For today keep it simple and look for your group: Whatever your age, health, or any of the other diverse aspects of yourself, YOU ARE A BENEFIT TO ANY GROUP OF PEOPLE LOOKING TO FIND HEALTH INSURANCE. It is remarkable that health insurance companies have persuaded us to change common sense knowledge by luring us with a temporary teaser rate of lower rates for "healthy" individuals and marketing this "insurance" to people through their greed: Why should you pay for your unhealthy neighbor?
It is a myth that any individual in the non-group environment benefits by greedily taking advantage of his solo healthy status and leaving his ailing fellow citizens behind. Health insurance groups were started based on the simple fact that individuals banding together could negotiate better deals with insurance companies by exchanging numbers of participants, premium paying bodies for lower rates for health insurance coverage. Consider:
Lobbyists for health insurers and health services providers know the value of numbers of people, their memberships pay for the privilege of dealing with government as forces to be reckoned with and it works. Check out AHIP and AMA websites.
Federal employees recently influenced their health insurance choices as a group.
Civilian governmental workers routinely enjoy superior benefits packages to non governmental civilian workers, check out federal, state and local government health plans.
Health insurance policies have single year effective rates, if you make it through healthy, your greedy little heart can congratulate yourself that you can renew your policy...is that insurance? Insurance is supposed to help cover the cost of needed medical services, if you don't get sick and don't use medical services for treatment, you are paying thousands of dollars a year for what? A check up? And when you need treatment and have coverage, remember you too are now an "expense" and insurance companies don't like "expense" they like "income."
Check out the impact of increased UNEMPLOYMENT on our situation at http://www.kff.org/uninsured/7842.cfm
Health Coverage in a Period of Rising Unemployment
In considering what is happening across our country the Kaiser Foundation reports:
“Insurance policies purchased in the non-group market may be more limited than employer-sponsored insurance, with some plans not covering maternity care or having strict limits on prescription drug coverage. Deductibles and other cost sharing in non-group plans may also be higher than in employer sponsored insurance policies.
"When unemployed adults with health problems try to purchase non-group coverage, they may find that even though they previously had coverage they are either charged a higher premium because of their health status or health plans refuse to offer them coverage at any price."
Today consider that it's okay to be part of a group of citizens, including your neighbors whose health may not be as good as yours is today. If your common sense doesn't help you make this decision, let your greed dictate this conclusion for two reasons, first, one day you will be ill and second, one of the possible solutions being suggested for the lack of affordable health insurance is an expansion of eligibility standards for Medicaid and SCHIP programs...yup, government programs financed through taxpayer dollars...you know, GROUPS.
