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The Brian Lehrer Show
Counting the Uninsured
Thursday, August 30, 2007
What do the new census figures on income and the uninsured mean? Paul Fronstin, director of health research at Employee Benefit Research Institute, explains the new data. We'll also take calls from listeners who don't have health insurance.
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Comments
So far, all I've learned is that they mean whatever you want them to mean - not any different from any other fact (should fact be in quotations?). Anyone else get the sense that we're returning to the ancient Greek/Roman understanding of argument?
I am a type 1 diabetic of 40 years standing. I have had no health insurance for the past 10 years. It bothers my doctor though he still congratulates me on the way I take care of myself.
Health insurance is simply too expensive and, though I am not destitute, I have other priorities to consider. Besides, as Michael Moore's "Sicko" makes clear, the private health insurance companies run a scam operation that would make Don Corleone green with envy.
According to the New York Times, wages have declined (for all but the most wealthy) - the slight increase in incomes is from people working longer hours, or taking on extra jobs. In that circumstance, I doubt middle class and poor people feel like their income has increased at all, especially when you consider how much living costs have increased.
I married my husband for his health insurance! I was a freelancer, insuring as an individual, and the premium kept rising from quarter to quarter by massive ammounts (even though I had a $25K deductible).
We were living together, and I was opening the mail at the dinner table when the new bill came, and I quaked at the price. He proposed! Isn't that romantic? He had an old-style job at a big corporation, with tons of health insurance
We've been happily married now for more than ten years. The insurance came in handy when I had two cancer surgeries.
I am 26 years old - I am an artist and work only part time (about 25-30 hours/week). I kept a full-time job for three years, primarily for health insurance and monetary security. Over time, I found myself unable to focus on art, so I went to a part time schedule. I cannot afford insurance, even those that can be bought from private arts organizations, freelancer's union, etc. On the other hand, I make just too much to qualify for any public assistance. Why are companies not responsible to provide something basic for part time workers? Good thing I'm still young and healthy...
The census numbers indicated a rise in HOUSEHOLD median income, but a DECLINE in individual median income - I watched the presentation yesterday on Cspan and this is possibly due to more people in a household working...
It's all a game - "they" need cogs in the wheel and the insurance trap is a way of catching and keeping recent college grads in dull office jobs that offer health insurance.
You can't afford to buy it and living without it is a great risk.
And here I am three years later. Insured and bored!
Geez.
I am a male in my thirties, married with a three-year boy. I just got this job. after three months of probation, I was brought to the HR office, where the manager said I have to pay $670 a month to get all three members of my household covered by the company's current plan. This is a new and small company, which has never got a full family insured before mine.
I had to waive my right to get covered by the company's plan because getting covered by the company's healthcare is prohibitively expensive. I plan to renew my membership with the National Writers Union, based on the freelance writing gigs I do on the side and buy healthcare through it.
Something REALLY has to be done. I don't understand why a male with one full-time job and two or three gigs on the side cannot afford reasonable healthcare for him and his family.
People who live in countries that provide universal coverage to all aren't forced to stay in a bad working situation just so that they can continue to see a doctor without the risk of bankruptcy.
I'm limo driver - selfemployd.
I earn to much to get free health insurance and too less to pay "Monthly Premium Rates for Standard Individual Health Plans" which is $759.49 from Empire BCBS;
If you poor = earn less then $196 a week - you get free insurance, otherwise you have to pay yourself.
So - I'm in the meddle - to "rich" for free insurance and not "rich" enough to pay myself.
In the not-for-profit world, more organizations are only covering the employee. Spouse and children are extra. That has become a huge burden that did not exist 10 years ago.
My colleagues and I have just started new jobs at a city agency, and many of us do not have health insurance. Health insurance for city employees does not start until 90 after one's start date. Here's hoping that nothing happens to us in three months!
I took a job last winter that was a bad match - just because it offered health benefits. The job had a three-month waiting period (they called it "probationary period") before health insurance benefits would begin. Two months into the job, I injured my spine and couldn't walk, stand or sit for two months. I was in the "probationary period" so I was uninsured. I ran up thousands of dollars in hospital and credit card bills. I lost my job (they can drop you with no documentation and for no reason during the probationary period.
Eight months later I have a new job (without benefits), massive debt, and am struggling to avoid having to file for bankruptcy in the next year.
1. If salaries go up 3%, and health care goes up 8%, the total dollar income still increases if health care is less than 37.5% of income.
However, the remaining increase might then not make up for inflation.
No matter what solution is chosen (single payer system, current system, mandatory health insurance), the costs have to go down.
Health care is a very non-competitive business, the AMA has a monopoly on the supply of doctors and the entire business is very regulated.
Another example would be the supply of food. One can argue that it is even more critical than medical care. No food, you die. But, you do not see employers sponsoring purchasing plans from a restricted number of stores. The competition between grocers is so intense that prices are reasonable. Maybe we should aim at deregulating and fostering intense competition in health care.
No matter what solution to health care one is inclined to choose, it is always better if the raw cost is low for the first time.
That's it, go deeper. The stats show a small decrease (2%) in employer health care coverage over the years but what about the quality and depth of that coverage? My H.I. coverage was just changed at my workplace and we were warned about emergency room costs...we have to make sure the doctors and procedures are covered by our new health insurance policy. Not too practical for someone who's experiencing a health emergency but very helpful for the company who doesn't want to pay for your medical expenses.
After living with marvelous socialized medicine in Europe for 16 years, I returned home to encounter your discussed dilemma - my wife's and son's appendectomies WITHOUT coverage. At the time, I was unemployed, broke and charged roughly three times what an insurance company would have been billed. Today, 6 years later, covered and earning a decent living, I am paying off the approximately $20,000. medical bills at an nonnegotiable (hospital refuses) $500. per month. Incredible.
