The problem is that you're thinking about the people who *know* they'll need expensive medical help.
Knowing my family history, I know that I will probably have all sorts of issues crop up. But not until I'm in my thirties.
When I graduated college, I didn't seek any medical coverage. When I was offered free insurance two years later at a firm, I took it. But when I switched jobs, I didn't bother with the ninety days of cobra before my new job kicked in.
Instead I took the insurance option to get 90 days of my monthly meds (the fancy stuff that retails at 60/mo and I paid ten/mo), and dropped coverage.
When I was included in a string of layoffs last summer, I made the same calculated decision. I went to my doctor for a physical, got a three month supply of meds and dropped coverage. Even with the heavily subsidized COBRA plan, it was simply much cheaper.
That's including the fact that I had to pay out of pocket for two months of meds and a minor ear infection. All told, 250 dollars worth of medical bills compared to 600 dollars worth of health insurance.
Sure. It was a risk. But it was a very calculated risk. One that is devastating to the insurance market and one that was completely rational for me.
That's why knowing your personal risk is a bad thing for insurance markets.
And sure, if I had been wrong, I might have been screwed. That was the story about my mom. But that cost isn't covered by just the individual patient. My mom racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical debt because of this one screw up.
It added months to her healing process, putting her out of work and unproductive. And while everyone was lucky that she had family support that covered the bills, many people who lose that gamble don't. Who pays then?
Everyone. Because even if the government didn't interfere in the market, hospitals would be likely to take on a lot of bad debt. Because when a guy comes into surgery about to die, there's often not time to determine if they're financially eligible to deal with this debt.
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Re: No such things as a free organ transplant
Date: 14/12/10 00:47 (UTC)Knowing my family history, I know that I will probably have all sorts of issues crop up. But not until I'm in my thirties.
When I graduated college, I didn't seek any medical coverage. When I was offered free insurance two years later at a firm, I took it. But when I switched jobs, I didn't bother with the ninety days of cobra before my new job kicked in.
Instead I took the insurance option to get 90 days of my monthly meds (the fancy stuff that retails at 60/mo and I paid ten/mo), and dropped coverage.
When I was included in a string of layoffs last summer, I made the same calculated decision. I went to my doctor for a physical, got a three month supply of meds and dropped coverage. Even with the heavily subsidized COBRA plan, it was simply much cheaper.
That's including the fact that I had to pay out of pocket for two months of meds and a minor ear infection. All told, 250 dollars worth of medical bills compared to 600 dollars worth of health insurance.
Sure. It was a risk. But it was a very calculated risk. One that is devastating to the insurance market and one that was completely rational for me.
That's why knowing your personal risk is a bad thing for insurance markets.
And sure, if I had been wrong, I might have been screwed. That was the story about my mom. But that cost isn't covered by just the individual patient. My mom racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical debt because of this one screw up.
It added months to her healing process, putting her out of work and unproductive. And while everyone was lucky that she had family support that covered the bills, many people who lose that gamble don't. Who pays then?
Everyone. Because even if the government didn't interfere in the market, hospitals would be likely to take on a lot of bad debt. Because when a guy comes into surgery about to die, there's often not time to determine if they're financially eligible to deal with this debt.