Hello Group -- This discussion about health care is driving me a little crazy, as a retired nurse. I agree with Dan, Nick, David and everyone else who sees the need for some sort of universal risk pool. The one thing that irks me about talking about high deductibles and health savings accounts is that no one has talked about stop loss so far. Usually with a high deductable comes a high stop loss. Our daughter recently had to go on the only insurance available to her after her employer cancelled insurance, and her stop loss after a $4000 deductible is something like $15000!!! For that privilege she pays around $600/mo for her and the two kids. Her husband has his own high deductible, high stop loss policy. That's a lot of money for a young family of 4 -- we just hope everyone stays relatively healthy and the kids don't break an arm, or something. Also, when we had a H.S.A., it expired after a year. We had to use everything in the account within the year or it was gone. You have to look deep into your crystal ball to decide exactly how much heath savings you need each year.
When our kids were hit by a drunk driver and both broke their necks and backs, leaving one with paraplegia, and even though we were covered with 'good' health insurance, there was a lien placed on our home by the hospital in a few days. This could happen to any one, today, and then I wonder how attitudes about health insurance would change. Having worked in both Canada and the US as an R.N. (although it was many years ago that I worked in Canada), I'll take the Canadian System with all it's problems *ANY DAY* over the expensive, administratively cumbersome system we have now. I worked at a 600 bed hospital in Edmonton that had 2 (yes, that's right, TWO) people working in the billing office. Here there are 10's if not 100 working in a similar system because they have to deal with all the different insurance programs. We all need to be in the same risk pool. Oh, and BTW, since I'm 61 now, 80 doesn't look that old for those 'life saving surgeries'. Women, particularly, are living into their 90's quite often, these days. Lest anyone think I'm a raving socialist, you might be right =+)). Compassion, folks. IAAMOAC. Amities, Jo Anne evens...@hevanet.com _______________________________________________ http://mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l_mccmedia.com
