Community Chat

[lovesrecess]

I carried DH on my insurance until I retired. We now both have Medicare and an advantage plan.....we each found plans with different companies due to our health histories....so far we have been pleased with them and they are extremely affordable.

[blackhole99]

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@CalminHeart wrote:

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@bathina wrote:

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@sunshine 919 wrote:

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@Nightowlz wrote:

That's the only reason DH is still working. It's ashamed people have to work until they are dead.

Our government needs to provide decent health care for all the people not just for them.

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I totally agree.  Our country is too big to keep having insurance issues.  If the good insurance is good for the government it should be good for the rest.  I bet they have great dental as well.  Probably no co pays.  And they could afford it.  

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Congress gets their insurance from the ACA exchange.

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Yes, congress gets ACA coverage....the best taxpayers' money can buy.  They don't pay a dime for it and have the king of kings coverage.   It makes me angry that ACA is good enough for them but they destroyed it for everyone else.

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That's right and why do we keep putting millionaires and men and women who really don't want to work for a living in public office. We reinforce to them that we think they are smarter and better than we are and they take advantage of us. Most people don't care if people have a decent standard of living or health care as long as they have what they need. All these posters who are grateful for their good fortune, well they should be and I would bet they think health care is a privilege.

[on the bay]

A lot of the problems that some people aren't aware of, are that if you have a little above what is the lowest for medicaid, you don't get it. 

So picture a young person in a new job that makes enough (roommates or not) to get by

but not enough to pay for health insurance, yet too much to be eligible for medicaid.

Or a person elderly or disabled living on social security, who gets $1,000 or less a month, but that is too much to be eligible as well.

A lot of people for one reason or another, do not have much savings, if any, esp. if just starting out.

So it just goes around that those who have it don't always understand why others can't do it too.

Some people are very lucky, and some are not, and doing the best they can, in a system that has failed many.

I do think it is arrogant to believe that everyone can and does have a solution to these problems, just because they have managed to.My mother always said, if you have a choice of a job with a good salary or good health benefits, take the health benefits. But that was years ago. Now most jobs do not insure a good plan. 

Most of my children have health care with high deductibles and 80/20, which is awful.

If you have any procedure, xray, er visit etc you will be paying lots! And they have good jobs! One is a nurse. Her insurance is awful.

They often don't go to the doctor when they really need to.

I still wish we did have universal health care.

[Kalli]

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@NYC Susan wrote:

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@Kachina624 wrote:

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@Annabellethecat66 wrote:

The OP possess an interesting question.  I'm 72 so I'm covered by Medicare AND I have additional health care.  I'm a widow but since I worked for the government way back they didn't take out social security, so I get my late husband's social security.  They take money out of that to pay for my Medicare.

So, I have one daughter who's husband is self employed (just him and she's on the payroll).  She has 4 children.  She has become (out of necessity) a person who knows everything about health insurance.

I heard a guy on TV say that more and more people are opting out of health insurance because if you don't go to the Drs much, you should do 'pay as you go'.

But a lot of Drs won't see you if you don't have any kind of health insurance...they want to know what you have when you make the appointment.

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@Annabellethecat66.  I'd feel like I was skating on thin ice without health insurance.  It's fine until a catastrophic illness or injury strikes, and we know that can happen anytime.  It can ruin you financially for the rest of your life.

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You're absolutely right.  One tiny little misstep can end up costing astronomical amounts of money.  My very healthy and fit SIL was bumped into on the street, and ended up in a wheelchair for a long period of time. Without insurance, she would have been completely wiped out financially.  And that doesn't even take into account much more serious injuries/surgeries/illnesses.  Heart attacks, strokes, auto accidents, brain injuries, etc  strike otherwise healthy people every day.  And the costs without insurance are truly astronomical.

I have a friend who did not have any health insurance for two years, and it was very stressful.  She paid out-of-pocket for meds and office visits, and was okay with that.  But she was in constant fear of something more catastrophic happening - not because she might die, not because of pain or suffering, but because she had no insurance.  When she recently was able to get decent insurance at a price she could afford, she said it felt like an enormous weight had lifted.

Having health insurance is peace of mind.

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@NYC Susan, you’re right, it’s peace of mind and I can’t imagine taking a chance of not having coverage. If you’re older, worked for many years and own your home AND you have retirement savings/investments, you have a lot to lose if you rack up high med bills.  

So I shell out a chunk each month and try to be thankful I can actually purchase a policy!! But I’ll be glad to get Medicare! 

[vacationday]

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@Highlands72 wrote:

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@vacationday wrote:

@momtochloe  My family went through a terrible time during the 1980s when many corporations in the U.S farmed out work because of NAFTA.  Those of us who lost our jobs because of it, qualfiied for extended unemployment insurance but it wasn't near enough to live on. There was also no go fund me or the internet for that matter.   It was through moving to a better city that had an abundance of jobs and a lower cost of living that we were able to begin again and survive.  Hard times and lots of tears and anger over what we were subjected to and losing our health care benefits on top of it.  We are survivors and survive we did but we will never forget what we endured.  

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NAFTA came into force trilaterally in 1994. Several years prior to that, the pact was negotiated between the US and Canada only.

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I don't know why this incorrect information is out there but I read it too.  If you lived and worked in So Ca during the 70s and 80s, you very likely were affected by NAFTA.  We were at NCR and others we were close to worked for the aerospace industry and all of us were laid off due to work being sent south of the border.  We were told and received formal documentation that it was because of NAFTA.  We brought those documents with us when we went in person to the unemployment office as was the protocal back then.  Our unemployment insurance was extended as well because of it.  @Highlands72

[Highlands72]

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@vacationday wrote:

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@Highlands72 wrote:

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@vacationday wrote:

@momtochloe  My family went through a terrible time during the 1980s when many corporations in the U.S farmed out work because of NAFTA.  Those of us who lost our jobs because of it, qualfiied for extended unemployment insurance but it wasn't near enough to live on. There was also no go fund me or the internet for that matter.   It was through moving to a better city that had an abundance of jobs and a lower cost of living that we were able to begin again and survive.  Hard times and lots of tears and anger over what we were subjected to and losing our health care benefits on top of it.  We are survivors and survive we did but we will never forget what we endured.  

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NAFTA came into force trilaterally in 1994. Several years prior to that, the pact was negotiated between the US and Canada only.

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I don't know why this incorrect information is out there but I read it too.  If you lived and worked in So Ca during the 70s and 80s, you very likely were affected by NAFTA.  We were at NCR and others we were close to worked for the aerospace industry and all of us were laid off due to work being sent south of the border.  We were told and received formal documentation that it was because of NAFTA.  We brought those documents with us when we went in person to the unemployment office as was the protocal back then.  Our unemployment insurance was extended as well because of it.  @Highlands72

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Many companies were sending jobs overseas and south of the border prior to NAFTA.

It just wasn't a government treaty, it was the corporate entities themselves choosing to offshore jobs in pursuit of cheaper labor. These were private business decisions.

No denying the negative impact on many American workers and their families.

[vacationday]

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@Highlands72 wrote:

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@vacationday wrote:

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@Highlands72 wrote:

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@vacationday wrote:

@momtochloe  My family went through a terrible time during the 1980s when many corporations in the U.S farmed out work because of NAFTA.  Those of us who lost our jobs because of it, qualfiied for extended unemployment insurance but it wasn't near enough to live on. There was also no go fund me or the internet for that matter.   It was through moving to a better city that had an abundance of jobs and a lower cost of living that we were able to begin again and survive.  Hard times and lots of tears and anger over what we were subjected to and losing our health care benefits on top of it.  We are survivors and survive we did but we will never forget what we endured.  

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NAFTA came into force trilaterally in 1994. Several years prior to that, the pact was negotiated between the US and Canada only.

---

I don't know why this incorrect information is out there but I read it too.  If you lived and worked in So Ca during the 70s and 80s, you very likely were affected by NAFTA.  We were at NCR and others we were close to worked for the aerospace industry and all of us were laid off due to work being sent south of the border.  We were told and received formal documentation that it was because of NAFTA.  We brought those documents with us when we went in person to the unemployment office as was the protocal back then.  Our unemployment insurance was extended as well because of it.  @Highlands72

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Many companies were sending jobs overseas and south of the border prior to NAFTA.

It just wasn't a government treaty, it was the corporate entities themselves choosing to offshore jobs in pursuit of cheaper labor. These were private business decisions.

No denying the negative impact on many American workers and their families.

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Thank you @Highlands72

[ninjawife]

I had been working part time and my husband recently started his own business so we had no health insurance through an employer.  We did not need the finanical gain of me taking a full time job but paying for our own health insurance forced me to take a full time job just for the health benefits.

[Spinach30]

I'm the OP.  From the posts I'm reading I'm finding this situation outrageous!!!!  What can we do?  What direction do we take this?  Who will listen?  Our government doesn't seem to care!!!!  This mess started with the creation of the ACA - now what??????????