WebMD Community Talk Show

Who is going to pay someones bill that does not have insurance? The charges will be spread to the ones who do have insurance. I say no insurance, you must pay privately or no service.

Yes, everyone should have health insurance or be self insured.

Only if they will pay the premiums or make them much less expensive. Health care coverage has gotten too expensive and does not cover enough over the past few years, as everyone is aware. If the government is going to force healthcare on everyone, then it should be cost effective for the citizens and be worth having.

wow...are the two of you (who have responded) serious? you are justifying a reason(s) for when it is ok for the government to force you to buy a private product?

how about should the government force you to purchase low fat foods (since in the aggregate, a population dieting on low fat foods would presumably have fewer medical conditions long term and thus alleviate some of the costs contributing to high premiums)?

or should the government force me to buy birth control or condoms (since in the aggregate, a population not procreating will reduce the population's size long term and thus alleviate some of the costs of contributing to high premiums)?



the people in this country have gotten entirely too complacent about what they allow the government to require of them.

people need to wake up

I think WebMD is fear mongering and only sharing the facts that boost their side of the argument because they are sponcered primarily by rich doctors and beurocracies that fear change. I don't think WebMD has ever been uninsured and had to stand in line waiting for appointments to get prescriptions refilled in overcrowded filthy hallways filled with crying children, foreigners on work visas, and people too poor to afford shoes only to learn that there are no appointments available until long after your prescription runs dry. I think the New Health Care reform is a good thing because something needs to change. The problem is not "the government forcing you to have insurance." The reason the health care industry doesn't like it is because they are going to have to make a lot of changes, it's going to be hard, and they might not make the disgusting amounts of money that they are used to having sucked their patients dry. We need a Health Care Reform because if medical professionals are going to insist their patients have insurance before they can get treatment then it needs to be available to everyone. People die because they can't see a doctor or because the doctors they see at these 'free clinics' are overrun and can't take care of them. It is sickening for country that boasts about its virtues from every mountaintop at every opportunity to behave with such raw blind contempt for its lower class.

If I could afford to buy health insurance I would've gotten it already. I don't have the financial capability at this point if I want to keep eating. Forcing people to pay a fine if they're not insured makes no sense at all. Doesn't the government investigate why people don't have it in the first place?

first of all if you think this is free health insurance your wrong you must buy a policy which is going to cost you at least 3,000.00 with co pays if you dont buy an insurance policy and prove it on your taxes you will be fined good bye tax refund scond no doctor can refuse you medical tretment my wife and i were uninsured for many years she became ill in 1996 with heart problems and high blood pressure in and out of doctors offices and hospitals my wife had one of the best heart doctors in the state taking care of her not once did they care if she had insurance or not the bill was over 25,000.00 the hospital worked with us to get assitants which all but 2,000.00 was coverd which we paid 50.00 month telll paid. this health care reform plan is going to make a lot of insurance very rich and you will still have to pay a portion of the bill and good doctors will have the right to refuse you. Its not up to the govermnet to make sure you have good health thats up to you. This plan is an attac on your an my right to choose plan and simple the first step to dictatorship.

No! There are so many people who 'fall through the cracks' and do not qualify for assistance, nor do they have enough money for insurance. I think the insurance companies will have a real 'hey' day by taking advantage.

I can see how the doctors and the hospitals won't have to 'write off' as many medical bills, but the medical costs are outrageous! There are always those medical people who will take advantage. I have seen charges on my bills of services that I didn't receive. By the time I know about it, it's too late to complain to the doctors. They've already filed the insurance companies.

2010 Guardian

Absolutely not. Having health insurance is an earned privilege, not a right. If you cannot afford health insurance, then pay the bill yourself or go without.

I pay about $5000 per year in premiums out of pocket for retiree subsidized health insurance. Plus co-pays, prescriptions, and OTC meds.

