Do Conservatives know what health insurance is?

[The Derp]

It's not supposed to pay for medical treatment for people who decided to get this "insurance" after they've been diagnosed with a serious medical issue.

Exactly. For the same reason you don't buy flood insurance as your house is getting flooded. So what you're doing here is making the case for single payer health care, or at the very least automatic enrollment in a Public Option. Because, as you correctly point out, you don't know what will happen the next second you draw a breath. So in the event that you might get struck down by an expensive disease, or hit by a bus, you have to insure yourself to prevent financial ruin. My point is and always has been that having a private insurer skim as much as 20% off the top for themselves to serve the function of administration is pointless, costly, a waste, and does nothing to improve or enhance your health care. They reimburse after you've already had the treatment. So they're just doing administration. Why does that part of health care have to be privatized and what benefit of having it privatized is there to the patients? None so far as I can see. Medicare serves the exact same function, yet Medicare's budget only allocates about 1% to administration vs. a company like Aetna, that allocates 17%.

So what's the better deal for patients?

 

[The Derp]

Charity shouldn't be forced, dumbass

Heath insurance is not charity. Welfare is, only it's not for those who use it but rather the companies that rely on it so they don't have to pay their workers more and can increase their profits.

 

[The Derp]

Mortality Rates Suggest Obamacare Could Be Killing People

Or it's that the Boomers are entering retirement and for some of them, the despair that life didn't turn out the way they thought it would is driving them to alcoholism, opiods, and suicide.

 

[WillowTree]

You just want to be an asshole. I said nothing about wage garnishment. Grow the fuck up.

That is what we were talking about, you asshole.

No! That is what you in your abject stupidity were talking about. I was talking about a payment plan. Do you understand what a payment plan is? Or, do they garnish your fucking wages when you buy a car? You asshole!

 

[The Derp]

No! That is what you in your abject stupidity were talking about. I was talking about a payment plan.

Well, to be fair you said "health care plan". But OK...even though "payment plans" existed pre-ACA, 60% of all bankruptcies were medical related with the average debt at $17K. And of those folks, 75% of them had insurance (mostly catastrophic plans with lifetime caps). So putting someone on a payment plan didn't suddenly prevent them from filing bankruptcy.

Do you understand what a payment plan is? Or, do they garnish your fucking wages when you buy a car? You asshole!

They would garnish your wages if you didn't pay your car loan back and took you to court. Which is what health care providers did for unpaid medical bills before the ACA.

 

[WillowTree]

No! That is what you in your abject stupidity were talking about. I was talking about a payment plan.

Well, to be fair you said "health care plan". But OK...even though "payment plans" existed pre-ACA, 60% of all bankruptcies were medical related with the average debt at $17K. And of those folks, 75% of them had insurance (mostly catastrophic plans with lifetime caps). So putting someone on a payment plan didn't suddenly prevent them from filing bankruptcy.

Do you understand what a payment plan is? Or, do they garnish your fucking wages when you buy a car? You asshole!

They would garnish your wages if you didn't pay your car loan back and took you to court. Which is what health care providers did for unpaid medical bills before the ACA.

Sometimes life is hard dude! Nothing in life is free which is what you want. You want someone to take care of you!

 

[iceberg]

It is a product made and sold for profit by the private industry that is forced on Americans by our government. You're welcome

What is the product? I mean, physically, what is the product an insurance company makes?

security.

don't make this difficult for your own agenda.

 

[The Derp]

Sometimes life is hard dude! Nothing in life is free which is what you want. You want someone to take care of you!

I seriously doubt you would apply that standard to yourself if you found yourself in the position of needing medical treatment you couldn't afford.

 

[The Derp]

security.

Security for what? All an insurance company does is administer reimbursement to your provider after they've already treated you. So what an insurance company does is not germane to your health care. So what benefit to the patient is there to have Aetna reimburse your provider instead of Medicare? With Medicare, you can go to providers nationwide. With Aetna, you cannot.

 

[WillowTree]

Sometimes life is hard dude! Nothing in life is free which is what you want. You want someone to take care of you!

I seriously doubt you would apply that standard to yourself if you found yourself in the position of needing medical treatment you couldn't afford.

You don't read well do ewe? I have been there done that and have written about it in this very thread! Bye!

 

[The Derp]

You don't read well do ewe? I have been there done that and have written about it in this very thread! Bye!

Of course, anything anyone says about themselves on an anonymous message board is bullshit.

 

[iceberg]

security.

Security for what? All an insurance company does is administer reimbursement to your provider after they've already treated you. So what an insurance company does is not germane to your health care. So what benefit to the patient is there to have Aetna reimburse your provider instead of Medicare? With Medicare, you can go to providers nationwide. With Aetna, you cannot.

if i have to answer that, you're not going to understand.

 

[The Derp]

if i have to answer that, you're not going to understand.

Because your answer will be nonsense.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

It's adorable that you think money taken out of your paycheck to pay for medical procedures is placed into a vault in the hospital....never to interact with the "consumer economy", ever again. DERP!

LOL! Ah...the trickle down argument. An argument reliant 100% on faith. What a goofball.

