[GraniteStateConservative]

And that's why the GOP has to get in front of this issue and offer some solution or it'll be stampeded.

[JohnGalt]

And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed.

Good luck, friend.

[ConsistentLibertarian]

"To me, it's very quite simple. It was well orchestrated to become as it is now. Squeeze him till he begs for a national health insurance plan." Slow down. Who orchestrated this plan? And how could it have been averted? Ie, what steps should a Republican President or Republican congress have taken to avoid you being squeezed?

[anniegetyourgun]

If you are a Christian, you know that we are to bear one anothers burdens. That's faith-based love in action and doesn't require government dependence.

Click here

Click here

Click here

[TomGuy]

My HI did an interim increase in February--22% increase. Yesterday, I got a notice that my July rate will increase 18% above the February increase. That equals out to a 44% increase over what I paid in January. I question whether I can afford to keep it. What irks me is that I carry a high deductible anyway and I have never had a medical claim for them to pay anything out.

[DoughtyOne]

Ouch. I'll bet that if government wasn't offering the healthcare coverage it does, you're insurance payments would probably be half what they are. Someone's got to cover for the government only paying about 50 cents on the dollar for the healthcare they purchase from hospitals. Now the insurance companies are doing it too. And then there's the illegals that get their care for free. Hospitals are being squeezed to the breaking point. So are people like you. Sorry to hear it.

[Frohickey]

I bet that if you weren't paying for government medical care for the others during the past 52 years, you could probably afford health insurance now.

[winodog]

The scumbag from little rock whose husband was P will get her plan just a few years later then she wanted it. We(people who work and pay taxes) are being forced to pay for the health cost of all those who do not work and for gov.org workers who collect a paycheck but do not produce anything.

There is no way a business and those such as yourself who have to pay for their own insurance can continue to pay for the health cost of those who do not produce. Soon gov.org will step in. It is just another step down the ladder. America has become a democracy that craves for a cradle to grave mommy.

Sooner or later the walls will come tumbling down. I honestly do not see anyway to change the outcome short of watering the tree of liberty.

[RAT Patrol]

I don't have insurance either. I'll die before I support a national healthcare plan. No one is less qualified to fix the healthcare problems in this Country than the power hungry, bookkeeping-challenged, buy campaign vote driven government.

[Eagle Eye]

Sorry to say, I feel your pain. My family coverage is now gone.

Actually the government is the problem and not the cure unless they unbundle coverages so that people like yourself dont have to pay for maternity coverages and get people to stop viewing medical insurace as a pre-paid medical plan.

We don't veiw car insurance pre paid scratch and ding repair, do we? No, we pay the small stuff ourself and never report it.

[TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!]

I am so sick of FICA (This FICA person :-) must be RICH huh?) and social security robbing my paycheck blind. When I won't get any SECURITY I will bet.

I am also sick to death of able bodied Americans scamming the government with welfare fraud.

[Search4Truth]

I am in the same situation as you my friend. My heart goes out to you and yours.

Several years ago I managed 2 CRM (Customer Relationship Management) projects for an HMO. The atmosphere was one of uncertainty as to what new hurdles the government was going to impose on them. It put them in a constant state of indecision. Because of this, the last project was a difficult, to say the least.

All that has to happen is for the government to get out of the health care business and let Free Enterprise do what it has done so well, so many times before in America.

Search4Truth

[MsCynic]

Yee Gads! $898.00 a month! Good luck to you.

[goodnesswins]

Can't you get a "catastrophic policy" and then pay your way for the other things? It might be a saving grace, though, that you don't see doctors and hospitals much - they're really SICK (and I mean that).....STAY WELL, eat well, exercise well, and pray.

[Willie Green]

My July 1st 2002 premium is $898.00 per month.

And very little of that goes to pay for actual health care, mostly to the bloated health care bureacracy, including the insurance providers and ambulance chasers.

The "one payer" nationalized Hillery health care system is certainly no answer. That merely perpetuates the "somebody else is paying for it" attitude and shifts the entire burden on the taxpayers.

I've begun wondering how the opposite approach would work.
Truly unleash market forces by abolishing the medical insurance industry altogether!

