Paying the Price: How Health Insurance Premiums Are Eating Up Middle-Class Incomes

"a load of liberal scare mongering"
Nothing as far fetched as death panels wouldn't you say?

"No one forces you to take and pay for health insurance"
Is there another option, oh say maybe a public option? Or let me guess, you don't like that so no one else should.

"same goes for the evil drug companies that are demonized on here"
Why don't you mind paying more for medicine than any other country?

"till someone's kids or grandma needs medicine and then the whining stops."
Because that's when the fight with your insurance company begins.

Re: Paying the Price: How Health Insurance Premiums Are Eating Up Middle-Class Income "What about those of us who have affordable plans through our employers? My costs have not risen for the last four years."

When you get ill and call your insurance company, and you get the message "you're not covered for that...pre-existing...experimental treatment" you keep holding on to your precious affordable employer plan that didn't increase it's cost in accordance with inflation.
After killing yourself working for years on end, and then decide to retire, that's when you'll see your plan skyrocket in cost. You won't then be able to afford it and they won't get stuck with another retiree and their future claims. Ahhhh the irony.

Insurance is a BUSINESS -they are in it to make $$$$.

Lest you forget
-every time yo buy a car, you are paying for the welders insurance.
-every time someone pays for health care, they are paying OUR insurance
-every time we pay our property taxes, we are paying City Halls insurance
We already have a perverse-twilight zone social-exclusive health care system,
lets make it a perverse-twilight zone socially-inclusive health care system.

So long as your needs are met, that's all that matters then.

Roger that, Eh? I'm a nurse, not Mother Teresa.

What is that supposed to mean exactly? Sometimes I really have to scratch my head at some of these comments.

For the past two years my husband and I were on self-payer insurance. We are both under 35 and both without ailments.
The cost per month in 2008 was $240.00. One year later the cost increased to $282.00.
My doctor ordered blood work and we got a bill for $360.00 and were told it went towards our deductible. Each time I went to the Dr's for an office visit, I was billed $70.00 on average and again was informed that it went towards my deductible....

My only point in telling you this is, many of you keep talking about employer based insurance coverage -what you need to realize is that most of the working class don't have employer based coverage and cannot afford the cost of self-pay coverage.