Health savings accounts don't work! They just makes people that are sick go into debit and or file bankruptcy just to pay for the co payments!
After much agonizing, I've had to cancel my health insurance. I was enrolled through my employer (temp agency), but I just couldn't afford it any longer. A lot of my colleagues have had to do go without as well because of the cost. I'm currently trying to find reasonable private insurance but have had no luck so far.
I don't understand where Mr. Fronstin gets a $300,000 figure beyond Medicare benefits for retirees. It's really a very high number. Would one be left to just die if s/he doesn't have that much? How many people even have that much for their full retirement usage (invested of course to allow for some growth thru to the end)?
I have a very low paying job in education. I live below the poverty level despite having a degree from a reputable university. My district offers a very nice benefits package which is beyond the means of half its employees. What is happening more than ever is that people either work two jobs; neither of which offer benefits or the benefits are so outrageously priced that people, just like me, simply go without coverage.
I used to have Empire BCBS for the past 3 years from a small group of dental tech workers and paid from my own pocket. The problem is that the premium continue increasing every year by 13%-17% and its better for us to just cover a visit to doctors by cash and get a huge discount compare to what they charge insurance company.
Dennis Kuccinich has the only REAL plan!
We need to stop discriminating our poor.
To Rudy Giuliani and all the candidates:
What is so bad about Socialized medicine?
I'd rather be an EU or Canadian citizen when it comes to health care. Let's take the power away from insurance and pharmaceutical companies.
Go Socialism!
I was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma a month after I graduated college. Young people beware!
Brian I guess your experience with health care via health insurance has been positive. But even when things go relatively smoothly -- it's an inscrutable process and you never really know if something will be paid for or not. Even people with insurance are not secure. And even when a company provides coverage, they have to renegotiate every year and their premiums go up requiring employees to pay more for less. It's a completely no win situation -- unless you're employed by the US government. You should post the health care coverage of our senators, congresspeople -- also executive branch and Supreme Court.
The main point is been missed. The people who are in more need for government support are not the ones calling or writing here, but those at the lower economic tiers. They cannot pay their own regular visits to a doctor and end up waiting sick at home until they have to go to the emergency room. We should be careful not to belief that these opinions reflect the interests of those who really need insurance.
this really affects those young freelance artists and others who must live paycheck-to-paycheck. we make too much money to qualify to cheap/free insurance, but it doesnt account for the months where we are out of work and living on a savings account.
One interesting thing I learned about Medicare is that underage spouses are not covered, and many women are younger than their husbands when the husband qualifies for Medicare. So, my husband in retired and eligible for Medicare, and I am not. I pay approximately $1000 per quarter for health insurance, without drug coverage. And this rate is lower than some policies, because I am getting it through an association of freelancers such as myself. In addition, we pay for a Medicare supplemental policy for the things not covered by Medicare and drug coverage is separate of course and an additional expense.
Domenico - Those are the ones who qualify for Medicaid!!
Why does everyone shudder at the word "socialized"?
Why do we keep talking about insurance? We should not be in the business of subsidizing insurance companies. The problem is health care.
I currently have health insurance and I can also afford to pay a doctor's visit, but at many times in my life I could not and therefore did not go to a doctor. That's the problem many people have - then their health problem becomes worse and more expensive.
Also, when paying "up front" I have found that doctor's expect me to pay more than my insurance company will pay them. So much for negotiating power. Going to a doctor, even with insurance is becoming adversarial.
good old brian--
you are so reliable in your biases and in your inability to listen and learn. although paul fronstin (who was great -- obviously very well-informed and neutral) corrected you repeatedly about "employers running away from providing insurance," you persisted in reiterating that behavior as fact.
i still listen to the show as the topics are often good &, at least sometimes, you have interviewees who provide me with information and intelligent commentary, despite their host's prejudices and his attempts to override them.
again you have validated my decision to not donate to wnyc without feeling a bit guildty.
Health care is a human right!
I am completely baffled by the need to debate privatized vs. public health care.
Shouldn't Americans agree that all Americans are entitled to the same health care for the same illness? For profit- medicine does NOT do this. When a market economy is applied to the health care industry the resulting philosophy is: Some Americans receive appropriate health care and some Americans do not.
A single pay/buyer system would be a much easier health care option than the confusing plans put forth by Clinton, Obama, and Edwards. It seems they intend to politicize the issue by keeping one shoe in and one shoe out.
Check out a realistic plan from Physicians for National Health Program.
Since my daughter attended Cosmetology School rather than a four year university, her health coverage was terminated once she reached 19. However unmarried dependent children who are full time college students can continue to receive benefits until they graduate or the end of the calendar year (12/31) of the student's 23rd b'day...whichever occurs first!
After passing her NY state boards, my daughter is a licensed cosmetologist During the past three years she's been working in a high end Manhattan salon as a full-time assistant stylist. When she inquired about health insurance the manager advised "you couldn't afford it"! Sadly, employers in NY State can choose (or refuse) to fund health insurance for their employees. Only employers in CA and FL must offer to pay/share the cost of health insurance to all of their full-time employees. God bless america.
Rick,
If you are baffled at the need of a debate over privatized health care, you will be a little less baffled if you read this article in the New England Journal of Medicine, with the latest data on campaign contributions by the health care industry to the candidates and parties:
Election 2008 — Campaign Contributions, Lobbying, and the U.S. Health Sector
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/357/8/736
Hillary got $1.7 million, Barak got $1.2 million, Kucinich got $11,836.
This thread is closed.
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