Life without insurance a picture story...

I'll try to answer some of the points made here....
insurance companies are not making huge profits, as a general rule. about 87% of the premium goes directly to claims, about 10% goes to overhead, about 3% is profit. the healthy pay for the sick. I routinely see claims of 100,000 or more.

canadian drugs are not an answer until the FDA regulates them. We are legally prohibited from covering drugs not fda approved. the rx companies are making big profits, and try to watch an hour of TV w/o seeing a commercial for the latest drug.....

referrals are a pain, but they are designed to keep costs down. the theory is it will prevent more costly specialists visits that are unneccesary. you wouldn't believe how many Dr's we have on fraud watch due to system abuse. we have some clowns who get paid by us, then tell the patient it was denied, and get paid from them too !

the 4 month wait has nothing to do with insurance, its a medically underserved area for that specialty, I would guess.


COBRA is an eye opener to the true cost of insurance, w/o your employers contribution to the premium.

the problem(outside of rising costs due to utilization, technology, etc) is an employment/commercial based eligibility system. I would favor a citizenship based eligibility system, the problem I haven't figured out is how to pay for it......

Years ago, when I worked for a company that actually offered a medical plan, I found a lump and checked on the ins. co. coverage of a mascectomy ...just in case. They considered that 'elective' surgery--I guess you could 'elect' to keep a cancerous lump....But the boss's wife got her nose job paid by the ins. co.( he even accidently called it that one day, but did have some concience--he blushed). It was passed off as TMJ ( a jaw misalignment )---but when she came into see him one day, she looked so diff--I almost didn't recognize her!!

I'm an American. Amazing the things America 'doesn't talk about'. I gave up years ago and studied Naturopathy and mostly take care of myself. If anything catastrophic happens to me, well, I'll get the Darwin Award. In Washington State, we had State insurance plans that would cover a family of three for $15 a month. Close to Canada helps, I guess. When in Mexico, I'm covered by IMSS, the Mexican National Health System- free. The good side of the States not giving a dam' if we live or die is it gives you a chance to study traditional healing practices. By the way, Reservation natives (enrolled Indians) are covered for free by Indian Health Service as war reparations, BUT you have to sign a paper giving up land rights to qualify. Millions of Natives won't sign.

Reservation natives (enrolled Indians) are covered for free by Indian Health Service as war reparations, BUT you have to sign a paper giving up land rights to qualify. Millions of Natives won't sign.

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I don't blame them!! ( But I'm surprised the gov't hasn't thought of that for all of the rest of us as well....don't give them any ideas.)