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Few Uninsured Willing To Pay Full Cost For Coverage

npr.org — Some people can't buy health insurance because they have a pre-existing medical condition. But for most of the nation's 47 million uninsured, cost is the big obstacle — especially if they don't work for a company that pays part of the premium.

Who dugg this? Made popular Apr 25, 2009

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  • sarahlee, on 04/24/2009, -5/+39I think that "willing" in the title is misleading - it is more like "able" Having a pre-existing condition and not able to get insurance through an employer, I am not "willing" to spend 60% of my income on insurance - because then I couldn't eat or heat my home or work to pay down current medical debt.
  • operasara, on 04/25/2009, -0/+22Um, because full price insurance often costs more than rent. If it comes between insurance and putting a roof over your head or food on the table people aren't going to pay for insurance.

  • inactive, on 04/24/2009, -3/+25Should read "Few Uninsured ABLE to Pay Full Cost for Coverage"
  • KimmyGibbler, on 04/24/2009, -0/+17What United States are you living in? Health insurance companies ration all the time, which is why people hear "that's not covered under your plan" all the time. Also, the wait times in the US are the same as anywhere else. It's not like people in Britain or Canada going to the ER with a gunshot wound to the face have to wait for care anyway
  • KimmyGibbler, on 04/24/2009, -1/+18Americans pay twice as much per capita more for healthcare than any other country. The benefits of nationalized healthcare are in the cost savings standardization would bring. And if you are worried about the government deciding what gets treated and what doesn't, the health insurance companies are already doing it every day.
  • swordedge, on 04/24/2009, -0/+17Um, DUH!
    I was an uninsured for years. The insurance prices were simply way out of reach even though I was healthy.
  • Stuffburger, on 04/25/2009, -2/+16Let me run some basic math by you.

    $150 for food for one month is $5 per day. That means oatmeal, rice and beans and pasta most days, with "luxuries" like some chicken or ground beef every now and then. The last time I ate out I spent $2.30 on lunch at McDonald's.

    What money I do have extra mostly goes towards savings so I can finish my engineering degree.

    I get most of my clothes at goodwill or wal-mart , and haven't even gone there for several months. I also never said nor do I wish for anyone to pay for anything for me.

    ***** you. I hope your parents kick you out of the basement and make you pay for your own *****.
  • Stuffburger, on 04/25/2009, -1/+14I make about 20k a year- $10 an hour for a full time, plus some side jobs. A $400 a month plan is nearly 25% of my pre-tax income and I literally cannot afford it. I pay $600 a month for rent and utilities, $150 on food, $150 the cheapest car insurance, $100 on gas... With health insurance I would have no money whatsoever for luxuries like new clothes when I can't patch my old ones anymore or taking my girlfriend out to dinner on her birthday.

    See why we don't pay?
  • algaeturd, on 04/25/2009, -2/+15This is a ***** up headline. Not willing or Unable?
    HUGE difference there. I know in the nation of waste and excess, people think everyone is sitting on piles of money but that's not the truth. Most of the ***** excess was paid for by credit cards. Are you going to put a monthly premium of $350 on a ***** credit card each month? Because that's how much I pay for dental and health insurance. I have good coverage but I pay out the ASS to get it.
    I'd just like a fairer premium. I have to keep insurance because of a specific medical problem...otherwise, I'd put that money towards something real right now.
  • XtheXlanternX, on 04/25/2009, -1/+12health insurance is as much as my rent... why the hell would i pay a few hundred dollars a month for something i would only use once in a blue moon?? I haven't been to the hospital in 5 years. THEY SHOULD JUST MAKE PAYING WITH CASH POSSIBLE AND AFFORDABLE. it isn't that i can't or won't pay for healthcare (although I can't afford it currently), it is mostly that health insurance is useless unless youre sick...
  • techsquirrel, on 04/25/2009, -1/+11yeah- unable. I'm self-employed and haven't had coverage for ten years- by choice- it's too expensive and there's no value because there is no guarantee the insurance company will actually cover a condition if it arose. I would have sent over $40,000 to insurance companies over the last ten years. That's $40,000 I haven't had- it just hasn't been there, period. It's that or mortgage and food. Gotta eat. Don't have to throw money at insurance predators.

