[theoddz]

Originally Posted by casey35

I do understand the need of insurance and for those who are declined from insurance. But the government needs to back out of our personal life. I do not believe that the government should tell me what i can do and what i cant. For me to hear from our leaders it unamerican to not vote for the health care pisses me off. I have served my country and I for one believe it still america and we have choices what we want and what we dont.

I totally get your point here, Casey, about not wanting government intrusion into our personal lives....for most things. Thing is, when we have uninsured Americans, we all pay the costs. When I say we ALL pay, we do, especially those of us who are (lucky enough) to have a job and bring home a paycheck these days. Let me explain.

People who don't have health coverage can't usually get in to see private doctors, where a simple office visit usually costs about $125, if you pay out of pocket and you don't have any xrays, tests or procedures done, because those are extra. These people can't the afford the $125 and they usually don't even bother trying to get in to a private doctor because they are denied even an appointment when they call, being told that "Dr. Soandsuch doesn't accept uninsured patients".

When you are sick and/or injured, you must get medical attention, and that's non-negotiable, because you must live. If you can't go to a private doctor, the only alternative is the Emergency Room, because they can't turn you down. At a minimum, they have to stabilize and treat you and, if they are a community-funded facility, then they MUST, by law, take a certain percentage of medically indigent patients. People know this, so this is the route most of them take. Oh, and by the time these folks come in to the ER, they usually have much MUCH more complicated scenarios going on than if they'd just sought treatment for when the problem first started. People who are uninsured though typically put off seeking medical attention until the last cryin' second, because they know they can't afford it and they're scared to death of not just the medical problem, but the expense associated with care.

Care at an Emergency Department is the most expensive care you can get, anywhere, but when you don't have any choice, that's where you go, whether you can "afford" it or not. In the past, there were programs that provided monetary offset or sliding scale reduced costs to people who couldn't afford to pay, or even programs that picked up the entire costs of services to medically indigents. In today's economy, however, those have gradually dwindled down to next to nothing, or nil. Someone has to pay those costs, or the (community funded, especially) hospitals would go under. This is happening more and more, and I beg you to show me one community funded facility now that isn't operating in the red. They can only do this for so long before they disappear and there is no facility whatsoever, for the folks who have no money and no insurance. The entire community loses. Now, in my lifetime, it's been pretty well accepted that some of these community funded facilities have been of the research oriented type and they have had some of the best equipment and facilities of any hospital in any community. In other words, if you were really, really sick, or banged up in an accident, that's where you wanted to go for the most aggressive treatment or care. These places depend on tax dollars for the greater source of their operating budgets. As their expense goes up, so does the demand for our tax dollars to fund them.

Now, that said, I ask you. Wouldn't you rather spend a few less tax dollars to help buy some of these uninsured Americans some level of basic health care?? If they had health insurance, they wouldn't always be clogging up ERs and charging the most expensive level of care to the taxpayers. They would be going to primary care doctors who charge FAR less for office visits than a trip to the ER would ever cost. These folks would have access to routine preventive care so that more complicated medical issues can be, hopefully, averted. I say, let the big insurance industry bear the burden of the costs of most of the care, in the form of negotiated costs, and take the huge burden of the costs of ER visits for non-emergent care off of the shoulders of the taxpayers.

I'm so sick and tired of hearing so many people who DO have health coverage, or are in a position to pay for their care, grumble about why they should have to bear the costs of paying for people who don't have coverage or are not lucky enough to be in the same position of being able to afford and pay for their care. It's the exact same thing as saying "I've got mine, so fuck you.". That doesn't work in a (civilized) society.

We really ARE all interconnected, in society, whether or not we want to admit it or not. Someone's got to pay these huge costs and it's, ultimately, going to fall on the guy whom it's always fallen on.....the taxpayer. The only question that's left to answer is how it's going to be paid. I, as a single filer (I am not legally married), pay approximately 28% of my salary in federal taxes. Of the amount I have left, after that's taken out, I pay about $160 per month for the premium of my health care coverage/insurance. I would rather pay, say, 29 or 30% in federal taxes.....or it may even be a bit less, if we had a single payer system, similar to the VA (#1 Ranking, consistently, in Patient Satisfaction, nationally), to cover EVERY American. Just by sheer volume alone, the cost of medical services and pharmaceuticals would be beaten down....way, waaaaaay down.

~Theo~