I dunno, like, socialized medicine? Maybe?

I agree that the cost of insurance is nothing compared to the cost of being sick and uninsured. But there's also being insured and needed treatment that isn't covered - I've paid thousands over the past two years because my insurance refused to cover doctor visits for pre-existing conditions for the first year of coverage. I mean, zero coverage. Nada. My company was paying them about $400 a month for me, and they in turn covered not one doctor's visit.

It's not so much that insurance is expensive, as it is that insurance companies will do everything they can not to pay out.

Oh, and yeah, doctors charge too much. There. I went there. 

Some real world solutions to the health insurance problem coming from a guy that has not had ANY isurance in 7, or is it 8 years. First, if you contract a major disease (I am most familiar with cancer). Go to India for treatments. (Think about how many Indian doctors are already in practice here.) Hotel stay, hospice, kemo treatments, radiation, food etc etc. will be about 10-20% of the total cost in the USA. (again I am most familiar with cancer especially Sloan-Kettering in NYC). If you need emergency room care, try a walk-in clinic. Avoid Ambulance rides. Usually they have x-ray, and/or diagnostic imageing facilities on hand. If they don't, then go to a smaller facility but avoid hospitals as they are only for the insured, wealthy, and illegal aliens getting free care. If there are any complications (ie. surgery, orthapedic, specialists etc.) and you can travel. Go to Canada. It is NOT free to non Canadian citizens, but there medical system has fixed price controls so you will save a bundle. Also, prescription drugs are cheaper there, if not go to Wal-Mart for $4.00 prescriptions. And last but not least. Eat a healthy diet and maintain a healthy weight. Unotherwords, eat like Western Europeans or better yet Asians and not like an American. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Also, adopt the mind-set that the U.S. government will do nothing for you. And in most cases for working class legal Americans, it won't. Then and only then can you adopt a good game plan. This all comes from my first hand experience!

Just thought I should check before spending time responding. 

BLC

Thanks for addressing this issue. It's too scary and overwhelming for me to research, so I keep my head in the sand. Thanks for being so frank about this daunting situation.

This is a serious issue that sadly many don't think about till it's too late. Unfortunately in this country the sick are generally deemed un-insurable--like you--despite being the ones most in need of healthcare.

Anyone can become sick and once they lost their work insurance or if they never had it to begin with, can be left in the dust. Ins. from soc. sec. as you said takes two years form the time you are approved, which can take months or years, *IF* you are approved at all. These are things that can happen to anyone at anytime.

One bad car accident can leave a person disabled. And even for the basically healthy, the costs are so high that many have to go without. Even wit insurance the deductibles and co-pays can be so high that many go into bankruptcy form one serious illness.

Things need to change, and fast, or soon no one but the very, very wealthy will be able to get by in this country. Who wants to watch a lifetime of savings be eaten away because they happened to have the misfortune of getting sick? And yet that is a reality that can and does happen in this country all the time. We need to work for a change in our system and demand it from those we elect.

There are many approaches and just because one way might not work or be perfect does not mean we cannot find some answer. People critique M. Moore's suggestions as a way to write off the whole idea. Well, guess what, his suggestion may not work or be perfect, but that doesn't mean there isn't something very wrong with our system and ways out there to improve it. If every other industrialized nation has come up with something (and why focus on just Canada, as many seem to do, when so many other nations have examples for us to view and learn from, not necessarily emulate in full, as well), why is it that the US is the only one that can't?

Just about any answer will be an improvement over what's happening now. Thanks for writing this important post! I will be writing on this topic soon on my blog as well.

**Even with insurance the deductibles and co-pays can be so high that many go into bankruptcy from one serious illness.**

You are correct. The problem is not entirely with the high price of insurance. Visiting the doctor, or even worse, the hospital can be financially devistating with or without insurance. Two people in my family had ER visits this year. I have insurance and my portion of the bills was still 20 percent of my annual income. For one visit the doctor alone charged $1000 just for her exam. I guess to her that's not too much considering she must make that 20 or 30 times for one shift in the ER. I'm now inclined to only seek medical help if it's a matter of life or death, and then I may even think twice for myself (not my family).

"Government care (at least in America) is not the same quality of care you'd get through private insurance"

I'm wondering what support you have for this statement?

My mother is permanently disabled and on Medicare and had a $100k surgery paid for by the government, at a cost to her of just $2k. This was a surgery directly related to improving her quality of life, in association with her disability. She had this surgery at the University of Pennsylvania hospital.

Subsequent to this, the government paid for her to go to the Princeton Drug Rehabilitation center to eliminate her dependency on pain killers she took for said disability. This cost her just $1k.

The quality of care she has received under the government tab is equal to the best care you can possibly receive in this nation. I'm afraid that you have not a clue to actual facts when you made this statement.

Having lived in the UK, there are 2 systems, the NHS [government system] and private insurance that anyone who can afford gets. Separately from this, the entire system is a post code lottery. The better hospitals are in the rich areas. Even still, these "rich" hospitals are nothing in comparison to even your mid-level hospitals in the US.

To get this sub-par system, the UK citizens are taxed at 11% [Medicare is at a rate of 1.45%].

I suspect you have absolutely no real idea of what a national healthcare system is, other than watching some lame, one sided movie.

Admittedly, I am conservatively leaning in my political views but even my most liberal friends who live here in the UK and Europe in general largely agree that a national healthcare system is NOT superior to the system we have in the US and is not the cure to the US's woes. Some simple internet searches will do more than prove this statement accurate.