    I'm disgusted by the way health insurance is structured in the US. Coverage is denied for useful preventative medicine, doctors run zillions of expensive tests to cover their butts, and they get squeezed by the insurance companies who won't cover their basic costs. Paperwork isn't standardized anywhere in the system. Docs and RNs routinely have to work around the systems in the hospitals. Emergency care- yesterday there was a story on the news here about a couple who took their son to the emergency room after a fall. He was given a bandaid on the chin. They got a bill- for over $900. Nine hundred dollars for a bandaid.

    My brother lives in Spain and pays 600 Euros per year for health coverage. And he's treated like an adult.

    There's no rationale for paying anything into the insurance system unless it's structured towards wellness and preventative care, rather than the tests and drugs and drugs and drugs and administrative papershuffling and speculative investments that it is now. Two-thirds of the medical costs in this country are for chronic health problems, and a large percentage of that is created by eating food grown in dead soil soaked with chemical fertilizers. If people ate locally grown organic food, I'd bet you that health costs would drop noticeably.
  • seltaeb4, on 04/25/2009, -0/+10We're rationing healthcare to ourselves also.

    Nice to know we're suffering so that the cash register bells at health insurance corporations keep ringing.

  • KSUdesigner, on 04/25/2009, -1/+10Healthcare is not a right, but affordable healthcare should be. People aren't unwilling to pay for healthcare, they are unwilling to pay the outrageous costs that the insurance companies and medical institutions charge. We don't need free healthcare, we need affordable healthcare.
  • inactive, on 04/25/2009, -3/+12They're just not "willing" to pay %90 of the wages of their minimum wage job for family coverage. Lazy bums.
  • Metricula, on 04/25/2009, -0/+8I'm a recent grad between jobs and supporting myself. Like so many uninsured people my age it's a matter of affordability. After rent and fixed bills (I don't have a landline or cable), there's not enough to spend another $300/mo. Sure, I want coverage and I think it's important but when it's rent or that...

    I also don't trust that I'll get the coverage I need. My family has had bad experiences with denied claims and separate issue with "pre-existing conditions."

