NationStates Jolt Archive

http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20050708/hl_hsn/cheaphealthinsuranceavailabletomanyyoungadults

"For the cost of a latte a day, many of America's 10 million uninsured young adults could afford individual health insurance in most of the 50 largest U.S. cities, according to a new national report."

If you are among the young people who have no health inssurance this is the link for YOU! Cost is oficially not an excuse. For the price of a case of smokes or a case of beer each week a person can have health insurance. The article has a link to find out more about getting it for yourself.

For those who still live with parents do not ignore this. There is government subsidized insurance for minors.

The importance of health insurance cannot be understated. Without it you could face astronomical medical bills which would follow you for LIFE should you have a medical problem requireing treatment beyond your ability to pay.

Nobody has a responsibility to take care of your bills more than you do.

Hot diggidy damn!

Yeah I looked into getting health insurance for myself and every place I called quoted me at about 150 a month. I can't exactly move to those places where the insurance is cheaper right now. So basically I'm screwed. I want to know why a 19 year old female who lives in podunk Oklahoma with no health problems needs to pay that much for insurance. It's ridiculous. If I had that kind of money to give out each month I would just save it.

Edit: And what if you can't afford a latte a day as it is?

How big a latte?

Stupid things can get pretty expensive.

EDIT

Sounds like there's a catch somewhere. Like the insurance isn't going to cover more expensive treatments or something. I noticed it is for the under 30 and single crowd who are less likely to be seriously ill.

Bah. So many questions and no fine print to examine.

Yeah I looked into getting health insurance for myself and every place I called quoted me at about 150 a month. I can't exactly move to those places where the insurance is cheaper right now. So basically I'm screwed. I want to know why a 19 year old female who lives in podunk Oklahoma with no health problems needs to pay that much for insurance. It's ridiculous. If I had that kind of money to give out each month I would just save it.

Edit: And what if you can't afford a latte a day as it is?

I will tell you why, and for the record, I am a capitalist. It is that expensive because the insurance industry has unlimited resourses to lobby, bribe, and litigate to death anyone, at anytime in any place in the US.
Why you may ask? Because of us in our protectionist best intentions decided to jump on the mandatory liability insurance laws as if they were a good thing. It was a trick. A dirty trick that allowed these folks in interject themselves into the highest levels of your state government in many cases even deciding among themselves who could be the state insurance commissioner. Never mind the fact that while they were pumping these mandatory laws, absolutely no one was wrecked financially because they didn't have insurance. It then fell under No Fault clauses and the insurance industry had to pick up the tab.
Then to make things worse, all competition was removed from their racket thanks to their lobby creating some sort of imagined crisis resulting in the good old HMO! With HMO's they dont have to comptete and they tell the doctors what to do and they charge what they want but limit their outlay. I know it sucks but it is self inflicted in part.
On the brighter side of things, I would expect to see these rates coming way down as people are becoming more aware, the push toward socialized medicine will force them to drastically lower their rates in order to stem this trend.

The answer to your last question is simply walk into the nearest hospital if you need to. They legally have to treat you whether or not you have a dime. :D

Kaiser advertises individual health plans pretty heavily in the Atlanta area. I think the rates are on the order of $50 or so. What "kids", that's the unmarried, twenty and thirty somethings out there, really need is a major medical policy and a medical savings account. Just pay the doctor for the office visit. Use the MSA for that. If you're reasonably healthy, you won't have many visits and the MSA money will accrue. If you get really sick, or badly injured, the major medical policy will kick in with a deductible that you can pay with the money in the MSA.

Just because the liberals whine about it incessantly, that doesn't mean everyone NEEDS wall-to-wall health insurance coverage.

I want to know why a 19 year old female who lives in podunk Oklahoma with no health problems needs to pay that much for insurance.
That works out to about $4.94 per day. Unless you consider your health to be worth less than a 'happy-meal' that is pretty cheap. You could probably also get cheaper - I suspect you are looking for too much insurance.


Sounds like there's a catch somewhere. Like the insurance isn't going to cover more expensive treatments or something. I noticed it is for the under 30 and single crowd who are less likely to be seriously ill.
Bah. So many questions and no fine print to examine.


Actually it is the opposite. You pay for the small stuff and don't sweat the big stuff. There is plenty of info on the provided link. The under thirty single crowd is very much less likely to have a serious disease, thought their risk of injury from driving or sports is considerably higher. It would seem that lower risk should result in lower cost. Did I miss something?



On the brighter side of things, I would expect to see these rates coming way down as people are becoming more aware, the push toward socialized medicine will force them to drastically lower their rates in order to stem this trend.

YUCK! Liverbreath! ??? Bah.
Anywho..

I agree with all but the last part. Only the elimination of HMO style plans and the return of competitive pricing could result in affordable medicine.

Myrmidonisia, Awesome post.

Just because the liberals whine about it incessantly, that doesn't mean everyone NEEDS wall-to-wall health insurance coverage.
I agree, that is a common misconception. That could be the cause for th concern. People believe they need it and spend exhuberant amounts on it and then wonder why their health insurance is so expensive. I think you should be prepared to purchase the sort of healthcare that you can afford and require.

Government protectionism of the insurance industry narrows the amount of competition and gives power to the companies that they would not normally have in the market. That is why prices are so high.

Government protectionism of the insurance industry narrows the amount of competition and gives power to the companies that they would not normally have in the market. That is why prices are so high.
I think the government is involved in artificially high prices, but not in the way of protecting insurance companies.

The government mandates a lot of the coverage that employers have to offer. We don't all need maternity benefits in a policy, just as we don't all need chiropractic or rehab benefits. Why shouldn't we shop around for the best price on only the products that we need. Maybe I only need prescription drug coverage and major medical. Maybe you really do need maternity benefits. We should only buy what we need, not what the government decides ought to be included in a plan.