Talk of insurance mandate growing

it's likely they could not get coverage for their regular, common pre-existing conditions or the premiums would be sky high with substandard coverage. They are genuinely ignorant of just how vulnerable they are.

I am unsure of the laws and regulations in other states.. But here in NC if you were on employer insurance and needed to later buy individual insurance, you qualify for a policy WITHOUT medical underwriting, and all pre existing conditions are covered...

Don't worry though. I did the math after the bills came. BCBS broke even on my C-section. Between my deductibles and copays (me and baby) and the premiums, the cost of all of my care ended up being covered so BCBS of Georgia was out NOTHING. (BCBS told me that this was because they have a contracted rate for the facility that makes it so my surgery was less then $2500 and yet my deductible is still calculated off of the facility's charge for the service, so I paid 1800 of it.) I joked to my ex-husband that I am so glad the insurance companies have created convenient lay away plans for us.

Rx and the single payer

Americans may want single-payer healthcare, but that doesn't mean they're going to get it.

In 2003, a young Illinois state senator named Barack Obama told an AFL-CIO meeting, "I am a proponent of a single-payer universal healthcare program."
Single payer. Universal. That's health coverage, like Medicare, but for everyone who wants it. Single payer eliminates insurance companies as pricey middlemen. The government pays care providers directly. It's a system that polls consistently have shown the American people favoring by as much as 2-to-1....

...Speaking up for single payer is Geri Jenkins, a president of the California Nurses Association and National Nurses Organizing Committee -- a registered nurse with literal hands-on experience.
"We're there around the clock," she told our colleague Jessica Wang. "So we feel a real sense of obligation to advocate for the best interests of our patients and the public. Now, you can talk about policy but when you're staring at a human face it's a whole different story."...

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature...pinion/feature

My bottom line on all this "single payor", "universal health insurance" stuff....

1) You want an example of a single payor system in place in USA already = go check the VA system and see what you think!

2) If single payor/govt mandated health insurance comes to pass; who is going to pay for it?

3) If I start paying for other people's "universal health insurance" that can't afford it on their own - I'll be p1ssed

4) follow up to #3 - Yes, I know I'm already footing some of the bill for Mcare/Mcaid; so don't rip into me on that one.

5) With "single payor", "universal health insurance" and the ilk - what will happen to my salary? How will we maintain the same labor salaries for health care workers?