    Also, having a pap come back as a false-positive while you're trying to buy your own insurance is a big pain in the hoo-hah.
  • jackspade, on 04/25/2009, -2/+9"Sarcasm is a poor substitute for wit"
  • ViscidGobs, on 04/25/2009, -2/+9It is socially unconscionable to make a profit on other people's suffering. The next pandemic which seems to be rearing its ugly head in Mexico this week, will most likely be spread by someone who could not afford health care. Oh wait, in Canada health care is universal. The last major flu epidemic killed approximately 30 million people in Europe alone. 30 million less Americans?
  • XtheXlanternX, on 04/25/2009, -1/+8I just want to clarify something: I value my health and I am willing to pay someone for their services. I just think the whole health insurance scheme is a stupid way to do things. I am young and healthy, so the only reason I would get insurance would be just in case I got a severe illness or got in some sort of accident, both of which are exceedingly rare. The doctor and dentist I go to both provide discounts for people who pay cash. This allows people like me, who can't afford insurance (and probably wouldn't buy it anyways if I could), to be able to get care, although their care is still wayyyy to expensive since the discount is off of the price that they charge insurance companies. Basically, health care costs way to much. If you had to have any sort of emergency surgery and paid cash, it would bankrupt you or completely wipe out your savings. It shouldn't be like this. You should be able to walk into a hospital and pay a reasonable fee. Doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals deserve to be paid a good wage. From what I've heard from my relatives who are doctors and nurses, most of the pay goes to bureaucrats and administrators. The doctors and nurses work too many hours in order to get paid well, while people who have nothing to do with the actual care receive a lot of the profits.
  • KSUdesigner, on 04/25/2009, -0/+7You don't get it do you, TypicalDiggeral? Exactly where in either of his two posts did he ask for other people to pay for any of his bills? The point is that health insurance is far too expensive and he can't afford it. It's not about asking for other people to pay, it's about reducing the cost. I'm sure that Stuffburger would be willing to pay for insurance if he could afford to, but he can't because food, shelter and utilities are the most basic things that we need to survive and those must come first.
  • skews13, on 04/25/2009, -0/+6She's right, the bottom line is sleeping someplace with heat in it, or buy medicine. Or eat, or...
  • archiesteel, on 04/25/2009, -2/+8Actually Free Universal healthcare is the best solution.
  • LifeRepair, on 04/25/2009, -0/+6This is such a sore subject with me. I have serious heath issues that required seeing a doctor regularly. At $159 for a 15 minute appointment, I don't want to go to the doctor vary often. And, don't get me started on the cost of medicine. This is all insane and with out meds and doctor's care, I will die an early death. See you on the otherside!
  • qwertydvorak, on 04/25/2009, -1/+7if it were as cheap as cable tv i am sure more would have it.
  • WolvesOTheNight, on 04/25/2009, -1/+6The large people that are unable and/or unwilling are just symptoms of the real problem. What we really need to be asking is "Why is health care so expensive, why does the cost keep going up, and what can we do about it?" Until we get the cost of health care under control any attempt to mandate and/or subsidize health care will not solve the real problem.
  • supersonicjim, on 04/25/2009, -0/+5Only eating ramen? Your scurvy dog you!
  • stonebear, on 04/25/2009, -0/+5So why should he pay $65.oo a month for the privilege of wating for his health concerns to become catastrophes, and then expect him to come up with $5000.00 he doesn't have when they do? How is this helpful in any sense of the word beyond corporate profits? How about we fix the system instead, and make TypicalDigger pay for it. ;^)
  • Pinkertinkle, on 04/25/2009, -1/+5Someone's gotta pay, one way or another.
  • inactive, on 04/25/2009, -0/+4Health care expense IS the problem.

    I'm uninsured and needed some dental work that would of cost me $1200 (actual quote) in the US. Thankfully, I live on the boarder, so I got it done in Mexico for almost $300.

    Costs have to go down.
  • archiesteel, on 04/25/2009, -0/+4Actually, that wasn't sarcasm, that was a Strawman logical fallacy.
  • archiesteel, on 04/25/2009, -1/+5Why are you guys trying to reason with TypicalDiggeral? He's clearly another idiotic troll. Just digg him down or block him.
  • inactive, on 04/25/2009, -10/+14To all Republicans: health care is a right. I know you guys don't want to give common Americans too many rights but this one is pretty ***** important.

    How about you ***** keep the 2nd amendment rights and in return we get universal health care so we can take care of people you accidentally shot.
  • rolfeman02, on 04/25/2009, -0/+4As a college student you pay SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper rates becuase the college is also required to have you on their overall plan. The insurance company knows this and they don;t need as much money from you. Wait until you get out of college, the cheapest rate I can find with acceptable deductibles and coverage is about $289 a month. Your THINK you parents only pay that much for everything, but what you don"t see is their employers paying the other half of the bill...typically a family plan will cost about $1200 a month.

  • 1town, on 04/25/2009, -0/+45$ a day for food? I wish I had that kind of food budget..
    I try to stay under a buck a day.

    Then again, I have nationalized healthcare here in Norway, so I don't need to worry about making choices about my healthcare plans. Nor do I want to.
  • waydee, on 04/25/2009, -0/+3You don't whine about your taxes funding essential public services like schools, roads, emergency services etc. and to the majority of the developed world healthcare falls into that same group of services.
  • archiesteel, on 04/25/2009, -2/+5Or you could just go with UHC and stop worrying about it altogether.
  • awfabian, on 04/25/2009, -0/+3I think it's a bigger issue that the entire United States health-care system is completely screwed up. Loads of uninsured people are not the root problem, they're a symptom of the problem.
  • Nerys, on 04/26/2009, -0/+3If I could get health insurance for $350 a month (REAL insurance) I would get it in a heart beat.