[LibWhacker]

They've got one in Canada, and England. Still, those who can come here for decent care. But I feel for you, buddy. Haven't had good coverage most of my life myself. And remember this: As soon as you get really sick, the insurance companies will drop you like a hot potato no matter how good of a customer you've been. IMHO, the solution is to open our health care system to all levels of care providers who are required to compete with one another for customers; i.e., you shouldn't be required to go to an MD to get a nail pulled out of your foot and get a tetanus shot, for crying out loud. A nurse could do that kind of stuff.

And a person shouldn't be prohibited from buying so many beneficial meds over the counter unless he pays a doc an exorbitant fee for an office visit just for the priviledge of a cursory exam and a written prescription. For instance, imo, most pain meds should be feely available over the counter even if there are some people in society who are way too stupid to use them wisely. Screw Big Brother.

And the FDA should get off the drug companies' backs. It's inexcusable that drugs which have been safely and effectively prescribed in Europe and elsewhere around the world for decades can't pass muster here because, perhaps, no one has "gotten to" the right FDA official.

Competition in the marketplace, and not vigorish in a bureaucrat's office, as usual, is the solution for this predicament we're in vis-a-vis health care.

[IamHD]

Boy, I can totally relate to your insurance problems. Several (7) years back, I had a brain aneurysm and had to undergo immediate surgery. We had insurance at the time, but when we received our insurance renewal the following December...they had increased our monthly premiums from $1275.00 per Month, up to $1550.00 per month. Needless to say, I had to call my carrier and cancel them. They asked me why I was doing this. Simply put, I told them that we couldn't afford our insurance anymore. Ahem, that was a no-brainer.

Something is definitely WRONG with this picture. We work 7 days a week...and have no insurance. A year ago, I had to take my daughter for blood tests at a local hospital...they asked me what the name of our insurance carrier was, and I informed them that we had no insurance and that I would be paying in cash. They informed me that they didn't accept cash, checks, or creditcards....they didn't know how to...(HUH?) but, if I had a MEDICAID card, they would be more than willing to help us. I had tunnel vision, trust me. She sent me 30 miles away to have my daughter's blood drawn...but they still wouldn't take cash, check, or creditcard. They sent me a bill.

We don't want any handouts; we're more than willing to pay our own way. But, this is ridiculous.

[VRWC_minion]

You do not need medical insurance to receive health care in this country.

[reformedliberal]

Me, too! 1st time in my life and I am 59 1/2. Also was informed I had been waivered for one entire organ system because 6 years ago I paid out of pocket for a procedure caused by a one-time trauma, not a systemic organic problem. Turns out, I have been paying almost $400/mo and had been waivered for this for 6 years and never informed.

The spouse is 8 years younger and will still be insured. We are self employed. The new premium is $670 w/a $2500 ($5k for family) deductible. We had a $7800 deductible w/the $400 premium. I called and no ability to get a higher deductible or to question the waiver....Blue Cross had purchased our plan, changed it, then absorbed it in 3 years. Now they are getting rid of what their actuarial tables say are the liabilities.

So I will put the premium I have been paying in a savings account. NOT a Medical Savings Account, because that gets taxed whenever I retire unless it is rolled over into a Long Term Care Policy (at least, I _think_ that's what it says.) Good genes and good health. They have not paid for a thing (mostly minor) in 10 years. Why give them my hard earned self-employed income when the increase in SS contributions will actually get me a higher benefit whenever I finally retire at age whatever-is-prudent.

Instead of insecure, I feel free. At the spouse's behest, I am going for an exam and going thru the motions for a new policy, but I certain I will be rejected as I saw the underwriting criteria which includes turndown if one ever had a cholestorol reading of over 220 OR ever had treatment for high cholestorol. I have the sort that isn't affected by exercise or diet and I am too well aware of the side effects of the statins to go on them....and that would render me ineligible, anyway.

There are safety nets: going into hospital via the ER; negotiating the final bill, which is done all the time and most of all, having $4800 a year to save for an eventuality. Our doc agrees the waiver was uncalled for, but Blue Cross states that External Review applications begin June 15 and the deadline for accepting their new premium is June 20th....effectively making a review moot.

No one gets out alive.

[VRWC_minion]

Almost forgot. Catastrophic insurance isn't too much and ussually the exclusions for existing conditions cannot extend beyond 1 year. You should have purchased one a year ago if you were uninsurable.

For an MSA plan you might try Fortus.