less than nothing.

[mdmc]

8. And we all also benefit from the community health centers funding

so that is good in the hood..

[MineralMan]

7. I don't have insurance because I want to cover ordinary doctor

visits. The reality is that, in the past 20 years, I have been to a doctor about 5 times, all of them in recent years to get my blood pressure prescription renewed annually.

I don't visit the doctor for self-limiting things like colds, minor infections, and that sort of thing. If I've had something before and it went away, then I see no need.

However, I have used my health insurance once in the many years I've had it. When I got viral meningitis and collapsed in my car near Palm Springs, I ended up in the hospital for 21 days, with three more months of recuperation. In that case, the insurance probably saved my life, even though I ended up paying $20,000 of uncovered stuff like an air ambulance and a 20% deductible up to my out of pocket limit. The total bill was absolutely amazing, with dozens of expensive tests, hospitalization, a dozen doctors, and pharmaceuticals that ran up to $500 per dose in a couple of cases.

That is what health insurance should be if it's a private thing. The reality is that I would have gotten all that care even if I had been unable to pay the $20,000. Nobody asked me, since I was comatose. When I called the air ambulance outfit to arrange a payment schedule for their $5000 bill, the person I talked to was shocked. "You want to pay?" she asked. I did want to pay, and I did pay. Had I been unable to, it's clear that I wouldn't have had to.

Single-payer health care, which I support 100%, is another matter altogether. It's what I want, and I'll basically have exactly that when my Medicare kicks in on July 1. I'll buy a supplement that relieves me of everything else.

Health insurance has become something other than what it originally was...a shield against catastrophic health care costs.

[mdmc]

9. Wow! What a story!

I am very glad that you were able to pay off those bills without having to go to court..
Hope you still have great health..

[MineralMan]

10. I paid off the $20,000 in one year.

I had no lasting after-effects of the illness, except that I found that I could concentrate better when programming, which was a surprise.

This all happened during my peak earning period, so it worked out OK.

[mdmc]

11. God Bless!

I was able to pay off 20k in credit card debt in about the same time period. I lived in my parents basement and didn't spend any money for a year..