I like this idea

[CobraEd]

Force all of the ass clowns of America to do what is right.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090908/..._care_overhaul

Don't most states fine you if you don't get car insurance???

.

[Excaliber]

Paying the fine would be WAY cheaper than having to get insurance at a high premium because of a pre-existing condition. OR being forced to pay the fine because you CANNOT get insurance at all. It's a good start toward reform though, I like the idea, keep tinkering with it until we get something hammered out "most" of us can agree with.

[DAVID GAGNARD]

Don't most states fine you if you don't get car insurance???

.

ONLY if your caught!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Plenty of ways around it, one is to go buy insurance with any company and pay for it on the spot, say six months worth, no matter the cost, they issue the policy and the proof of insurance card right then and there, then the next day you call them to cancel, you say you found a better deal with another company, they send you your refund in the mail, but you still have the proof of insurance card valid for six months in your car!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

David

[Excaliber]

When I lived in Washington D.C. "rumor had it" that if you were in an accident and did not have insurance it was automatically your fault. The thinking being, you shouldn't have been on the road in the first place. I never found out for sure if this was the city policy because I never took the chance. But it was a critical factor for other students I knew who could barely afford food, let alone insurance.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by DAVID GAGNARD

ONLY if your caught!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Plenty of ways around it, one is to go buy insurance with any company and pay for it on the spot, say six months worth, no matter the cost, they issue the policy and the proof of insurance card right then and there, then the next day you call them to cancel, you say you found a better deal with another company, they send you your refund in the mail, but you still have the proof of insurance card valid for six months in your car!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

David

Not so if your insurance company is mandated by your state to notify them if you lose or cancel your insurance for any reason.

[DAVID GAGNARD]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Not so if your insurance company is mandated by your state to notify them if you lose or cancel your insurance for any reason.

You can still beat the system for a while.
In Louisiana, the insurance company does have to notify the state and they "flag" your drivers license. The state police routinely set-up insurance check points and check every car, they can't "call in" every car to run the drivers license, in fact, they do not "call in" anyone unless they find a violation of some sort. I've been thru 3 insurance check points in the last month alone, it helps,but doesn't get them all......

Also, in Louisiana, we have a "no pay,no play" law. Basically says if you do not have insurance you automatically have a $10,000.00 deductable on your property damage (car) and a $10,000.00 deductable on bodily injury claims, assuming your not at-fault in an accident.... all insurance companies must call your carrier to verify coverage on the date of the accident before then can proceed with any claim.

This does cut down the number of attorney rep claims dramtically, cause no attorney will take a case knowing they have to fork out the first 10 grand of medical expences out of their pocket before hoping to collect something afterwards.........

David

[dblbarrel]

The Govt can force you to buy car ins, since you are driving on public roads.
Health ins I dont think so.

[trularin]

Because you are breathing free air??

[fsstnotch]

In PA if you cancel your insurance, you are required to turn in your plates within X number of days. Supposed to be some kind of penalty but I've never been fined and never turned a plate in. I put my old plates on my garage wall.

Remember, you are only FORCED to buy liability insurance. This protects other motorists should YOU wreck THEIR car. So how do you spin that for health care? You can't.....

[Dan40]

Driving without insurance.
Here the ins, co. notifies the state automatically thru the computer. But that doesn't mean someone is enforcing the law the next day. But I'd guess that it would be simple enough to have the DMV computer generate a letter to the scofflaw, immediately.
As I understand it, one cannot get a DL or a license plate for a vehicle without proof of ins. Caught driving without or in an accident, means loss of DL and the plate is taken off the car, or the car is impounded.

But how to make a comparable system with health insurance? It may come as a shock to all on this board, but people like their cars and want to drive them.

What would match that pressure with health insurance?

[Excaliber]

OK here's the plan. Guv passes a universal Health Plan that ALL must sign up for. When you do you get a very special invisible mark, in your forehead or your hand. The mark can easily be read from outerspace with a satellite, so "we" know who's with the program and who isn't, no hiding in caves to get away (we got bunker busters).

Maybe the mark could be a series of numbers, like 6 or more... That should take care of the "pressure problem" noted above and motivate folks to get signed up.

[tcrist]

Right Ernie. I sure hope that was a joke.

Number everybody like they did the Jews. Why not put a friggen barcode on everybody at birth. Or chip everybody the way they do dogs and cats.

Terry

[Excaliber]

...well if you gonna have a National Plan we need some way to keep track of the Comrades after all.

