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Originally Posted by OT
DF..Do you have any kind of medical ins. that YOU (yourself) actually pay for?
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My family has had both insurance that we paid for out of pocket and insurance that we paid for by having our employers write the check and reduce our salary. Ultimately, we paid for both but I do realize that the "group" discount of "employer provided" insurance can provide discount rates (and is currently not taxed as income).
I am not defending the current system. It is far from perfect. Personally, I would like to see greater responsibility (and freedom) on the shoulders of the people. I would like to be able to purchase a cheaper policy that covers only the "very large, unexpected health problems", with a very high deductible. I would write a check for all routine checkups.
That is what I have on my homeowner and auto insurance. I have the maximum deductible allowed, pay for all routine issues and even small to medium "emergencies" out of pocket but enjoy a much lower rate. Imagine how high our homeowner's insurance premiums would be if that insurance was expected to pay for repainting, new windows, appliances and carpet, remodeling, etc? Why do we expect our health insurance to pay for even the smallest routine procedure? Get the insurance companies (and heaven help us, the federal government) out of 100% of these small transactions and market pressures would force prices down.
Make no mistake: If we make the proposed move to "universal" health care, it will be at the cost of increased wait times, rationed services and reduced choices for consumers. To borrow a phrase I read recently from Mark Steyn:
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It's ridiculous for grown men and women to say: I want to be able to choose from hundreds of cereals at the supermarket, thousands of movies from Netflix, millions of songs to play on my iPod—but I want the government to choose for me when it comes to my health care.
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Most of us have grown up in this great country where freedom is taken for granted. The fact that it can be lost is beyond comprehension for many. But again and again we are voting to lose bits of freedom in the name of some supposed benefit. It is easy (and sometimes tempting) to move in this direction, but once freedoms are lost, they are can be exceedingly difficult to regain.
