TibFreak

I don't see anything ever coming from this, but who knows with the way this county is now.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090909/ap_on_...are_overhaul_83

Stocker

Margaret Thatcher warned you not to assume that outrageous ideas are not actually being pursued. Tax cheats running this show also think that you should be levied maximum penalties for what used to be called "innocent mistakes" on your taxes. Yes on your taxes. They want the IRS to be involved in your health care.

US Healthcare: used to be expensive, now it's Free!* All the efficiency of the United States Postal Service, and all the human compassion of the Internal Revenue Service! What's the worst that could happen?

*except it's expensive

Careful, you'll get called a racist and have your thread locked wink1.gif hi REDZ

i8acobra

An uninsured person costs taxpayers more than giving that person Gov't managed healthcare. That's a fact that has nothing to do with politics. I'm all for fining someone for refusing to either get private insurance or sign up for the Gov't plan. I say either fine them or remove the law from the books that says a hospital is required to treat anyone who walks through the door, regardless of their ability to pay. Now, your choices are either get insurance, have enough cash to be self-insured, or lay down on the sidewalk and die. No, this doesn't discriminate against the poor, because the Gov't insurance is free if you're low-income. You just have to get off your a*s and sign up for it.

Stocker

I have needed exactly $0 worth of medical care of any sort for the last decade. That's ten$ of thou$and$ paid to .gov for bubkis under this plan. At gunpoint. If I had a tax-advantaged catastrophic coverage-only private HSA, paying a tenth of that in premiums over the years would probably mean $0 out of pocket for almost anything that happened to me now. Guess what type of plan they're not discussing on the hill right now.

In a bill they tried to cram through in 2 weeks.

By the way, you do have to pay for your services currently, unless you are an illegal or indigent. Everybody who gives the hospital an address gets billed.

radu_rd2

I hope that never happens, but one day you can get an unexpected condition which will have them shelling out tens of thousands of dollars for the treatment.. 10 times more than you have ever paid for insurance. That's kinda the point of insurance.. I would just take the fact that you paid it for nothing so far as a blessing!

i8acobra

I'm happy for you. But, you didn't know 10 years ago that you would never need a hospital, did you? That's why it's called "insurance".

By the way, getting a bill after the fact isn't that same as saying, "we need to see your insurance card or a credit card before a doctor will see you". You don't have to pay your bills. You should, but we don't have debtor's prisons anymore.

Stocker

Don't get me wrong cats, I R insured, health, disability, dismemberment, vision, dental, life, cars, house, the works.

I'm just saying: if we fixed a few main points of what's wrong with the way things are, we could have a medical service payment system for when something goes wrong, that isn't stupid. Without turning over the keys to 1/6th of the world's largest economy to PettyTyrants@us.gov

Debtor's prison: was kind of an unwieldy solution for an age when wage garnishments couldn't be overseen by the State.

i8acobra

It's next to impossible for a hospital to get an order for garnishment. There's a few types of debts a judge will generally not garnish wages for. Medical bills are one. The other is unsecured debt, like credit cards. The exception being if you're wealthy enough that the judge thinks you're rufusing to pay out of spite,not out of an inability to pay. Conversely, there's a couple of debts a judge will almost always garnish for... child support and government debt (taxes, fines, etc...).

Stocker

= 1 thing that could be fixed with a one-page bill.