    The best price I could find (32 healthy almost never sick can not even remember the last time I was sick) $730 a month!

    Where am I supposed to come up with $730 a month from ? my money tree? sorry it died a long time ago sadly.
  • s73v3r, on 04/25/2009, -0/+3Yeah, she could sell everything, live under a bridge, but she'd be healthy.
  • Nerys, on 04/26/2009, -0/+3BINGO. if you had Five Grand lying around "just in case" you would not be worried about the cost of health insurance.

    I know if I could afford to have five thousand dollars lying around health insurance would be the last of my worries.

    $65 a month 5 grand deductible is precisely what it sounds like

    a waste of $65 a month. hell I can't even afford $65 a month right now.
  • WolvesOTheNight, on 04/25/2009, -0/+3Yep! I have a coworker that goes to Mexico to get dental work done for the same reason (1/2 day drive for him).

    Sadly, I am yet to see a politician present a good plan for addressing the ever increasing costs of health care. Instead they just suggest forcing people to buy insurance.

    P.S. I meant to say "The large number of people" instead of "The large people," but did not notice the typo until it was too late.
  • archiesteel, on 04/25/2009, -1/+4Yeah, how dare he wish to have money for "real" stuff like rent and food? Goddamn Socialists with their "basic human needs."

    Seriously, how stupid are you, really? Is that it or does it get worse?
  • Nerys, on 04/26/2009, -0/+3again where the hell are people getting this $300 a month crap from? I have never see a policy for less than $700.
  • archiesteel, on 04/25/2009, -1/+4"There are two ways to drop costs: long waits or rationing."

    Typical anti-UHC propaganda. How much are you getting from Insurance Companies for your astroturfing? Or perhaps you're dumb enough to actually believe what you're writing?
  • archiesteel, on 04/25/2009, -2/+5Or just have UHC and solve all these problems.
  • archiesteel, on 04/25/2009, -3/+6Universal Health Care is cheaper than a private system. That's the cold, hard truth, Ruth!
  • AgeofMastery, on 04/25/2009, -0/+3Shilling for an industry in which I have a vested interest...

    There, fixed that for you
  • archiesteel, on 04/25/2009, -1/+4It is more efficient, cheaper and fair to have a Universal Health Care system. That's not emotion, that's the truth.

    The only emotional ones here are the Right Libertarians with their romanticized view of the anti-civilization utopia. Please drop off the grid somewhere in the woods and never use the product of government intervention and taxation that is the Internet.
  • archiesteel, on 04/25/2009, -2/+4If everyone is covered, then you're not paying for his stuff. Everyone is paying for everyone's stuff. You know, like roads, a standing army, elementary schools.

    I really wish Right Libertarians would have the guts to live according to their principles and just drop out of civilization...
  • qwertydvorak, on 04/25/2009, -0/+2"Considering that countries with Universal Health Care spend less on it than the US, you can bet I'd trust the government with handling health care."

    the us government spends more per capita on education than any other nation in the world and ranks near the bottom. you can't really trust the government with much at all.

    would you trust them with a computer upgrade ?

    IRS: http://news.cnet.com/IRS-trudges-on-with-aging-com ...

    FBI: http://news.cnet.com/FBI-grapples-with-out-of-date ...

    billions wasted, and still using the old systems.
  • zacharytelschow, on 04/28/2009, -0/+2I'm not sure how many countries your "education is also handled by governments in other nations" statement is true about, but I can point to one notable example where it isn't true: Sweden. True school choice with school vouchers has driven education results, improving school quality and dropping costs. There's a significant portion of John Stossel's "Stupid in America" which covers the Swedish education system.
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