Obamas most despicable act to date.

[HappySqurriel]

ManusJustus said:

HappySqurriel said:

ManusJustus said:
To be honest, I don't know whats in the healthcare bill and I don't care. Without a public option, any healthcare plan is doomed to fail, and is fundamentally no different than what we have now.

I still don’t understand why people fixate on the insurance companies as being the reason why American healthcare is so expensive. Life insurance, home insurance, auto insurance, and the countless forms of insurance that people and companies buy on a day to day basis is affordable with similar profit margins for the companies; and the primary difference between other insurance and healthcare insurance is how healthcare insurance is mandated to operate.

Imagine what would happen to auto insurance if it was (almost) always purchased in group plans with little or no consideration for the driving record of individuals..

If you want to make the system more affordable, have companies pay health benefits into an account where individuals can buy individual benefits

That is a very bad idea.  If you are reckless driver, its primarily your own fault for driving to fast and ignoring traffic laws.  If for whatever reason you cant afford car insurance, then you'll have to find other means of transportation which, though it may be an inconvienence, wont ruin your life.

Lets think about individual health, you could essentially afford health insurance until you need it.  If you are a healthy individual and to no fault of your own you experience a grave illness, then the insurance company drastically increases your price (because you are a risky investment now) and you cant afford insurance.  I cant imagine how horrible that would be where everyone that needed health insurance couldnt afford it, almost everyone would be one accident or illness away from financial ruin, not to mention the problem with retired seniors trying to buy health insurance.

Fire insurance is designed to protect against an event which is similarly as unlikely as getting an illness through no fault of your own, and is as costly as most of the most expensive illnesses around. While we may feel sympathetic for someone who loses their house to a fire and doesn’t have insurance few people seem to believe that it is somehow unfair; and there is no movement to force insurance companies to allow people to buy insurance after a fire that would cover the losses in the fire, or to force insurance companies to cover homes for flood damage that are built on a flood plain that is flooded every year.

Now, in general I agree that an insurance company should not be allowed to change the price of your policy to reflect an illness that you received while being covered for that illness; and (realistically) they should be forced to make arrangements with other insurers (most likely a cash transfer) so you can transfer this coverage if you wish to transfer your policy. The important consideration is that this is much (MUCH) different from forcing companies to cover the uninsured after they have an illness. What I suggest here is for health insurance to act like INSURANCE; if you’re insured to cover $500,000 in the case of cancer than the insurance company should cover you up to $500,000 in the case of cancer. The problem with forcing insurance companies to cover an individual who doesn’t have insurance, or having the government cover someone who doesn’t have insurance, is that it forces an individual who has no obligation to help this person to pay for them through higher premiums or taxes.

Its great to feel sympathetic for the person who doesn't have insurance, but why can't you feel sympathy for the individuals who can hardly get by because they're already paying for so many other people?