[moonman]

Thanks for the support. Sad thing is ... a whole lot of other people will be (or already are) in my position shortly. We all know it was government that caused health care and prescriptions to become unaffordable without some type of insurance hedge. The numbers have us beat. What politian is going to tell 70+ million Americans that government needs to get out of the health care business and their Medicare/Medicaid Plans are a bad deal for rest of America and to go get their own insurance. It's too late to return to days of personally negociating with the doctors and hospitals. Once they think something is free (sic), ain't none of them giving it up!

[Fish out of Water]

*Index Bump

[D. Miles]

Move to TN, produce a letter that you're unisurable...we'll put you on tenncare (Hillary care), you can join the other one in four that are on this program!

Have a friend that works in retail, a job she hates, the only reason for this job, so she and her husband can have the small healthcare insurance policy that they can afford. If I was not covered by my husband's company policy, we'd not be able to afford the cost of coverage just for me. I'd gamble and do without insurance rather than become part of a national insurance program!

[VRWC_minion]

What politian is going to tell 70+ million Americans that government needs to get out of the health care business and their Medicare/Medicaid Plans are a bad deal for rest of America and to go get their own insurance

There is no free lunch. Either the gov't collects your premium or the insurance company or you pay direct. On average its the same cost except the gov't has overhead and no incentive to keep costs low.

[DoughtyOne]

No, they are simply clammering for more. Now they want prescription coverage. When my employer decided to add prescription coverage to our healthcare plan, they had no idea that within five years it would match all other outlays for our health insurance, doubling the cost of providing that insurance. That's exactly what will happen when the government does it. We simply cannot afford it. At some point, the federal government has got to draw the line.

[Squawk 8888]

We all know it was government that caused health care and prescriptions to become unaffordable without some type of insurance hedge.

One of the best ways to cut the cost real quick would be to make more drugs available without a prescription. Whenever one of my colleagues from our office in MN is in town he makes a beeline to the nearest pharmacy to stock up on Claritin. You can buy it here OTC for about $20 Canadian ($15 for the generic version, less if they're running a special). He says that at home the price for the same quantity is $80, so with his co-pay he's out of pocket $20 US. The prescription requirement means his insurer is paying $60, plus the cost of a doctor's visit, for $10 worth of medication.

[AuntB]

There are group health plans offered privately, mostly Christian organizations. I wrote an article about one, several years ago, posted here on FR....sorry, it was on my old computer, but I'll try to find it for you. Freepmail me, if you don't get more info on this.