the 40 million uninsured is the Health care boogey man

[Mormon Red Death]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

I'm basing my claims on my memory of what I have read and heard. It sounds like your brief foray into researching this confirmed what I remembered.

What I am saying is the standard accepted fact.

no what you are saying is something you thin you remembered hearing

[Mormon Red Death]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

I'm not talking about medicaid. I'm talking about charity care.

Another big problem of "charity care" is how do you define it? One man's bad debt or goverment payer (medicaid) is another's charity care

[Mormon Red Death]

I see I am getting a little cantankerous... I will back off

[Cali Coug]

Originally Posted by Mormon Red Death

Have a link to back it up?

http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq_consumer_cobra.html

Google- first hit. Isn't this one pretty non-controversial? I am awaiting something better than "it is proprietary information" for your claim.

[Mormon Red Death]

Originally Posted by Cali Coug

http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq_consumer_cobra.html

Google- first hit. Isn't this one pretty non-controversial? I am awaiting something better than "it is proprietary information" for your claim.

so you showed me the rules behind cobra... Is it on there about how much it costs? Like I said I was getting a little cantankerous

[Mormon Red Death]

Originally Posted by Cali Coug

http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/faqs/faq_consumer_cobra.html

Google- first hit. Isn't this one pretty non-controversial? I am awaiting something better than "it is proprietary information" for your claim.

http://www.healthassociates.com/uninsured.htm

a list of some of the options the uninsured can have

[Mormon Red Death]

Originally Posted by Cali Coug

"This coverage, however, is only available when coverage is lost due to certain specific events. Group health coverage for COBRA participants is usually more expensive than health coverage for active employees, since usually the employer pays a part of the premium for active employees while COBRA participants generally pay the entire premium themselves. It is ordinarily less expensive, though, than individual health coverage. "

Second paragraph.

I'm not sure what that means to the average Joe who would have to pay it. I'm sure some companies try to say their premium is a lot higher. The only thing I can say is that when I changed jobs last year my cobra was $635 a month

I guess the point of this thread (before we all went off on tangents) is that while there are certainly uninsured Many of those have a lot of options for coverage that the system does not lend itself to helping these people out. you might say that 75% seems too high. In my experience that could be about right

[UteStar]

On a side note on insurance for small companies. My small company pays out $9,000 a month for its 9 employees. Are you freakin' kidding me? That is just crazy. We do it because it is the right thing...but paying that much for insurance is nuts.

[Mormon Red Death]

Originally Posted by Cali Coug

I think it is too high, and you haven't shown me any evidence to think otherwise. Cobra is expensive. It comes into play when you leave a job where you were getting health insurance. Most of the time, the employer was paying a portion of the premiums each month. If you leave, it may be impossible to pay for it on your own (it is, in your experience, another $635 a month, and in another poster's experience, over $1,000 a month). Not many American families have a $635 a month cushion in the budget (and, in my experience, that is a low amount- particularly if you are also trying to insure a family).

http://www.healthpolitics.org/progra...nsured_america

"What else do we know about the 46 million uninsured? 21% are under 18; 19% are age18 to 24; 22% are 25 to 34; and 37% are 35 to 64. The uninsured are more likely to be white than any other race, but rates are significant among Hispanics partly because of high rates of non-citizenship. 79% of the uninsured are citizens. 21% are non-citizens with approximately half of these estimated to be illegal. About 46% of the uninsured work for firms with fewer than 100 employees; 46% work full time; 28% work part time; and 26% do not work outside the home.4"

If 21% of the uninsured are are under 18 and the article suggests that is ~10 million. Now the 22% of 18-24 is a little trickier as all the women would be eligible if they were pregnant. Additionally, How many of these folks are going to be in families that make 300% of the federal poverty level (30k for one person or 36k for 2 people) If just for argument purposes we say that 80% of these are eligible for Medicaid that is ~8 million. Now that is just Medicaid that isn't those who were crime victims, students, auto etc...

Now throw in the illegals, the people that qualify for medicaid in the other age categories, the other possible insurance and I don't think its terribly unreasonable to say 70-75% of the uninsured could either find some sort of coverage or make 500% of the federal poverty level (50k) and could pay for at least some of their health costs

[Solon]

Originally Posted by Mormon Red Death

I see I am getting a little cantankerous... I will back off

That's right. If you're going to pick a fight on Cougarguard, you'd better be ready to finish it . . . .

Or someone else will.