"nom=de=plume" wrote in message
...
"Bill McKee" wrote in message
m...

"nom=de=plume" wrote in message
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"Bill McKee" wrote in message
m...

"nom=de=plume" wrote in message
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"Bill McKee" wrote in message
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"nom=de=plume" wrote in message
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wrote in message
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On Sat, 10 Apr 2010 18:09:39 -0700, "nom=de=plume"
wrote:

What insurance does is create a target rich environment for
lawyers.
Between the two of them you are right, it is a huge drag on the
economy. We would actually be better off without any insurance at
all
but then people would have to plan for their own futures and
their own
problems,



It's not all about poor planning. Few people can afford to deal
with
catastrophic illnesses. Even millionaires have gone broke.

Most people want a lot more than catastrophic coverage. If that was
all we wanted it would be pretty cheap. My $3000 deductible is
"free"
from IBM (costs them less than $2k a year) but the PPO would cost
me
$12,000 a year plus their $2k and still be a $20 co pay.
The poor planning part is people who can't save up a few hundred a
year for routine checkups and minor care unless they have the
insurance company "save" it for them (with a 17% handling charge).
People are not talking about insurance here, they are talking about
a
medical bookie that collects the "vig" on every procedure and
treatment.
The classic is the drug plan. You know you are going to buy the
drug,
the insurance company knows you are going to buy the drug. How in
the
hell can it end up being cheaper letting them broker the
transaction?


They want a lot more than catastrophic coverage because they don't
want a small problem to turn into a big problem.


--
Nom=de=Plume


Why not just catastropic coverage only? The savings on insurance
cost would pay for a bunch of office visits. But they would rather
pay lots more for insurance and not have to budget for a doctors
checkup?



Try reading my sentence again. Do you really want to wait for that
ingrown hair to turn into gangrene?

--
Nom=de=Plume


Why not go to the doctor and pay the bill for that toenail. A lot
cheaper than paying some insurance company to pay the bill for you.
Just like auto insurance. A $250 deductible will cost you about $125 a
year more than a $500 deductible. Go 2-3 years without crashing the
car and you are ahead of the curve financially. A $2000 a year
deductible health insurance policy will cost you at least a $1000 less
than a $200 deductible. Pay for probably one office visit a month for
the savings.



That's all really fine, except when you can't pay the doctor for the
treatment. As to the rest, I agree that higher deductibles lower your
rates a bit, which is fine, if you can afford the $2000 a year or
whatever. Lots of people can't. Feel free to blame the poor if that's
where you're going.

--
Nom=de=Plume


If you can save a 1000 a year in insurance costs, would not be long
before you could pay that $2k deductible, and still be putting a $1000 a
year in the bank. But since most of the poor spend all the money they
get, not necessarily wisely, they will spend the $1k and not save it.

Uh huh. And, you get to decide what's wise and unwise spending. Say,
buying clothes for their child or putting food on the table other than
rice and beans. You're such a humanitarian Mr. McGoo.

--
Nom=de=Plume


Unwise spending is paying an extra $1000 a year for insurance when they are
only going to need to spend $300 of that to pay for most office visits that
are required. But you seem to have no reasoning ability.