[Ron61]

Ernie,

I don't agree that the Govt. should be able to make anyone buy health insurance if they chose not to. This was a free country and if I chose to pay my own bills, then that should be my choice, not some hair brained politician looking for ways to get more money. The Govt. has no right to start mandating what people will buy and what they will do to them if they don't. Govt. should stay out of the private business sector as their job is running the country, big joke the past 50 years. What next. Once the Obama, Pelosi machine gets going you will be required to buy whatever type of car they can cobble together with their ownership of GM?

Ron

[Excaliber]

I think the main point here is that EVERYBODY needs to a part of the solution. Young and old. That helps to even out the numbers of people who WILL need care against the younger folks who are not so likely to need as much care. At any rate, with more people paying in it helps to balance the paying out.

Hawaii makes EVERY employer offer health insurance, regardless of age. The private insurance plans here are quite competitive with rates. I think it's working out well for the state and is a reasonable plan for the Nation. It's a good start at reform if nothing else. Sure some business' will cut back, or, they will learn how to survive. Thats why they call it business, kind of like why they call if "fishing" and not "catching". Some catch, some just fish, some survive, some go hungry.

By the way, I didn't hear anything specific about the Guv telling YOU where to buy YOUR insurance. You like what you got, keep it. That 18 year old neighbor guy who doesn't "need" insurance? Heck with that, I'd tell him in a heart beat to get with the program. SOMEBODY has to help cover Ron's tired old butt when he goes to the hospital.

[Ron61]

Ernie,

For the past 18 years I have paid all of my medical bills, including the hospital bills out of my own accounts. I have not nor never will cost any of you hard working tax payers a dime for my medical expenses.

I think health insurance for people is great if they want it and if they don't then the tax payers should not have to pay for their medical treatments. Many who don't have it can't afford it even if he makes it mandatory. There are people here that barely make it now and they wouldn't even be able to pay that $3,800 dollar fine. This area is not as you knew it when we were younger. It is border line poverty now and will most likely get worse as more people leave the state to find work. The schools are crying because enrollment is down so much from people who have left the state looking for work. They have raised the taxes so much and often the last couple of years that some people are now leaving because they can't pay them.

Ron

[fastd]

Ex,

Hawaii cannot afford its health care program (see AP story below); it is cutting services to children, your Micronesians...You think "it's working out well for the state and a reasonable plan for the Nation". It is testament to your shortsightedness to support something like this for the Nation.



From the Associated Press:

Hawaii Ends Universal Child Health Care 7 Months After Start

Saturday , October 18, 2008

HONOLULU — Hawaii is dropping the only state universal child health care program in the country just seven months after it launched.

Gov. Linda Lingle’s administration cited budget shortfalls and other available health care options for eliminating funding for the program. A state official said families were dropping private coverage so their children would be eligible for the subsidized plan.

"People who were already able to afford health care began to stop paying for it so they could get it for free," said Dr. Kenny Fink, the administrator for Med-QUEST at the Department of Human Services. "I don’t believe that was the intent of the program." …

Hawaii lawmakers approved the health plan in 2007 as a way to ensure every child can get basic medical help. The Keiki (child) Care program aimed to cover every child from birth to 18 years old who didn’t already have health insurance..

State health officials argued that most of the children enrolled in the universal child care program previously had private health insurance, indicating that it was helping those who didn’t need it.

The Republican governor signed Keiki Care into law in 2007, but it and many other government services are facing cuts as the state deals with a projected $900 million general fund shortfall by 2011…

Families with children currently enrolled in the universal system are being encouraged to seek more comprehensive Medicaid coverage, which may be available to children in a family of four earning up to $73,000 annually.

These children also could sign up for the HMSA Children’s Plan, which costs about $55 a month

[Excaliber]

Separate issue's.

Employers providing health insurance for employee's is one thing, it's a law, no changes, no impact.

For those making $73,000 a year, DUH, they have to buy their own insurance. HOW they are making $73K and NOT working for an employer who WOULD provide the insurance is a bit of a mystery? Maybe all these folks are self employed? The average income for Hawaii is about $66K a year. $55 a month for a private insurance plan is a bargain!

The Feds have recently stepped up and will provide the insurance to the Micronesians, as they SHOULD have been doing for several decades now!

Who will/might qualify for a Government subsiby or essentially "free" basic care health insurance is tied to income levels in the proposed Federal bill. Those making $73K a year have to buy it, sounds very reasonable to me for the Hawaii plan.

[427sharpe]

The Feds have recently stepped up and will provide the insurance to the Micronesians, as they SHOULD have been doing for several decades now!

And why, pray tell, should the federal government provide healthcare to micronesians?!?!?!

[Excaliber]

Because we blasted the hell out their islands with nuclear tests numerous times! Leaving some of those islands uninhabitable basically forever. "Forced relocation" is the term the Government uses. The cold war wasn't pretty...