“Basic health insurance is available for less than 200 dollars per month,” said Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty in his State of the State address on 9 March 2006. “We need to direct our HMOs and insurance companies to raise awareness and get more uninsured people to use these plans.”
If only that were true.
I challenge you, Governor Pawlenty, to show basic health insurance available to me—or my wife—for US$200 per month. My wife and I currently spend US$815.61 per month, paid quarterly, for health insurance. That’s more than we spend on our mortgage and doesn’t include deductibles, co-payments, and out-of-pocket caps. And that figure will rise by at least 10% this July.
You’re saying I’m overpaying for my insurance by a factor of two and I’m in an insurance industry bail-out called the high risk pool that—by law—can only charge 20% more than the going rate. So, please, detail the discrepancy for me. I could really use that extra US$400 each month.
In fact, as an end-stage renal disease patient, I qualify for Medicare, but no one in your government or the insurance industry can tell me for certain whether or not that’s any less expensive than the outrageously priced health insurance we have now. Seems they expect me to be on full disability and don’t have the proper charts and tables to calculate the total costs for someone who chooses to remain working.
Meanwhile, dialysis providers like Fresenius and DaVita are enjoying record profits, so it’s all good, right?
I don’t want to call you a liar, but I don’t believe you can demonstrate your poster child US$200 per month health insurance exists.
If you’re so terribly misinformed about this important issue, what else are you just as misinformed about? My guess would be damn near everything.
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