To all "medical coverage is a privilege" folks:

nicurn001 · Mar 19, 2012

What you are presenting is a medical necessity , the child needs the appendectomy , the problem is who will pay .Some feel financing of healthcare through insurance is a priveledge to be earned by individuals , whilst others feel it is a right that is the responsibility of the who;e comunity to finance .

My feeling is that those who argue for individual responsibility , conveniently forget or minimize the number who will never be able to finance their own healthcare and over estimate the ability of private insurance to provide healthcare for ALL .Effectively this group is simply arguing for the right of insurers to make a profit and for us to be paying for healthcare twice ie taxes to pay for the healthcare recieved by the uninsured and then paying for their own private insurance .

LynnLRN · Mar 20, 2012

What do you do when your car breaks down??? The kid gets the operation (no hospital would turn this kid away) and the family works with the hospital on a payment plan and slowly pays it back. Plus, a lot of hospitals have programs to reduce the cost if they qualify.

My brother was born premature and this racked up tons of hospital bills, my parents did not have extra money (neither of my parents even graduated high school). They worked hard at their minimum wage jobs (prioritized, did not buy things that people now a days THINK they DESERVE, I did not have cable growing up, etc.) and they paid back the large amount of hospital bills without ever filing bankruptcy (or getting handouts from the govt. which they probably could of but didn't know enough) and I always had a roof over my head.

LynnLRN · Mar 20, 2012

Plus, I know a lot of people who could get insurance but they would rather have the extra 100-200 bucks in their pocket a month not looking at the future and the possibility of 10,000 of debt in hospital bills. I blame most of the problems on our society and the stupid choices we make.

nicurn001 · Mar 20, 2012

I certainly agree that those who can afford to have insurance should not shift that risk onto me , so that their medical expense cost me higher premiums , that is the sole reason for the individual mandate .

As to those on minimum wage having to scrimp and scrape , throughout their life to pay a bill , when this burden could have been shared ( using the car analogy , we have auto insurance to share the risk and pay for an accident damage / injury ) .Surely as a society it is better to share the burden of health care for all than having some living in servitude to pay healthcare bills whilst others can sit back and live off the profits that the healthcare system provides them .

Please remember the whole idea of insurance is to spread the risk of a liability to as large a group as possible , to be able to meet all claims while keeping the cost to all of covering that risk as low as possible .

MunoRN, RN · Mar 20, 2012

Plus, I know a lot of people who could get insurance but they would rather have the extra 100-200 bucks in their pocket a month not looking at the future and the possibility of 10,000 of debt in hospital bills. I blame most of the problems on our society and the stupid choices we make.

Most of the people who declare bankruptcy due to medical bills have health insurance (78% according to one study), so it's not a matter of people not being responsible and not paying for insurance. Insurance companies are for-profit, which means all care they cover comes out of their profit, and as a result they've gotten very good at not paying the bills they're supposed to pay, and when you've already been paying $500 a month for a plan, an unpaid service can easily push a family into bankruptcy.

And for those without insurance, the cost these days of a hospital stay is usually well over $10,000. My Hospital bills $10,000 for a diagnostic heart cath all by itself. And even non-ICU hospitals stays these days can add up to $100,000 or more.

neatnurse30 · Mar 21, 2012

If the family has no insurance, then that means they are not working. Maybe they should have thought about birth control before conceiving a child which they can't afford. Why should I feel guilty now for all the folks who are irresponsible - produce kids, don't work, do drugs, illegals? Do you expect me to pay for all of them? If you think that healthcare is a right, then go ahead and pay for all of these people, and we'll see how quickly you'll change your mind.

allnurses Guide · Mar 21, 2012

If the family has no insurance, then that means they are not working. Maybe they should have thought about birth control before conceiving a child which they can't afford. Why should I feel guilty now for all the folks who are irresponsible - produce kids, don't work, do drugs, illegals? Do you expect me to pay for all of them? If you think that healthcare is a right, then go ahead and pay for all of these people, and we'll see how quickly you'll change your mind.

No, you are making very broad generalizations that are not always true. This country has an ever increasing number of working poor, who don't make even a living wage and cannot afford health insurance. They are not all lazy, irresponsible, doing drugs, or reproducing at an alarming rate. Gee, maybe they could afford birth control if they had access to insurance that covered it??? Many unemployed people would love to be working and be able to pay for health insurance. And how do you feel about retired American citizens who have crappy coverage through medicare, even though they worked all their lives? Should we just tell them too bad?

There will always be people who try to work the system and get what they can. But from my experience, they are a minority. I vehemently believe that access to health care is a basic human right and it's something this nation needs to work on, and not leave it up to the greedy for profit insurance companies. Some days socialized medicine looks pretty darn good to me.

nicurn001 · Mar 21, 2012

neatnurse30 what a load of B*!.

Yes some of the uninsured are those you describe ,but many are employed but cannot afford the healthcare plans offered by their employers .Some are employed and could easily afford ahealthcare plan but because they are healthy , they shift the risk they will get sick onto us , by chosing to be uninsured . The last are the worst group as far as I am concerned , as they know the risks and are selfish enough to expect me to pick up their tab when they get ill and end up in the ER.

smartnurse1982 · Mar 23, 2012

I'm a nurse,and I wasn't on drugs,didn't have children I couldn't afford,was irresponsible,etc. I was in school to get the Associates in nursing(I was an lpn,and the agency didn't provide lpn's with health insurance,only Rn's) My employer at that time had the audacity at that time to ask me "If I qualified for Medicaid,or some other goverent program"?

smartnurse1982 · Mar 23, 2012

The problem isn't folks chosing to go uninsured,its the group who receive Medicaid that jacks up costs for everyone else,not the uninsured.Think about it,I pay taxes so someone else can receive better insurance than I do?I have dental insurance,yet a crown for my tooth will cost me 1,000 dollars,yet for someone on Medicaid its free.I also pay $120 a week for my health insurance,so yeah even though many do have access to it,it just cost too much. Then add in all the co-pays,its not as simple as some make it seem.As for the op,maybe the child and his family qualify for private charity or Medicaid.If the family s middle class,well,we are left to fend for ourselves.

rita359 · Mar 23, 2012

The 5 year old gets his appendix taken out. If there are 10 a month they all get their surgeries. Somtime the families will pay a little at a time and pay off that debt. Hospitals are required to do so much charity care. Sometime charity care pays. Probably , a good bit of the time charges for items are increased so that the hospital gets some of that money back from the insurance co. of every patient that is admitted.