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Back on the story about the kid and the rattlesnake bite costing 120k there is another important thing to consider.
Insurance companies set up contracts with the doctors, hospitals, etc that they work with that establish limits on how much the doc or hospital can charge for certain goods and services. For example, they might have an agreement that x-rays will cost $50. If I go get an x-ray, the original bill sent to my insurance company might be $75. My insurance company takes that and checks it with their contracts and the bill gets adjusted down to $50. That's great for me and my insurance company, but what about the uninsured guy? If he gets charged the full $75. WTF? He gets screwed twice. If the kid's insurance would have covered it, chances are the bill would have been a LOT cheaper overall.
Laws requiring employers to offer employees coverage also have plenty of loopholes that can be exploited. Before we were married, my wife lost her covereage because she got sick. She couldn't work for a month and therefore she average hr/wk was reduced below the minimum amount needed to have coverage. What the fuck is right about that?
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