From: Bill Lucy 

In article , bobcomer_removeme{at}mindspring.com says...
> > FOG's suggestion that I, or the "vast majority", pays for this is
> > laughable.
>
> In a socialist health system he'd be right, but I'm curious about what you
> mean here -- everyone that has insurance pays into health insurance.

Only a little over 15% of health care costs are out-of-pocket costs -- what
you and I and those without insurance pay. The rest comes into
approximately 4 groups -- Medicare, Medicaid, private insurers, and what
might roughly be called "other". Medicare and Medicaid are
government programs, and represent about 43% of costs. According to Gary
B's arguments in the past, the largest portion of taxes are paid by a small
percentage of the population. Therefore, only a small group of people pay
for that (they don't have a choice!).

My actual out-of-pocket for the hospital stay (chest pains, BTW) will be
paid by myself and my insurer. That insurer is the State (Illinois is
self-insured), but it wouldn't matter. You could possibly find a way for a
"vast majority" figure to be applied, but I seriously doubt it.

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