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1. 

   greyolddave said, 11 months ago

   We already do that anyway. Haven’t you checked out your premiums lately?
   The only difference would be that those who normally would show up at the emergency room to get saved would have been paying for it, not us.
2. 

   hanmari said, 11 months ago

   Actually, my premiums are lower than others because I’m a teetotaler. The science of actuarial tables works. It’s when some dictator comes out and demands that insurance companies give away services for free that they have to start charging everybody else for services that used to be paid for by only those that used them.
3. 

   pirate227 said, 11 months ago

   How ignorant.
   This is happening in the current system whenever the uninsured show up at the ER.
4. 

   h w said, 11 months ago

   I wonder which category Chuck is in.
5. 

   indieme said, 11 months ago

   @hanmari

   The only service an insurance company provides is to take a large cut out of the health cost while deciding who to cover and who has insufficient coverage. They need to be cut out of the middle. Single payer for all and let’s move into the 21st century.
6. 

   Dypak said, 11 months ago

   Problem is the self righteous people who scream and shout about how other people should live. Sure there extremes. Big, sedentary fatties shoveling food in with both hands, smoking away. And on the other side are the health fanatics who think that it is their duty to push how they want to live on other people. Most of us are firmly in the middle. Health care insurance is set up to take all this into account. And all the while stuffing profits into their pockets.
7. 

   hanmari said, 11 months ago

   Currently, people who are more likely to get sick pay more for their insurance. That just makes sense. If everybody has to pay the same amount and some use more services than others, then fairness is lost. Of course, the definition of fairness has been wrested by the current President to mean that people who are well off need to pay more to cover people who are not. If you apply this new definition to health care costs, then the healthy need to pay extra to cover those who are not. If wealth can be transferred, then it seems that health can be transferred as well.
8. 

   Justice22 said, 11 months ago

   How much does the board of directors and CEO of your insurance company get of your premiums? How about the hospital? Very few are locally owned. Even those are expected to make money.
9. 

   ODon said, 11 months ago

   Asinine ’toon, addresses a sliver of reality ignoring the bulk.
10. 

    DrCanuck said, 11 months ago

    This is how it currently works under private insurance. The only thing that would change if it were government and private is that premiums would be cheaper as the government wouldn’t be required to make profits to pay off its investors.
11. 

    hanmari said, 11 months ago

    @DrCanuck

    You’re right, the government would not be required to create a profit. That’s the problem. The government will instead take huge losses year after year and keep getting bailed out by the taxpayer. You’ll keep flushing money down a bureaucratic crapper while the quality of services you receive drops lower and lower. It’s the government way of doing things. I’d rather have private companies running a profit motive.
12. 

    Yammo said, 11 months ago

    Could not be closer to the truth. I’m in healthcare and I see this all the time. It’s ridiculous. It’s time these people paid for their own care.
13. 

    dtroutma said, 11 months ago

    “Single payer” would be based on actuarial tables. PRIVATE INSURANCE COMPANIES base their premiums on actuarial tables, plus OUTRAGEOUS PROFITS, plus testing and mandates THEY dictate to raise further, THEIR PROFITS! Then they add in copays, and well accept formularies to use only their pharmaceutical company “partners”, so they AGAIN increase THEIR PROFITS, just like the REPUBLICANS did with Medicare part D.
14. 

    mahoneygardens said, 11 months ago

    @hanmari

    Not true…. for my 56th birthday I got a 20% premium increase. It had absolutely nothing to do with my excellent health, lack of bad habits, etc….
    Why isn’t health insurance more like car insurance? If I take care of myself, I should get a better rate. If I don’t go for regular checkups, pour poisons into my body, etc,. then I should not get any discounts….
15. 

    DrCanuck said, 11 months ago

    @hanmari

    So your point is that you would only be happy with a government plan if they raised their premiums enough to make a profit off you?

    
    What a weird opinion.
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