Articles:     ER Rates Surprise Even the Insured (May 19, 2006) ER Rates Surprise Even the Insured Okay, you've had to go to the emergency room of your local hospital. But you aren't worried about the insurance, because you had the foresight to check out the local hospitals before you had an emergency, and you know the one you are using are "in network" for your insurance company. But then you get a seperate billing from the doctor for hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars, because the DOCTOR is not in the network. What can you do? Not much! (King5News, May 19, 2006).   Can U.S. Health Care be Fixed? Bubba blew it. But can U.S. health care be fixed? "Thus America remains the only industrialized country where financing health is not considered a government function like building highways and supporting national defense. We have a right to clean water piped to our homes, but not access to medical care." A commentary by Robert Bazell, Chief science and health correspondent for MSNBC, dated May 9, 2006.   Inefficient System (May 15, 2006) We are ALREADY paying for the uninsured in this country. We are just doing it in the most INEFFICIENT MANNER POSSIBLE. Uninsured people cannot get an appointment at a regular doctor's office, so when they have a bad cold turning into a sinus infection, they either (a) go to the hospital emergency room, which cannot turn them away, or (b) stay home and hope it gets better without treatment, and then when it turns into pneumonia, they go to the emergency room and then get admitted to the hospital. Who pays? Either the government does, or it gets passed along and divided up among the rest of us in higher hospital or insurance bills. The same effect happens under PPO systems, which bargain for reduced rates from the medical providers. The medical providers then just pass on the extra costs to the uninsured or the government. The worst possible situation for people to be in is to be a middle-class uninsured person. If you were rich, you would just buy private insurance, or set up a dummy corporation for the purpose of insuring yourself and your family as "employees". If you are poor, then the cost is picked up by the government. If you are middle-class and not yet old enough for Medicare, then you can't afford private insurance, but have too many assets (your home equity) to qualify for government or charity assistance. But that problem solves itself pretty quickly - you just transorm from "middle class" to "poor" as soon as you start paying the bills. People who think that people are uninsured by choice are just trying to justify their own prejudices that "they" are better, more hard-working, more rational, more deserving of the benefits of insurance, wheras those without insurance "obviously" desearve whatever condition they find themselves in. They don't want a national insurance program because they don't think the problem will ever effect them, and as long as they aren't effected, well, then, the hell with them! They refuse to recognize the role luck has paid in their success to date. They usually sing quite a different tune when bad luck happens to them ("Well, of COURSE the government should provide health care to me! I'm an AMERICAN! I'm not some illegal immigrant....") (I had a condo neighbor like that once. The roof was leaking, but he didn't want HOA funds spent to repair the roof. After all, it wasn't leaking into HIS condo, just the other ones). The number of employers providing any form of health insurance for employees is rapidly decreasing. If current trends continue, soon we will all be "temp" workers in some form or another, with no health benefits at all. Have any of these "wingnuts" tried to buy private health insurance at age 55+, after their employer left them in the lurch? I seriously doubt it. Be prepared to pay in excess of $1000 per month if you have ever been treated for anything which most 55+ people have experienced. Now double that for a couple. But then check out the clauses which exclude coverage "pre-existing conditions", which pretty much covers anything you are likely to need the insurance to cover over the next year or two.   Sponsors:        Copyright 2006-2007 - Brookridge Associates Inc. All rights reserved.