Would any uninsured person refuse to pay $6.00/mo fir is coverage?

[napi21]

I keep hearing the Pubs saying that it would cost $3 billion a year to insure the 42 million people who are uninsured in this country. I heard it again from Haley Barbor tonight. I started thinking exactly what that meant. If you divide $3 Billion by 42 million, you get $71.43 per person. That's $6.00 a month per person! I realize there are a lot of very poor people who scrimp every penny, but surely $5/00 for the ability to get medical care when needed would be worth the cost.

Isd this even possible, or are the Pubs crazy with their numbers again?

[ret5hd]

1. Not vouching for those numbers, but that sounds like a hella deal to me.

[Earth_First]

2. Not vouching for those numbers either, but I would gladly pay 20x that number... n/t

[Warpy]

3. I wish it were that cheap

but it's just another example of how math illiterate conservatives are.

[OhioChick]

6. Agreed...

Plus....isn't that "42 million uninsured" number a little outdated?

[biopowertoday]

13. Last week I saw the number at 49 million.

[Warpy]

15. It's been outdated for the last 8 years

because that's the last time anybody bothered to count.

[OhioChick]

24. I'll bet it much, much higher than 42 Million....

With so much in the way of job loss.

"They" surely don't want those numbers coming out.

[SeattleGirl]

4. I'd do it in a second! Right now, I pay nearly $500 a month to cover

MrSG under my insurance. Thankfully, my boss pays my premium, but $500 a month for one person? Insane!

[Jackpine Radical]

11. My wife & I pay $1730 a month for 2 people.

$20k a year for health insurance. And that's at the rate that the State of WI pays for its employees in this area.

[illuminaughty]

17. I got forced out years ago at a staggering $1200 per month

It began in 1983 at $18 per month. And only a percentage of my meds were covered. I took Provigil before they used it as a "go" drug for the armed forces...it was approved for Narcolepsy and MS.

It started at $100 for 30 tabs and now lists for close to $400 for 30. It's all too insane.

[SeattleGirl]

20. It's absolutely ridiculous!

The drug companies keep insisting that they charge those high prices because it funds research, but I'm not fooled for a minute. Drug companies are publicly traded companies, so I know they actually charge the prices they do to increase their profits.

They think we are absolutely stupid, but a lot of people know what they're doing.

Assholes!

Personally, I think it is unethical and immoral to let drug and insurance companies be publicly traded entities.

The minute they are, they lose all sense of responsibility to the people they are supposed to be helping.

[Jackpine Radical]

21. unethical and immoral to let drug and insurance companies be publicly traded entities.

That's true of lot of industries in my opinion. I don't mind small privately owned clinics, but for-profit hospitals may not be a good idea. You can make the same argument for public utilities and energy companies pretty easily.

[illuminaughty]

25. I was just talking about this with one of my students who

is now a chiropractor. The insanity of a drug company sponsoring your nightly news.

Years ago I was hired to choreograph and stage direct a production for a drug reps convention.
Stuart Pharmaceuticals. It was a drug launch for the sales reps in Scottsdale. We did a one hour multi media production titled "Back to the Future" with three separate stages and twelve dancers. There were laser lights, a 3-D segment and a "flying" DeLorean. Yes, a real DeLorean on a hydraulic lift. Cost. 2 and a half million dollars. I wish I were kidding.

It was disgusting to see how those companies really worked.

[napi21]

5. I want to know why, if I can easily figure this out, NO ONE in the media

has called them out on that? I honestly believe if these people were Dems, every math illiterate talking head would be screaming!!!!!!

[kestrel91316]

7. I doubt I could buy medical coverage right now for $600 a month!

I'd sell my soul for the chance to get medical for $6 a month. That number can't be right.

[BuyingThyme]

8. Yes. Lots.

When it comes down to a couple cheese burgers or paying a bill, the cheese burgers always win.

