[JerryLove]

Crush of cancer, medical bills snares family - CNN.com

[Epaphras]

I believe it, no doubt. Something needs to be done.

[nolidad]

Originally Posted by Epaphras

I believe it, no doubt. Something needs to be done.

I agree. However the bill just voted out of the finance commitee to the floor according to the CBO and Price, Waterhouse and Cooper is going to significantly increase costs for the presently insured. And of your plan falls iunder the category of "cadillac coverage" you or your employer could face up to a forty percent tax for having coverage that is too good.

[JerryLove]

Originally Posted by nolidad

I agree. However the bill just voted out of the finance commitee to the floor according to the CBO and Price, Waterhouse and Cooper is going to significantly increase costs for the presently insured.

http://www.christianguitar.org/forum...eply&p=3473861
Rates to rise under Senate health plan, industry group says - CNN.com

So you believe that the insurance companies are on your side trying to prevent you from giving them money?

"A separate analysis last week from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office concluded that the Baucus bill would reduce the national deficit by slightly more than $80 billion over the next decade.

The office asserted the plan would provide insurance to an additional 29 million people and extend coverage to 94 percent of the country's nonelderly population."

Nolidad, you may remember the CBO: You've been citing them over and over again as the authority.

And of your plan falls iunder the category of "cadillac coverage" you or your employer could face up to a forty percent tax for having coverage that is too good.

I've already shown you that your 40% number is fictitious, and that your (past) asserted "what is cadillac" was fictitious, and that your assertion (minimally inference here, but spelt out in another post of yours) that the tax would be on the entire benifit is similarly false.

Finally: You have ignored the topic. How many people will be bankrupted by medical bills and unable to get insurance?

[tlj009]

"Late in 2001, the Elders were scrambling for affordable coverage. They dropped their policy with Nationwide Insurance and signed up for a more affordable policy with Aetna, by starting a group policy including employees in a small business they were running at the time. Eventually, Aetna would increase the Elders' premium to nearly $1,000 per month. It was too much. In 2005, the Elders dropped their health insurance policy for the second time."

"Through it all, there was one bright spot: A generous family member paid the more than $80,000 in hospital bills stacked up during Leslie Elder's 2005 kidney cancer treatment. Still, the family is struggling to pay down the bill of more than $21,000 from 2001."

These people are much better off without insurance. $80,000 loan is less than a house would be. So the loan is likely less than $1,000/mo. I thought that cancer would run in the millions.

[Nate]

It's a sad story, but it's not just healthcare to blame.

This was a particularly stupid quote:

"A recent Kaiser Family Foundation study examining U.S. health insurance policies generally found that from 1999 to 2009, the average family premium more than doubled. The Elders say that over the life of their Nationwide Insurance policy, their premiums nearly quadrupled."

For one thing, their policy's life was twice as long. 2 x 2 = 4.

For another, that's what inflation does. Spending causes it.

Here's a fun graph from Canada:



Turns out healthcare doesn't really rise all that fast, relatively.

Here's a graph from the United States:



[That's the rate of inflation in medical care using the CPI.]

Inflation in health care cost has actually been getting smaller.

I'll buy that healthcare companies are screwing people over.

The effect isn't massive, though, when compared to the compounding effect the government creates through monetary expansion.

Look at inflation for all items, not just medical care items:



Note the down-tick in late 2008, the first time we've have negative inflation in over 50 years.

If we'd just ride the wave instead of crafting unprecedented new spending policies, we'd be ok.

[JerryLove]

Your graph shows Canada doubling in 20 years and the US doubling in 10.
Your other graph shows American healthcare costs rising at double the rate of inflation (that's without considering the last year where deflation occurred but healthcare costs still went up)

If we'd just ride the wave instead of crafting unprecedented new spending policies, we'd be ok.

We were not OK. We are not OK. How will we become OK by doing the same thing we have been doing?