"notbob" wrote:
>
> On 2009-02-26, sf > wrote:
>
>> Anyone who can't pay is a drain.
>
> A stupid generalization made by employed ppl.

That's not a generalization, albeight incorect... should be Anyone who
*doesn't* pay is a drain... most people who don't pay *choose* not to pay.

> When I retired, I had enough money to pay for med insurance, but my
> carrier
> wouldn't carry me. Ever heard of COBRA. It's a govt law that FORCES your
> carrier (when employed) to carry you for 18 more mos after layoff,

First you're talking retirement, now layoff... big difference, which is it?

cuz if
> the law didn't exist, your carrier would drop you in a healthy heartbeat,
> whether you could pay or not. I couldn't get med insurance to save my
> life.
> Kaiser? "Your more than 10 lbs overweight." qBlue Cross? "No such
> plan."
> Bah! ...humbug.
>
> Don't tell me about med insurance. The state of health care in this
> country
> is criminal.
>

That's simply not true. No one who retires takes COBRA, that's for people
between jobs, 18 months is more than enough time to find a new job that
offers a medical plan commisserate with ones last plan. People who retire
can opt for Medicare A, they can't refuse you and it offers decent coverage.
And people know well in advance when they will retire, plenty of lead time
to get ones ins in order. There are dozens of major insurance companies
that will begin inundating your mail box with supplimental medical insurance
plans of all kinds, from before you reach age 55 (it's a good idea to
discuss this with your homeowners/auto ins agent). Now if you are looking
for free, that doesn't exist, nothing is free... even when your employer
picks up the premiums you are still paying, you're getting that bene in lieu
of higher pay (employers know that if employees were given the money to pay
premiums on their own most would not). The supplimental medical insurance
plans are not expensive (they know that retirees have no dependants other
than a spouse, naturally a spouse can choose to join teh plan and will pay a
premium too, which is only fair) and they will not refuse you. While I
worked my company paid my medical insurance premiums. When I retired I was
given the option of continuing with the same coverage (or could have choosen
lesser less costly coverage) but now I had to pay the premiums, but at a
greatly reduced rate because Medicare became the primary... I took it and I
get pretty good coverage including Rx but I began by paying $65/mo. Now a
year later, like everything else, the premium has increased to $80/mo and
co-pays have increased too... still a bargain I think. Brand name
prescriptions can cost $100 and more (many drugs have no generic). You're
complaining about the wrong thing, (medical insurance companies do a very
good job of offering good medical insurance at very reasonable rates),
instead complain about the prices charged for drugs, medical equipment, and
medical procedures, those ridculously inflated costs are what keep premiums
high, also keeps the co-pays high, And keep in mind, high medical costs to
productive citizens exist mostly because they subsidize all the
non-productive parasites... so yes, anyone who doesn't pay is a drain.