Dave, as I read this I was a little confused. It seems to me that you think health insurance is something that you get only if you can pay for it. I am in the same boat as you. Retired, and I pay for a supplemental plan as well as the medicare premium monthly. I have out of pocket expenses too. However, as much as I want to agree with you I have to express myself as a human being that everyone has the right to be taken care of when they are sick. As you know the emergency rooms are full of people who use it as their only form of health intervention. I have seen people who are uninsured sitting in an emergency room because they are claiming illness just to get pain medications to keep their drug use going because they ran out of money or couldn't find their drug dealer, then I have seen people come into emergency rooms who actually needed care and had nothing. In the end its you and me and people like us who are subsidizing these expensive visits to an ER. The problem is with the people who actually need emergency care sit there while the scam artists or truly needy fill the ER because they don't have a regular doctor to get regularly scheduled care. Same thing applies to taking care of your car. If you don't do maintenance it eventually breaks and is overwhelmingly expensive to repair. It is important that everyone get preventative care and checkups. My supplemental insurance company gives me a list of gyms that I can go to so I can stay healthy. They pay up to $400 yearly so I can keep myself out of the hospital. The real problem is the cost. It has gone unchecked for so long and he costs are so out of touch with reality that your jaw drops when you see these charges if you visit an ER. An example: my son got in a simple accident where he broke his ankle. The ambulance came and basically in a nutshell the ride to the hospital was $2037 and the ER was over $5000. He had regular XRays, a lousy wrap put on his ankle and it was found he also had broken his hand. A split splint was put on his hand by a fellow who five minutes before was mopping the floor. In the end the ankle was shattered, the hand that was diagnosed was wrong (they had diagnosed the wrong broken fingers). So now because he was told he had a sprain and he had never been given a cat scan and the hand/fingers were misdiagnosed, he ended up in so much pain and had such a long recovery that now lawyers are involved. This was because the hospital decided to cut corners but not the cost. He now has permanent nerve damage to hand and ankle. So in the end the trip to the ER cost over $7000 and he has been in treatment for months because of their misdiagnosis. He has top of the line insurance. He has been treated for months and the bills are staggering. I have an old bill from a hospital that goes back. I had a three day admittance as a kid for tonsils. My three day stay in 1955 was $165. X rays were $11. Surgery was $75. What has happened? Unhealthy habits are unchecked and you and me pay for the person who can't keep their mouths shut. Their weight is staggering, their unhealthy habits cost you and me in a big way. Cigarettes probably one of the worst yet it continues to be legal. Its called private companies taking over hospitals for profit. The government has the biggest pockets and these companies know it. Medicare is being bilked to the tune of billions and billions. Fraud is rampant. Until we get serious and root out and jail these criminals who are controlling our health care these prices will only increase making it so expensive that only the rich and the old will have insurance. I don't think that is fair. Everyone has the right to healthcare. Period!!!!

The question already has some "spin" built in. Does the government MAKE you have automobile insurance? The problem with being able to opt out of health insurance is that healthy young people will wait until this "need" it. This "adverse selection" process means only at-risk people will pay the premium to get health insurance, which will make the premiums high. The whole idea of insurance is to spread the risk. So yes, I think everyone, healthy and sick, should be part of the same insurance pool.

You do make some good points...but webmd fear mongering? That seems a bit extreme, they just raised a question to get opinions.

Just an FYI if there is government sponsered health care, there would just be more of the free clinics. Talk to someone who lives in Canada, they have to wait a long time before they can get in and see a doctor. So even if the government offers some form of health care, i think the lines will be inevitable.

Couldnt agree more, Everyone has the right to be healthy. They also have the choice to be unhealthy...

Should the government force one to have health insurance? No.

Should the government pay for the health costs of those who don't? No.

Should any insurance offered be fair and equitable? Yes.

Will it be? Probably not. (Life doesn't work that way no matter how much we'd wish it to.)

The voices who chant for no more government involvement are quite silent when it is THEY who are in need.

Should we see all health care providers from doctors to insurance companies as being greedy and only interested in profits? No.

Are some folks in all arenas greedy and only interested in profits? Yes.

Despite all this, I think the necessity exists for some sort of system in which ALL citizens can be assured some modicum of good health care at a reasonable price. Being poor is challenging enough. Combined with health worries, it is not something that our citizens should battle alone.

Rachael

I think healthcare should be free to all, like in other countries. Some might say that we would have less quality care and doctors unless we went to a private practice because docs would get paid more - true, that's why there should be no private practice, but it's all under one umbrella - no care better than the other. Of course, that's not going to happen and probably very unrealistic, but in the perfect world, maybe?