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Originally Posted by BrotherMan
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I accept this reality, and have accepted this my entire life. To the extent I've ever seen anyone for medical services, I've paid my own way.
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I seriously doubt this part. But if by some miracle of nature he's never had anything more serious than a head cold, I see where he's coming from.
But what about anecdotes like one I read just the other day? A guy breaks his ankle and spends a few days in the hospital. You know what his bill was? $70,000. That's 3 or 4 small cars. That's half a small house. For a broken ankle. That's everything a person below the poverty line makes in five years. If that were him, his children will likely be paying on that debt. And, to the best of my knowledge, that is without expensive surgery or a life threatening condition or treatment.
This shit is expensive and not getting cheaper. |
The best part about the bill is it will force people like my brother and siter in law into the system. They're the types that don't see medical insurance for the family as a necessity; unlike their cable bill, big screen TV, smart phones with data plans, etc. His hobby (racing cars around little dirt tracks) uses enough money each year that he probably could pay for the family's health insurance.
Since I've known them, the have used every state, local, charity program available to get medical care. They've had ER visits, hospital stays, babies, etc. that cost the rest of us more than it cost them. These are the type of "poor" people (not black either mind you) who somehow can't afford/don't need insurance yet constantly end up using it. Sure they can't afford $10,000/year for an individual plan through an insurance company. But the can afford insurance if they are thrown in a pool with 40,000,000 other uninsured people with $2,000/year premiums.
But you'd have to pry those premiums out of their lotto ticket, cigarette buying, fat ass hands. Or deny them service a couple of times when they show up looking for charity.