Lew Hodgett wrote:
"dpb" wrote:

Call Uncle Barak, I guess. Seems your answer to everything else;
ask somebody else to take care your responsibilities.

I'm not sure what the answer is, but the system is broken.

If you are wealthy you can afford to pay for health care.

If you are poor, then the government provides you with health care.

However, if are in the middle, you are SCREWED.

You get to purchase health care insurance that may or may not cover
your particular problem when you need it most or have such a large
copay that coverage becomes impossible to use.

An unfortunate situation such as an accident or a disease such as
cancer, and the next thing you know, it's bankruptcy time, even with
the best laid plans of financial advance planning.

There are lots of middle class families that planned ahead, but ended
up with copay debt in the 6 figure class and bankruptcy, the only way
out.

Allowing the private sector to be the fox guarding the hen house has
developed a hodge podge safety net with far too many holes in it to be
considered safe.

I'm not in favor of having the government being in the health
insurance business, but I am in favor of government being the
oversight business which probably does include having government
provide "super high catastrophe" coverage and basic low end coverage.

That leaves a lot of room for the private sector to operate; however,
some retooling of how they operate will be required.

Lew


I'm one of your "in the middle" people. I planned ahead - invested 10%
of gross for 35 years and have insurance that I carefully shopped for.
The wife had two major medical events in '05 and '06 and I had surgery
for colon cancer in '05, all adding up to a large 6 figure billable
total. The insurance copays weren't overly burdensome. The insurance
company didn't try to get out of anything and there are no max coverage
issues. The insurance premiums run a little over $800/month which is
easily doable if you plan ahead.

My and SWMBO's folks are gone now, but both of our parents planned ahead
and had insurance and were treated well by the medical and insurance
folks. We had SWMBO's mom with us for her last four years, but it
wasn't because of any financial problems on her part, rather dementia.
My mom spent her last years living with my sister and BIL, again not for
financial reasons, but debilitating conditions caused by a stroke at age 93.

So, I'm having a difficult time wondering why these folks you mention
are in such tough shape if they have planned ahead financially and have
good insurance (they looked carefully at the coverage before buying).