I was born in Slovakia, lived 40 years in USA, naturalized citizen, visiting Shanghai. My heart gave up and thanks to prompt diagnosis and surgery, I am now OK. You are lucky having good insurance. 65 million Americans do not have any.

 

 

Agree about the lucky ones with insurance. I currently have insurance and everytime I see the doctor or get a bill for my balance, I worry about the ones without the insurance. I feel fortunate because there have been times when I haven't had insurance and I know that at the current time, it would be impossible for me to purchase insurance with my diagnosis. I wouldn't be able to afford the insurance, even if someone would accept me.I know that without insurance, I would be denied the care I have and would not even be able to continue getting the neccessary medications.

 

Well is It not time that the U.S. pushed on with the Health care reforms - Better for all if you had a UK type National Health Service. I had my yearly check up today - no fees & no problems.

 

I don't know where you got your numbers but a U.S. government report in 2009 said there were 46.3 million in the U.S. without medical insurance. That included most of the illegals which is 12 to 15 million. Of course numbers mean exactly nothing if you are the one that is uninsured and needs medial care.

I'm told we have a government health care plan now that is supposed to see that everyone has health care insurance for which the government will pay whenever or whatever is necessary. That's where the fly gets into the ointment. The only money our government has is that it gets from the people. So what that says is that I am going to have to give the government more of my money to help pay for the insurance for the have-nots. In other words the money I pay directly or indirectly for health care is going to increase and I'll not benefit from that increase in my expenditures.

For some reason (I guess you can just say I'm selfish) I don't think it is right to make me pay for what others get without even letting me select the "others" I paying for.

 

This is a subject that gets everyone's heart racing..even if they don't have a heart condition. I just wanted to say a few things. I'm divorced and I was living on my paycheck, had insurance for which I paid a hefty premium with co-pays and out of pocket expenses. In spite of all the flag waving about how we have the best healthcare in the world, the statistics don't back that up. The US ranks 35th out of 191 countries...just ahead of Cuba, for God's sake. You can see from the homes of those on this board that there is not this surge by people in the UK, Australia, Canada to hop on a train and get thee to the US to get better care. The largest % of homeless (thus ininsured) in the US are children. My daughter teaches 2nd grade at a Title 1 school (which is code for poor). Many of her students..7 year olds...have never seen a dentist. They've only ever seen a doctor at the hospital. They come to schools with horrible colds and running a fever, for which they can't go to the doctor. Their parents have to wait until it's bad enough to go to the emergency room. This group, children, comprise the largest number of uninsured. While I can't imagine what it would be like to have my illness and know that I'm going to die because I have no health care, can't have a procedure for a defibrillator or pacemaker, can't know that I will see my children grow up, there are many people who are living with that fear, simply because we want to choose who we help and how we help. The money you pay for insurance right now, without helping the uninsured is going into the cocktail parties thrown by lobbyist to get their representatives not to approve any healthcare reform, it's going to hospitals who charge $96,000 for the hospital alone for outpatient services to implant an bivent, it's paying for exotic hunting and fishing trips to lawmakers and the movers and shakers to "see things from their eyes". I know this because until I was diagnosed with Dilated Cardiomyopathy, I worked for a government agency and saw who their appointments were with. They didn't have power luncheons with the illegal immigrants or the uninsured children or the poverty sticken families who lost everything they owed due to a critcal illness not covered by the fat cats at the insurance companies on the the loophole (pre-existing condition). The healthcare reform gives some relief to those that need it most. As I said, it's a big issue and everyone has an opinion. Mine is this..if I was sitting at a doctor's office and saw someone bring in a sick child and they were told the doctor couldn't see them because they have no cash and no insurance, I would offer to pay for the visit (and I'd have to use a credit card because I'm out of work). I couldn't stand to see that child sent home who is just as sick as me. I've seen kids in line at a store with not enough money and I chip in. I worked in downtown Atlanta and I saw the homeless every day. I've seen the ones we are being ask to help and it's time we helped. I think it's time we stopped looking in the other direction when we see someone in need. And I'm sorry...you want to "select the "others"???? I'm assuming you would like for it to be someone who is clean, sober, draped in the American flag, who doesn't have insurance because of.....what's the reason that's acceptable to you???????