[merh]

9. I'd be willing to pay my $6 a month plus 9 others

that would be so much cheaper than what insurance costs are now (the costs that are so expensive, I have no insurance and pray for good health)

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

10. couldn't handle the cobra premiums so like a good american, I went

out to the private market, and got catastrophic insurance for the family (3 of us). It is $300 per month. But get this, it only kicks in after we satisfy our deductible of $6,000 ($2,000 per person) annually.

$300 is quite the chunk out of the family budget these days, as we both are looking for work.

[biopowertoday]

14. and medicaid has deductibles/co-payments depending on your income.

[ravenna_windream]

12. I'd do it if so...

But as long as greed dominates =( Our medical system is on the verge of collapse imo.

My husband's boss was telling him recently of a real crappy insurance plan offered to him. Basically he'd pay about a hundred or so a month for it, the deductible is 3,000 dollars and they won't pay for expenses that exceed $8,000.00 . So if that's the kind of plan that is more or less similarly being hawked to people now, people are better off without it =(

[napi21]

16. I've never heard of one THAT BAD! While my husband was working

we had BCBS. It cost us $165/mo deduction from his pay, which I didn't think was too bad. There were deductibles that were a pia, but we managed. Of all the years we had coverage, we reached the max of $2,500 twice which hurt because our income was $25,000/yr, but we managed to pay it.

We're now on medicare and retired. $97.00- is deducted from our benefit each month (each one of us) and we subscribed to a supplemental policy to cover the things that aren't covered, but it's very inexpensive. ($39.00/mo)

It seems that none of our congress critters realize how much it costs to pay for all those uninsured to go to the ER. THAT cost increases eveyone's insureance premiums and costs everyone!

It's a very difficult system to explain but I hope someone better than I can do it.

[strategery blunder]

19. Actually crap plans like that are common

in low-wage jobs.

"Hey, look, we provide affordable healthcare options!"

Yeah, nevermind the employer does not contribute one cent towards the cost of such a policy and the insurance has sky-high deductibles and will only pay out somewhere between 5-10K. Not really worth bothering with, and really only offered for propaganda purposes.

I've seen this at minimum wage jobs, and even temp jobs that require college degrees.

[smokey nj]

22. I worked for a place that did just that .

The employer only paid 10% of the premium and the employee had to pick up the rest which was over $200 a pay check if my recollection is correct. The hourly wages for most of us were between $6.50 and $12.00 and we were not guaranteed hours. Needless to say, nobody I worked with took the benefits.

[orleans]

18. now...would that be $6 with a 99 percent co-pay and 2 million dollar deductible?

that sounds more like the financial fine print of republicons.

[Romulox]

23. Is most of that money going to private insurance middle men? Then I, too, don't want to pay it.

Real UHC or bust. Once the insurers worm their way in, we will never get them out.

[wickerwoman]

26. I'd pay a hell of a lot more than $6/month for health insurance.

I can't get it now because I have PVCs (a totally benign kind of heart murmur which has never been linked to any other health problems, which can't be treated and which would cost insurance companies absolutely zilch. But I've been turned down for insurance three times because they can just point to my EKG and say I have a pre-existing condition.)

[Cerridwen]

27. Let me throw some more numbers into the mix.

from this link. If I've done my math correctly, I see just under $12,000,000,000 in profit. That, as my SO likes to remind me, is what's left over after they've managed to find every loop-hole and hide every penny and deduct every, in this case literally, every bandaid. This is not revenue. This is profit; salaries are paid, taxes are paid, okay, you get it. $12 billion in profit in one year.

Now, let's say the repubs are correct (I typed it and my fingers didn't stutter *snort*). Their profit, would cover the remaining uninsured US population for just about 4 years.

I've not even looked at their revenue, 30% of which is overhead, to play with those numbers.

Just think on this, what they profit in one year; as they deny health care and coverage and contribute to the pre-mature deaths of approximately 18,000 Americans; could, were they not-for-profit providers (and presuming repub accuracy, a stretch), cover 42 million Americans for four years.

These days, rather than take the money from my own pocket, I'd like to start advocating we take the money from their hides.

:nuke: