Billy Burpelson wrote:
D Peter Maus wrote:

I know, however, in my circles of colleagues/friends, only 1 in 3 has
health insurance, and those that do not have it, do not want it.

Fair enough...but could you please elaborate.

*WHY* "don't they want it"? I presume they are around your (retirement)
age. Are they *all* -exceptionally- healthy? Are they *all*
-exceptionally- wealthy?

None of the above. They, like myself, are tired of paying more
into the system than they receive in benefits, of getting cut rate,
assembly line services in health issues that require sophisticated
care.

A previous post mentioned that a broken leg can cost 5 figures,
today. Actually, it's closer to 6, all told. That's if you let
insurance pay the bills.

In 1986, I was hit by a car. You want to talk about a broken leg?
That was only the beginning. Compression fracture of the T-6
verteba, nerve damage, 40 surgeries, intensive care.

From the minute they loaded me into the ambulance, the clock
started running. We didn't even KNOW about the spinal injury because
the bean counters at the insurance desk at the hospital made
executive decisions based on insurance data. That surfaced later
under a much different specification of care.

I had someone call my attorney, while waiting for admission to
the trauma room. I guaranteed the bill myself, to be paid out of a
special savings account I'd been feeding for years for this purpose,
forgoing entirely insurance.

At the time of my release, I had more than $100,000 in medical
bills. My attorney went over them and we found more than $30,000 in
billing for services that were never rendered, or rendered to
another patient, or simply made up.

I paid the bill out of the account I'd created for that purpose
and on an installment plan for a portion.

Had I had insurance, it's likely I'd not be able to walk, today.
Or given the nature of the spinal injury, been paralyzed.

As it is, I do ok. I walk, bowl, play ball. I have some loss of
utility in the outer fingers of each hand, which can be improved
with daily exercises.

I am neither wealthy, nor exceptionally healthy. I live in a
modest house. I spend my days enjoying my work and my hobbies, and
at night I watch TV with my dog. Or spend time with someone else. No
one in my circle are any different. There is no great wealth here.
Only a decision that we'd rather get the services we pay for, rather
than take the substandard care give us. We all have different
solutions, but the address of the problem remains.

And we are not alone. How many millions of 'healthcare savings
accounts' have been created since then by individuals realizing that
insurance is not the solution for them. I did it before there was a
government sponsored, tax sheltered healthcare savings account. So
did many of my friends.

We just chose a better path.

Be clear on this--I'm not saying that we shouldn't have health
care insurance. For some, for those who wish it, they should have
it. I'm just opposed to paying for both my health care, and your
insurance.

And this 'everybody should be in the pool' nonsense, is just
that--nonsense.





It truly seems a bit of a stretch to extrapolate you and your 3 buddies
to the rest of the 47 million.

Which, if you'll read more closely, I didn't do. I didn't claim
anything for 47 million. I did, however claim that number is
misleading because it only includes those who don't have health
insurance. It doesn't make account for those who do not wish it.
And to forestall any misunderstandings, I just said that of my
circle, 1 in 3 has health insurance...that's 1 person out of every
3. I can point to 12 of us who don't have, and don't want, health
insurance.

And that we're not alone.