Realizing that hospitals spend their revenues is relying on faith? Sure, LOL!

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

It's not supposed to pay for medical treatment for people who decided to get this "insurance" after they've been diagnosed with a serious medical issue.

Exactly. For the same reason you don't buy flood insurance as your house is getting flooded. So what you're doing here is making the case for single payer health care, or at the very least automatic enrollment in a Public Option. Because, as you correctly point out, you don't know what will happen the next second you draw a breath. So in the event that you might get struck down by an expensive disease, or hit by a bus, you have to insure yourself to prevent financial ruin. My point is and always has been that having a private insurer skim as much as 20% off the top for themselves to serve the function of administration is pointless, costly, a waste, and does nothing to improve or enhance your health care. They reimburse after you've already had the treatment. So they're just doing administration. Why does that part of health care have to be privatized and what benefit of having it privatized is there to the patients? None so far as I can see. Medicare serves the exact same function, yet Medicare's budget only allocates about 1% to administration vs. a company like Aetna, that allocates 17%.

So what's the better deal for patients?

Exactly. For the same reason you don't buy flood insurance as your house is getting flooded.

Exactly. That's why Obamacare covering pre-existing conditions means it isn't insurance any more.

 

[Ernie S.]

It is a product made and sold for profit by the private industry that is forced on Americans by our government. You're welcome

Right, because no single person can reasonably afford $33K it costs to perform an appendectomy. So we have health insurance so people don't die of a burst appendix, nor do they go broke paying for the appendectomy.

How are you supposed to afford that if you don't have enough cash in your savings account?

No one is going to die from a burst appendix. Hospitals are compelled to provide emergency treatment. REAL health insurance does and should cover that. THAT is what insurance is. Literally, you pay x dollars so that an insurance company will indemnify you for a future risk.
"Insurance" does not pay if you decide you want to change the transmission in your car because you decide you are a 6 speed driver trapped in an automatic. "Insurance" doesn't pay for preexisting dents.

 

[Sun Devil 92]

You really are one stupid son-of-a-bitch.

No, you guys are stupid because you don't know what health insurance is, and you never have. That's why you can't articulate a replacement plan. Because you lack the brain power to understand it. Whether or not you're being deliberately obtuse is a whole other question.

You get a big medical bill and they will put you on a payment program.

Right...they garnish your wages. That's the "payment plan". And when you pay cash, you're paying over-inflated prices that are in the chargemaster. Or they give you a discount, but that discount just gets paid by those on insurance, who have taken personal responsibility.

Thanks for making my point, dickhead. You get a bill for 33K, you sell your car and pay off the hospital.

Math is hard for your guys.

$25K =/= $33K.

So you're still $8K in the hole.

You can set up a payment plan with your doctor OR apply for a grant from a non profit of which there are many ( or hospital charity fund)...that will pay your hospital care. Want to know how a lot of the grants are funded? A huge percentage are paid directly from donations from hospital and healthplan employees taken directly from their pay checks.

You are welcome.

And this is needed only a small percentage of the time.

This gets overblown because there are people like some on this board, who can't stand that doctors make good money.

 

[The Derp]

Realizing that hospitals spend their revenues is relying on faith? Sure, LOL!

No believing that a $137 markup on an IV bag that costs less than $1 somehow will trickle down into the economy is the faith I'm mocking.

 

[Sun Devil 92]

LOL! So this is what I'm getting at! They reduce the bill, but what they reduced still must be paid. So what happens? Whatever the hospital reduced for you ends up getting passed on to those with insurance who see higher premiums as a result. Secondly, you're not getting any kind of discount when a hospital reduces a bill. In fact, you're probably paying exactly what the chargemaster at your hospital has determined what the cost will be. So the hospital says your procedure cost $50K, but they decide to charge you $30K...but that $30K is what the actual charge is. So you're getting a "discount" on an imaginary price so you don't question it. Only a sucker would think that's a deal.

I've had several friends work the processd and come out with a "fair" settlement.

LOL! "fair" for the hospital because that "discount" is what the chargemaster sets as the price anyway, that an insurance company already pays.

Dumb.

I'm going to interject my 2 cents here.

Health insurance is like anything else, if you can afford it, you get it and reap the benefits of it. If you can't afford it, you're not entitled to it, so you don't get it. You can also choose (or should be able to choose) not to buy it, and if you get sick and need health care, pay for it out of your own pocket. If you can't pay for it, oh well. You go broke.

Its exactly the same thing as car insurance that you use. You have to buy car insurance ONLY if you own a car. However, your plan limits can be set very low, but you can do a hell of a lot more damage than those limits. You're on the hook for the bill, just like you're on the hook for the medical bill. If you can't afford it, oh well. You go broke. It's a risk you take.

But its YOUR risk to take. I should not be forced to buy insurance because YOU can't afford your medical bills. That's redistribution of wealth. Very liberal and disgusting.

And who says who can afford and who can't ?

I've seen far to many situations where won't pay hospital bills while doing things like taking international vacations.

 

[The Derp]

Exactly. That's why Obamacare covering pre-existing conditions means it isn't insurance any more.

So it doesn't insure you from financial ruin? Then what does insurance do, then?