OBAMACARE

EXACTLY!!!! I spent 8 years under National Health care in the Middle East. When people in Kuwait have better guaranteed access to medical care then we do in the US something is wrong. When I came back I had to turn down a couple of jobs that I would have LOVED to have because they didn't offer insurance.

You do understand it is your employer who CHOSE which health plan to offer you right?

They are presented a number of different options from various insurance companies and weigh the costs vs the benefits.

Your employer chose a cheaper insurance plan.   It was offered and they accepted it.  They easily could have paid more to cover WLS but chose not to. 


As for coverage if you lose your job, most states offer a high risk plan that guarantees your acceptance.  Yes, you are responsible for 100% of the premium, not the amount you pay today when your employer picks up the majority.

So to be angry at the insurance company is misdirected anger.  Talk to your employer, they will show you the costs of the various plans and it is simply a business decision to them.

Now I am not a fan of any employer controlling my health care choices. I would much rather receive the income and choose my own carrier but that's not an option now. 

Anyone who thinks government controlled healthcare is a good thing needs to pay attention in the coming weeks - budgets are tight and Medicare and Medicaid services are facing huge cuts in payments to physicians and hospitals so it will be tougher to get appointments and find physicians willing to accept the government payment. 

Good luck!!!

What was it about my saying that my employer "chose" (that is the word I used) to change insurance that makes you think I'm confused about how it works? The point is that this isn't how it should work. I know "life's not fair," and I'm not saying everyone is "entitled" to anything, but the current healthcare coverage/insurance system is based on nothing but money, not on actually providing good benefits to hard working people. Yes, my employer chose to change carriers/plans, but I was paying the same amount, my job was not changing, I was not suddenly expected to do less work since I was getting fewer benefits, and I certainly never had a say in the situation. And anyone who says, "Well, if you don't like the benefits your employer offers, then just change jobs," is obviously luckier than most to have it be so easy to just pick up and change jobs at the drop of a hat. Not everyone has such credentials that employers are knocking down your door, and you have the luxury of shopping around for the one with the best benefit plan.

I never said I was "angry at the insurance company." Insurance companies are just that: COMPANIES. They are out to make money, nothing more. They are doing what they're supposed to do as businesses. So, I'm not angry with any insurance company specifically; rather, I'm frustrated with this money-driven system that essentially punishes people for having health problems and for *gasp* wanting to actually do something to FIX those health problems. I post on a diabetes forum, and I have seen multiple posts from folks who know they have elevated glucose levels, but they don't want to go to doctors for the proper healthcare because having an official diabetes diagnosis on their health record will make it extremely difficult and expensive to get/maintain sufficient coverage in the future. People are avoiding proper healthcare out of FEAR.

I do not have all the answers. As I stated in another post, there is no such thing as a perfect system - you simply can't please ALL the people, ALL the time. But I cannot believe that our current system that punishes the sick, instills fear, and turns a blind eye to the most effective treatments all due to $$ is the best we can do.

So, you're laboring under the assumption that once you get diagnosed with some illness, an insurance company WOULD cover you on a solo policy?  It doesn't work that way. 

As individuals, any of us who every get sick will be denied coverage.

And, btw, Medicare is the most inexpensively run insurance program in the country.

How much you wanna bet that you can't even DEFINE "Obamacare?"

I could tell ya some stories about a friend of mine in Sweden who was suffering from MS all of his life and it was getting progressively worse. He's dead now, largely because his primary doc was the gatekeeper to specialist referrals and was wholly convinced he was a sloth... How total paralysis of half of one's body can be misinterpreted as lazyiness is beyond me.

That is not the fault of socialized medicine. Shall we talk about all the damages and deaths that happen because of lack of access to affordable care in the USA? Or the delays imposed by insurance companies playing their stupid games? Tell that to the widow of the man who had a simple skin cancer on his ear that grew considerably in the nearly EIGHT MONTHS it took them to force the insurance company to "allow" medical care and the ensuing problems that killed him.

Yes it was at fault. The amount of red tape he had to go through just to get proper care for such a disease was far worse than you'd find here, and he's dead because it- the lack of proper care shortened his life. I for one am growing a short fuse with people pushing the fallacy that raibows shoot out of the arse of socialized medicine, when  in fact you'd just be trading one crappy system for another. Sure you get good BASIC care across the board but you better hope to god that you never get fatally ill. Crappy docs, overburdended and inefficient systems, little or no say in the care you DO get, not having any legal recourse if your doc messes up or butchers you, painfully long waits for operations and treatment for life threatening diseases (you have a good chance dropping dead while waiting for your treatment or surgery date), etc. etc. It's not all roses on the other side- it has many of the same problems we already have as well as lot of additonal downsides. I'm not saying what we have here is great, but socialized medicine is the same **** with different flies.

I live in a country with an amazing socialized health care system.  Not all systems are like Canada.  For example, in Israel, all the kinds of WLS are covered, as long as your BMI is 35 with 2 co-morbidities or over 40 with no co-morbidities.  

Oh and I got to pick my surgeon and hospital.  And he is on the vetted DS surgeon's list.  And I got amazing care.  Had surgery in under 6 months from the time I finished all the testing - If i wanted the sleeve or the RNY the waiting time for my surgeon was about 4 months (other surgeons had a shorter waiting period).  And literally didn't pay a dime out of pocket for anything.  

I vote Conservative on most things but I do believe that socialized health care can work.  Is the system perfect?  No.  But its a damn sight better than what you have in the US.  Just sayin.  

Watch Faux News much?  Thy NEED people who will believe anything, so don't abandon them if you should suddenly develop deeper understanding of the situation.

Do you speak from experience, "geutenmorgan?"   I've had surgery and medical care in a few countrries and haven't encountered what you're describing. 

Interestingly enough, since your profile says that your husband lost his job and you only have insurance because of COBRA...and those benefits have been extended by Obama and company...you are aparently one of those who is described in the book What's the matter with Kansas?  Those are the people who keep buying into the Faux News rhetoric and voting AGAINST their own best interest.  (Like my late MIL who never made more than $4000/year and considered herself "middle class" and getting screwed by taxes.)

The US hasn't been "the best of the best" for a long time.  There is PLENTY of data on that.

I'm just saying that while you are enjoying your LIBERAL-SIPPORTED COBRA program and LIBERAL-SUPPORTED Unemployment Insurance...maybe you should trying to figure out the truth about this stuff instead of just parrting Rush Limbaugh.

PS--Underlying your assumption about doctors and research and techniques is that all of them are motivated by money.  SOME want to find solutions and/or help sick people.  Maybe that's why our doctor friends in Denmark (socialized medicine) don't WANT to come here.