It varies by PERSON! There are a few rules that are common I guess, but mostly States regulate their own citizens' insurance markets. All insurance coverage is chosen by the individual, mostly in the form of plans offered through their workplace. For some stupid reason we can't buy insurance across State lines or make up our own insurance risk pools to lower costs the easy way. There are huge insurance companies that have a bunch of branches that are all intertwined and sell under slightly different names. You pay for the coverage you want (with maybe a few common extra coverages), usually in a very well-defined package. Your insurance company negotiates with hospitals (by "negotiate" I mean mafia thug "negotiations" almost) and hospitals charge the insurer a reduced rate in return for 100% likelihood of payment. Individuals get charged more, mostly with a discount if all the bills are paid at once. There is also the possibility of buying an individual plan but they are WAY expensive for most people.



At least, under obamacare, you are only fined thousands of dollars for not having an insurance plan that costs double or triple what your current plan costs . . . many years ago if Hillary Clinton had her way, you would be in JAIL if you didn't have health care payment insurance! The same for the alternative plan put forth in the other house of Congress that didn't get passed a couple years back. That they think they can get away with this boggles the mind. In a blazing-fast two years that question made it all the way to the supreme Court of the USA and we're likely to hear before the next election whether the government "can" force us to buy something.



Dear citizen,



Welcome to America, land of the free. You will buy health care payment insurance or go to jail.



Have a nice life,



-Uncle Sam



P.S. no it doesn't matter if you are filthy rich and healthy as a horse. You will buy insurance.

 

I find it humorous that conservatives think health insurance companies should be profitable, yet think it makes no sense to make healthy people pay for insurance. You do get that if only sick people pay for it, it either is no longer profitable or is no longer "insurance"? Would we all agree that it makes sense that everyone driving a car pays for insurance even if they never get into an accident? So does it not make sense that everyone who can get sick or injured should pay for medical insurance even if they never get sick?



I love how most people in this country take a position based on a political affiliation then figure out how to support that position with arguments that are many time pretty ridiculous, rather than thinking through arguments and establishing a position based on logic.

 

that's another argument all together...SHOULD health insurance be profitable? that is then dictating weather people live or die based on their income. in the long run, i'm not talking about an emergency visit. someone who can afford better health care will live longer than someone who can't on average.



personally that is the main reason i favor a system where everyone gets the same coverage.

 

The beauty of gov't provided services is that they usually aren't profitable endeavours to begin with, stuff like: healthcare, public transport, defence, infrastructure etc. Privatising them and operating them for profit eventually results in a deterioration of the services.

 

This is a bad point alot of supporters make... If I dont want to pay for car insurance, then I don't have to. I ride my bike, take a bus or walk, were is that option if I dont want to by health insurance? On top of that I read the other day that Obamacare is looking at 17 Trillion dollars of unfunded spending, if true good by America. I truly hope the supreme court sticks by the people and not the tyrants in this case.

 

And that's a bad argument make by detractors. You can choose not to buy a car, but you can't choose to not get sick or injured. If you get hit by a car, you're not going to refuse treatment because you don't have insurance. You're gonna go to the hospital. You're gonna get treated and you're gonna get a bill. If you can't pay it, who does?

 

quote (but I dont remember where I heard it) "the road to hell is paved with good intentions."

sure its great that the government wants to provide healthcare for free to all people but its not mathmaticaly posible. they screwed up every program they tried to help, retirement, medicare, general motors, public education, college education.



the whole purpose of our free government was to allow people to make there own decisions in life. all our laws/regulations are to protect our personal liberties and to prevent us from imposing on other peoples personal liberties. the constitution/bill of rights all say what the govt cant do to us, or take from us. it is not of list of things we are entitled to from our govt.



this would become the only law in the history of our govt to force you to buy into it.



also 1 last point, the intentions of our congressmen is usually good. sure they want to help people out but just like running a house you cant make something out of nothing. example the average person lives on 60,000 a year. they see an add to free all children from hunger but it will cost 10 million dollars. the average person will say sorry but i cant afford that its not possible. Our govt (atleast for the last 20 years or so) sais I'll take care of that put it on my tab. the problem is the math never changed just adds a few more zeros to the end. this means they will spend 100 times more than they make and think its ok because it went to a good cause (60 billion income and they will make a 60 trillion investment).



ok my last last point then im done. lets say this passes and obama runs the show and it runs great. what happens when his term is up. the next guy may be very radical and say you cant get certain treatments unless you attend a church or maybe ration out healthcare to those who arent profitable to society. once you put all your eggs into one basket you cant go anywhere else. atleast if your gonna have a govt health care let it be run by the states. that way if georgia screws up i can just move to alabama.

 

so i just reread my post. its amazing that someone could get a goverment education, then go to a government owned and run university, study political science and come out with a libertarian view. damnit I still cant spell to save my life.

 

isnt that what enron was doing? they did it with about 500k and were doint it with about 60 trillion.

 

Well with that argument then we need to mandate all current and new types of insurance on every aspect in life now dont we.