Posted on 07/21/2009 6:23:32 AM PDT by jmcenanly
New York – I'm one of the nearly 50 million Americans who don't have health insurance. I don't want it, either.
But the bill the House of Representatives is debating would force me to buy it. How good can any product be if Congress compels me to purchase it?
Politicians and interest groups have been trying virtually all my life to foist medical insurance on me. But their proposals rest on mistaken and even insulting assumptions.
First, they presume that everyone wants, needs, and should have abundant medical attention. But I come from a long-lived and healthy family, I've been a vegetarian since childhood because I've never liked the way meat tastes, I don't smoke, and I love to hike – the more miles the better.
I am disgustingly healthy, so much so that the only doctors I see – or try to: I'm near-sighted – are ophthalmologists. Could I be hit by a bus tomorrow when I head out for my daily walk? Possibly. But that's such an unlikely disaster that I've chosen to spend my money on more personally pressing needs than medical insurance.
On the other hand, unlikely disasters do happen. So I might purchase catastrophic coverage if it were reasonably priced – just as I might visit doctors for lesser complaints if their care were reasonably priced.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Why should she? She's rebelling against the sky-high costs which are directly related to Gov't intrustion in the health system.
In her mind (a very astute one judging from the article) to buy insurance now is to support the corrupt system.
Becky is choosing to live life the way SHE wants and it is no different than what you or I choose to do with ours.
Anne Coultler nailed it. If we want to by insurance, we should be able to buy what we need, when we need it, from whomever we like.
What's more, I should be able to accrue health benefit credits on a pro-rated system for what I do not use. Good grief, my car needs maintenance, I take it in to be fixed. I pay for it.
The problem with this whole facade is that for some reason, people have the notion that health insurance is the impossible dream. It should not be, and realistically, it is not.
It could be better than it is granted. My thoughts only
My workplace offers, as I suspect most of others offer, special cancer policies for extra $$$$$. Meanwhile, if I choose to have a drug problem by stuffing cocaine up my nose, treatment is 100% paid for-- even though I needed to pass a drug test to get the job.
Why such lunacy? Because the government mandated maximum drug addiction treatment but minimal cancer treatment for our workplace policies. And why did they issue such asinine mandates? I can only imagine it is because the druggie lobby is bigger and more powerful than the cancer patient lobby.
“Congress cannot compel you into entering a contract. 13th Amendment. United States v Reynolds. It’s “settled law”.”
From what I’ve been reading, the way they compel you to get the government healthcare is that this healthcare bill not only sets up it’s plan but also dictates what Insurance Co. can & cannot do from here on out. For example you won’t be able to change your policy or add anyone, gov’t will dictate what will & won’t be covered etc. Just basically weeding out any competition so that eventually everyone will be on the gov’ts plan.
If you don’t get health insurance, you will be fined. Apparently you can opt out of having health insurance, you just can’t opt out of the re-distribution of wealth that’s built into the government plan.
I would like to buy catastrophic coverage but it is not available since I am self-employed and have Type 2 diabetes.
“I don’t want it, either.”
But, but...that’s completely unAmerican. /s/
keep lookin, there’s got to be somebody willing to take your money
Dear Becky,
I’m not Christian Science, but have not been to a doctor in decades, and hate the idea of being forced into Obama’s program.
Last week I fell off a ladder and crushed my left thumb. Now I have plates, screws and wires holding all that together. Providentially, I had one of the best hand surgeons in the country. I actually burst into tears thanking the surgeon for the medical care we receive in this country, and for the wonderful care I am receiving.
In these times I have contemplated what would happen to me under Obama care. You can’t wait a year to fix these things, and I am 61 years old, probably not worth repairing under his plan.
Oh, and it had nothing to do with good health!
Do you know what kind of debt we would have without insurance?
Every one has a cell phone. Even those living in the hood and drawing unemployment.
sw
I wonder how the Amish are going to come out in this? They don’t believe in accepting anything from the government. Up around Smicksburg, PA they have a kind of festival every summer where they sell food and baked goods and auction of furniture and other stuff. They put the proceeds into a fund that they use to cover their health costs for their entire community for the year.
Oh please, She’s just a rebel against “the system”?
A healthy rebel.
How much do you want to bet that in her “very astute mind” if she gets breast cancer or gets disabled by a drunk driver, she’ll expect it is her right to stay alive at any cost and “the government” (you and me) should “do something” about what it will cost
Many of the people democrats use as poster children for the “problems” with our healthcare- are people just like Becky who have the money- they just don’t make health planning a priority. Then become martyrs when the unexpected happens. I’ve had it with them.
People’s “right” to not buy health insurance ends at my wallet. In this society, when they get sick (surprise) they either get treated and don’t pay the bill (which costs me more) or they demand healthcare as an entitlement (which costs me more)
Auto insurance is also very expensive. Should drivers be allowed not to buy it? Or just the ones who plan to be in an accident?
Noting your screen name, I can't help but wonder if you've so informed Mitt Romney and the MA legislature . . .
> The government should put poison in all the fruit and vegetables and the antidote in meat.
(giggle!) Now *that* is funny!
In New York, insurance costs about 8x more than just about anywhere else, do to some very idiotic laws in that state.
Many go without, or wait until something happens. Then, they buy insurance. This is routine in NYS.
But this is America, where we believe people can make choices, regardless of what WE who know better, would like them to do. Instead of nationalizing health insurance, or having a health insurance mandate, as you, tc65a, would seem to prefer, why are there no INCENTIVES to insure, eg tax credits or deductions, and why is health insurance tied to employment, instead of being portable?
That sounds dangerously libertarian. We can't have the serfs talking about the "freedom" stuff. We let them say it on July 4, but that's it.
Dr. Jeffrey Anderson recently wrote in Investor's Business Daily, "Since 1970 – even without the prescription drug benefit – Medicare's costs have risen 34 percent more, per patient, than the combined costs of all health care in America apart from Medicare and Medicaid…."
Is that per year or lifetime costs? Lifetime costs might be explained by better ability to treat a patient of an otherwise fatal disease to keep them alive for another disease. A heart attack which would have killed can now be treated so you live ten more years and get cancer.
Also, there are more treatment options. What used to be an untreatable death sentence where the doctor told you to go home and not excite youself or you'll die of a heart attack, can now be treated with bypasses and stints. Would you rather save money by going back to the "go home and die" treatment? Younger people may get a MRI instead of an x-ray, or get athroscopic surgery for a joint where the 1970s doctor would hand them a cane, but a lot of treatment is focused on diseases of aging.
Insurance is a method of shared risk.
As it currently is composed, the system is voluntary.
The left LOVES the idea of “shared risk, shared rewards”,
but they also despise the whole concept of “voluntary”.
This is the essence of 0bama’s plan - FORCED shared risk, instead of voluntarily joining a risk sharing system.
Tough.
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