Insurance should not be linked to Employment
Some thoughts from a reader in Los Angeles, CA:
Numerous of my friends and colleagues do not carry healthcare insurance, not because they don't want to, but because they cannot afford it.
Self-employed persons, such as myself (I'm also a healthcare researcher with an economics degree) are in danger of losing their insurance because our rates are raised as a result of our making us of it. In my case, I am preparing to see an immunologist for what might turn out to be a rare, inherited disorder, which has already cost me and my prior employer-paid insurance over $100k over a 25-year period, with no diagnosis or treatment for the expenditure. I am now in the unenviable position of deciding whether I should try to pay for this specialist's consultations, lab tests and potential treatment by myself so that my plan doesn't find out and further raise my rates (I'm already at the maximum deductible) or use my insurance and risk being unable to pay for future premium increases.
You are correct in that insurance - which I and my late physician father believed - should not be linked to employment. What if someone is disabled or otherwise unable to work (I can only run my consulting business from my home, my health would not allow commuting and working in an office) or they work for a small employer that either cannot afford to provide employee coverage or can legally avoid the expense. But none of us have devised a solution to this problem, i.e., how can coverage be provided to all Americans. Going to a completely government-based plan will not work; citizens of countries that have socialized medicine in general must wait a long time to see a doctor or receive treatment, which in itself can be hazardous to one's health.
Additionally, our government is doing its best to ignore this problem, esp. the current Administration, by creating diversions. I believe it is only when physicians and other providors begin to speak loudly about this problem that it will begin to be addressed.
Under our current system, the only parties that become wealthy are the HMOs and PPOs. It is certainly not the doctors anymore, or support staff, and patient care is degraded too.
Numerous of my friends and colleagues do not carry healthcare insurance, not because they don't want to, but because they cannot afford it.
Self-employed persons, such as myself (I'm also a healthcare researcher with an economics degree) are in danger of losing their insurance because our rates are raised as a result of our making us of it. In my case, I am preparing to see an immunologist for what might turn out to be a rare, inherited disorder, which has already cost me and my prior employer-paid insurance over $100k over a 25-year period, with no diagnosis or treatment for the expenditure. I am now in the unenviable position of deciding whether I should try to pay for this specialist's consultations, lab tests and potential treatment by myself so that my plan doesn't find out and further raise my rates (I'm already at the maximum deductible) or use my insurance and risk being unable to pay for future premium increases.
You are correct in that insurance - which I and my late physician father believed - should not be linked to employment. What if someone is disabled or otherwise unable to work (I can only run my consulting business from my home, my health would not allow commuting and working in an office) or they work for a small employer that either cannot afford to provide employee coverage or can legally avoid the expense. But none of us have devised a solution to this problem, i.e., how can coverage be provided to all Americans. Going to a completely government-based plan will not work; citizens of countries that have socialized medicine in general must wait a long time to see a doctor or receive treatment, which in itself can be hazardous to one's health.
Additionally, our government is doing its best to ignore this problem, esp. the current Administration, by creating diversions. I believe it is only when physicians and other providors begin to speak loudly about this problem that it will begin to be addressed.
Under our current system, the only parties that become wealthy are the HMOs and PPOs. It is certainly not the doctors anymore, or support staff, and patient care is degraded too.
posted by Rushika Fernandopulle and Susan Starr Sered at 7:20 AM
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