We can try to get people to buy insurance, but in the end it’s their decision. No one can force anyone to buy insurance.

Look at Fengshui. No insurance for 7 months. It’s a gamble. But how do we force her to buy it? We can’t.

Same with my BIL, can’t force him to buy it. If something happens, my DH and I figure, he’s broke anyway no assets. What’s the big deal? What are they going after? A $500 crap car?

LOL. Instead taxpayers and people who have insurance will pick up the bill in the form of more expensive premiums and higher taxes.

I also believe fengshui like my BIL has a graduate degree, so they aren’t stupid or ignorant. It’s a very conscious decision.

If people can’t make a conscious decision to pay back debt, not walk away from mortgages, we’ll never get them to not walk away from medical bills.

No one seems to get it, that we will ALL PAY unless something changes. The uninsured will continue to use the ER as their primary source of care, or those who run up bills and can’t pay will file for bankruptcy, and the costs will go up for everyone else. People just don’t understand this concept.

Thankfully, I’ll have insurance again as of October 1st. It is through the teachers union, and without a monthly premium, deductibles, or co-pays. (I’m SO lucky to get this benefit. The salary was lower than I had hoped for, but the benefits make up for it!)

Thankfully, the last 7 months that I’ve been without insurance have been uneventful. Not a single illness, injury, or accident I’ve still got 2 months to go before I get insurance. I’m keeping my fingers crossed…..

JoeP, how do you make someone buy insurance? What about all the 20-30 somethings who say I’m healthy what do I need it for? So what if it cost $100/month, if they’d rather be eating out, paying down student loans (like Goliath Debt), etc, and figure I’m relatively healthy let’s take a gamble, what then?

Sounds like you are ASSUMING people will want cheap insurance, when Goliath Debt even said he knew he should get it, but didn’t. He took a gamble. How many more people would also gamble?

Roshawn, how do propose making it seem ridiculous to go without? Not provide care? That seems inhumane. Not allow BK? That’ll never happen either.

Jessica hospital bills are outrageous. But if you are young and healthy, don’t you think many would assume I never get sick, why do I need insurance? Why should I care?

Dog, it’s stupidity of people. And the truth is that gambles like this make people end up in BK.

Well, one of the big reasons is that some people can’t or just don’t pay their bills. Then we all end up paying the bill for them anyhow just like shoplifters drive up prices because stores have to assume that X% of their goods will be stolen. A big reason that I support public health care is that I figure since we’re paying for it anyhow, why don’t we pay for them to have preventative care BEFORE they end up in the ER, either because things are really that critical or because they can’t just go to a regular doctor (which would be cheaper) because they can’t afford that but know that they will not be turned away from the ER. I think it would be cheaper in the long term — and better for our economy and society if we had a healthier population.

Another big problem is the cost of malpractice insurance. It’s driving a lot of good doctors out of business. But when doctors have to see more people to cover their bills, then they are more likely to make mistakes (and we all get worse care even if it’s not something we can sue over). And even when docs do make mistakes, studies show that if their patients feel a connection with them (like if they have time to really talk and both feel heard, and docs can apologize, etc.) that lawsuits are much less likely.

And third, there’s the cost of student loans. Doctors with huge student loans have to make a high income — especially as they are practically unbankruptable. Education is it’s own problem, but there is some overlap in this respect. I’d like to see more programs where doctors spend time helping out low-income people in exchange for college credits and/or scholarships and/or forgiveness of their student loans.

Anyhow… there are plenty of other reasons, too. Drug research is expensive, but drug companies also push people onto their new drugs as the patents are on their old ones expire. On case I know of from a friend is Provigil and Nuvigil. Practically identical drugs, but the company has jacked up the price of the old drug Provigil because the patent is about to expire — jacked it up so high that it’s harder to get even with insurance (you have to have an additional doctor’s note saying you need it for one of only two specific conditions and then maybe they’ll cover it — and most docs can’t be bothered anyhow). Most people will make the switch, but not switch back after they jack up the price of Nuvigil. Most with insurance won’t even notice when the price of Nuvigil goes up because they probably will pay the same copay either way. So why mess with what works? Except that it costs us all in the end.