Dodd, you are proving my point. Health care should be made as affordable as possible because most people who don't have would like to have it but they simply can't afford it. We need to fix that because we are currently on a no-win path if the current system is kept uncheck. I hear a lot of people shitting on these health care changes, while offering no alternatives. Status quo is not acceptable.

Douche, you were a little confused about the costs. Let me explain. Let's say a health plan through your work costs you 50 bucks a week (200 a month)...that's not the total cost of the insurance policy. It could be anywhere between 500-1500 bucks total depending on the strength of the plan. I'm self-employed so I pay full price for my health insurance which is $1100 a month (for me, my wife, and son). That's about normal for a family plan, but often your employer pays a large percentage of that. When the economy goes down, jobs often cut benefits to save money, which in turn makes health insurance more expensive for families...which then often leads to them going without.

By regulating the health insurance agency (you'd be amazed how little regulation is set up here...they still have antitrust status), you could lower premiums drastically. By setting up a stronger max profit line, projections are premiums would go down by at least 30%. Likewise, when everyone is covered and preventative care is paid for, the cost-sharing goes down even more.

And I'm not a big fan of penalizing people who don't buy health insurance. Obama said himself while campaigning..."If that would work than why not just penalize the homeless for not buying a house." It's not practical because a lot of people don't have health insurance because they can't afford it.

And my previous statements that you seem to have taken offense to were in response to this...where you did say you are basically planning not to get hurt.

Doddsino wrote:

And yes, there is the chance that something could very well happen, but not very probable. I limit myself to where I go via car, and make wise decisions for the most part. I truly believe that the chance of something like that happening isn't enough for me to pay out of pocket, especially when I limit myself as much as I do right now. So yes, down the line I will get insurance, but given my position right now, where I hardly travel outside the home, eat healthy, exercise, there's no grizzly bears etc etc, I'd say my chances of ending up the emergency room are way too incredibly slim at this time.