[Tfug] Down Memory Lane II

[Christopher Robbins]

On Sun, Jan 23, 2011 at 9:20 PM, keith smith <klsmith2020 at yahoo.com> wrote:

>
> John,
>
> I'm self-employed and have no insurance because it is prohibitively
> expensive.  Catastrophic insurance for just my wife and I is a minimum of
> $500 a month.  HMO would be about $1200 a month.
>

Insurance for the self-employed IS incredibly expensive.  I rode
sans-insurance as a contractor for awhile; paid for urgent card with cash as
I went, but it still was a shaky time.


>
>
> In 1979 I needed 3 stitches and the ER charge was $35.00.  At the time that
> is what I paid for utilities each month.  Why?  Several reasons.  1) Less
> government which is the opposite of ObamaCare, 2) A certain class of people
> were not using the ER as their PCP.
>
>
You know, when a certain Republican-governor (aka Mitt Romney, possible
2012-presidential candidate) did this in Massachusetts, no one ran around
calling it "RomneyCare"... :-/

1979 was over 30 years ago.  Costs couldn't have gone up because -

1.)  Technology?
2.)  Inflation?
3.)  Lack of doctors due to increases in medical malpractice premiums?
4.)  A shortage of doctors created by the AMA?

Health-care costs in this country are out of control.  I went to the ER, and
(with insurance!) paid $1000 out of pocket.   Every person that talked to
me, from the radiologist to the doctor
to the hospital itself had its hand out.  "ObamaCare" isn't nearly the kind
of cure we need to reign in costs in this country.  We spend 16% of GDP in
this country on health-care with nothing to
show for it.  Without health care reform, we lose a competitive advantage to
other countries that have national healthcare programs.

Anywho, this belongs on flames at tfug.org.  Any further conversation should
probably take place off-list.

-- 
Christopher P Robbins
Phone: (928) 257-6368
Email: robbinsc at gmail.com
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