Can We Talk Insurance

Please don’t miss the bigger point. Without insurance you become your own death panel. The treatment I am receiving is ridiculously expensive. I am a Medicare recipient. I’m still working so I pay a Medicare premium every month (my Medicare tax too). It’s not free, but it’s reasonable. Thank you America.

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There’s going to be a lot of talk about insurance in the coming months. Different takes on what to offer, how to pay.

Please don’t miss the bigger point. Without insurance you become your own death panel.

The treatment I am receiving is ridiculously expensive. I am a Medicare recipient. I’m still working so I pay a Medicare premium every month (my Medicare tax too). It’s not free, but it’s reasonable. Thank you America.

The cancer I have is a very bad type. It’s an aggressive grower. The mere fact major surgery like the Whipple is used shows how brutal the battle can be.

So what happens to an uninsured, downsized 62 year old who has my symptoms? That person will discover the cancer too late and die.

Most pancreatic cancer sufferers die quickly after discovery. My tab was well into five figures by the time the cancer was diagnosed. Without insurance no one can afford that.

America’s medical care rates poorly compared to other nations. Not for me. With insurance what I get is world class. The numbers are brought down because we have so many without insurance plus the underinsured. They often go untreated. Just the deductibles and co-pays are enough to keep treatment from getting started.

I didn’t think I was going to get cancer. Who does? Shit happens. But why are we the only industrial nation where sickness after a plentiful life can bring you ruin?

Everybody needs insurance. It can be done for much less than we spend now. It needs to be done.

3 thoughts on “Can We Talk Insurance”

  1. We absolutely need national health coverage, unlike what we have now. This plan is exclusively for the benefit of the insurance companies. When I paid the full price for health care for the family in 2016, I spent $1750 per month. (3x what I spent before the ACA). Now, with federal subsidies, the exact same plan will cost me $300, but the insurance companies will now get $2100!. They get $1797 from Uncle Sam, more than I paid, plus my additional $300. For the exact same plan! Crazy. So, you can count me among the nut jobs who believe the ACA needs to go. We just need to do better; something I hope we can achieve soon.

    PS. My insurance company has paid around $500,000 over the past 12 years to rebuild my heart. I’ve been taking advantage of both the old plan and the new one. I surely get the need!

  2. I will grant you the valid point that everyone needs insurance. However, not everyone is willing to buy insurance. This is 1,000lb elephant that no one wants to talk about as it applies to ACA. In order for it to be even remotely sustainable for the immediate future, healthy people have to buy insurance to subsidize the truly sick people that insurance companies must cover w/o passing the majority of the cost on to others (this is why insurance companies are losing some money. Being forced to cover a child until they’re 26 and not being able to pass the cost on to the consumer. We are a bunch of crybabies).

    And since a good percentage of healthy people would rather either not purchase the insurance or take the tax hit (because its cheaper), you have the issue of unsustainability, which is a main reason why insurance companies are pulling out.

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