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Originally Posted by ArellaNova
My faimly happens to be in the business so I have an insiders view on what is the objective of private insurers, and also as a consumer myself. As I said, I pay for my own private coverage. The private coverage doesn't guarentee that if something horrible does happen I don't have to pay a cent. That is unrealistic to expect from anyone. It does, however, cover me up to a certian amount. For example, if I were, unfortunatly, in the situation described above, I would only have had to pay 12 thousand instead of the full 20.
I don't beleive you understood my use of the word "demand". I meant demand as in "supply and demand". Insurance companies supply a service (called risk management) and there is a demand for such services because shit happens.
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I did understand your use of "demand" but I also understand that there are no alternatives available for people who seek healthcare (aside from dropping out) so standard concepts of supply and demand do not apply. That is why I scoffed and choked at your usage. No one is demanding health insurance for any other reason besides necessity, and there is no limit to the supply. If a customer is too much of a risk simply charge more, weasel out of coverage through legal means, or go out of business when "shit happens."
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You beleive that government programs are "non-for-profit"? This seems ludicrous to me that you would beleive this and I would like to understand why. If the Government ran under a non-for-profit basis they would take charitible donations instead of taxes.
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I'm not really interested in the sort of semantic quibbling you seem to seek here. Government does not operate with the purpose of creating a profit for itself. In almost every sense it is forbidden from doing so, so yes I believe the government is a non-profit entity.
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Yes, it is you who are paying for it. And it is me. I, in my taxes, pay for the risk management (by the government) of thousands of other individuals. I also pay for my own. The taxes I can not help. The individual coverage is just self-responsability.
Indeed, I would be better off - as an individual - scamming the system and letting apathy take over my own beleif in individual economic enterprise. I could save myself thousands of dollars by choosing to live off of the "forced donations" of others.
I would choose not to.
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If you really would be better off earning less than $6000 a year (far less than half of the poverty level), which is the only way you would be eligible for state medical aid, then I don't believe that you're able to pay for your own private insurance currently.
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As far as the companies declaring bankruptcy. That is why you shop wisely. Is it the companies fault that they fell under? Yes. Did they foce you to buy their policy? No.
Pan's situation is not ideal, but we all choose whether to take precautions or not. Nothing may ever happen to me in my lifetime and I may die peacfull in my bed, having wasted thousands of dollars on healthcare coverage that I never used. Okay then, I will take that over being sick, or having the risk of being uncovered anyday.
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After Enron, Worldcom, etc. it's obvious that there are no accurate indicators of a corporation's economic health even the week before they go bankrupt. Even the biggest, oldest, most reputable insurance company could fold tomorrow without notice.
You keep talking about people choosing to not have medical coverage, yet we've clearly illustrated in this thread that no one is making this decision. In your best case scenario you've "wasted thousands of dollars" and yet you fail to see fault in the system?