Comments on: Bush’s Plan To Destroy Your Healthcare

By: r.cync

r.cync — Thu, 03 Feb 2005 15:53:59 +0000

this sounds to me an awful lot like socioeconomic eugenics…

By: fullnelson

fullnelson — Wed, 02 Feb 2005 16:13:56 +0000

The “ownership society” only works for people with the means to own! What is clear to me is that this is a plan to address employers’ increasing financial burden to provide health insurance to workers, something viewed as part of their overall compensation. By eliminating this burden altogether, employers will save millions and employees will suffer an immediately noticeable cut in pay. But who gives a damn? People who can afford health insurance will still have it, and fuck the rest of us. Too bad so many conservatives have such a problem admitting that they’re just barely hanging on, and that Bush’s policies are destroying their way of life.

By: greg

greg — Tue, 01 Feb 2005 22:56:31 +0000

Well, since people will no longer have the weight of their employers behind them, insurance companies will be able to pick and choose who they feel like covering. When they don’t have to worry about providing health care to people prone to health problems, there’s no telling how much cash they’d be able to hold on to.

By: Captain Nemo

Captain Nemo — Tue, 01 Feb 2005 22:39:50 +0000

Am I missing something here? Seems like this will be a big hit to the insurance companies’ wallets.
Sure, they’ll pay out less on claims, but a lot of people won’t be able to afford any kind of insurance, especially if they have to pay the full premium cost.
And the insurance companies are going to have to sell one policy at a time instead of group coverage - what a load of overhead!
Why would the insurance industry go along with this? They’ve got big bucks and fat-cat lobbyists, too.

By: randomliberal

randomliberal — Tue, 01 Feb 2005 19:22:53 +0000

Umm, ouch…That would be murder for me and my family as we all have mental conditions (depression, mostly) that require prescriptions and psychologists. It’s bad enough that my primary counselor is not so much covered by my current insurance…to lose drug coverage would be disasterous.

By: Becky

Becky — Tue, 01 Feb 2005 13:50:24 +0000

You are probably looking at $400-500 a month for a single person, twice that for a family. As noted before the “high deductible” is payable by the policy holder. Then the insurance company would pay 70-90% of the remainder. So it is entirely conceivable that the insurance company would end up paying about $400 for a $1500 bill. And it is also correct that many people would stop getting preventative health care which usually costs no less that $100 a visit, not counting blood tests, mamograms, etc. And let’s hope you don’t have children who need vaccinations or throat cultures. Then there are the drugs. A 7 day course of the latest generation of antibiotics is $100, antihypertensives, $1 a day. Depressed yet, sorry you can’t afford Zoloft anymore. It is very likely a family of four would have to spend several thousand dollars on routine medical care and minor illnesses and injuries each year in addition to the monthly insurance payment. It’s a sweet deal for the insurance companies and they know it. Bush opponents need to be specific about the numbers on health care costs and social security. The bullshit phrase “ownership society” doesn’t sound so swell when it means you own most of your own health care costs.

By: platosearwax

platosearwax — Tue, 01 Feb 2005 11:52:03 +0000

My doctor visits cost 12 bucks and any hospital stays are completely free. Of course, I live in Norway so…

By: Get Your Blog Up

Get Your Blog Up — Tue, 01 Feb 2005 04:54:40 +0000

Look over there! Social Security!

Because what we really need is people to be more “careful” in their healthcare use, right? Too many people are going to the doctors when they only think they may be sick, rather than waiting for the end stage cancer or their diabetes to go out of con…

By: CrazyinAZ

CrazyinAZ — Tue, 01 Feb 2005 03:44:00 +0000

Okay, let me get this straight. . .just what is the purpose of this proposal? This plan will bring down the cost of health care, right? This plan will eliminate wasteful medical lawsuits against hard working doctors?

I’m sure insurance companies will eagerly accept all persons regardless of medical risk into their plans! The one point about company plans is that ALL EMPLOYEES are accepted into the plan regrdless of pre-existing conditions. Wanna bet that will change, when individuals apply for coverage with insurance companies?

Could it be that this plan will allow the insurance companies to determine who they will allow to enroll and thereby allowing them to plow more money into their savings accounts?

In the “unlikely event” of a major and on-going medical problem, and you’ve depleted your personal savings, sold all you own including your home, that the a county or state body will provide medical care.

What a great country!!

By: wildsoda

wildsoda — Tue, 01 Feb 2005 03:24:32 +0000

And my family wonders why I’m considering moving to Australia to live with my boyfriend. It sure is far away, and sure, it’s not a perfect utopia, but with the way things are going here, it’s looking better and better every day. (Wow, government-funded healthcare, nice weather, inexpensive education and reasonably-priced housing? You don’t say!)