Hi Mark,


>>>> I'm not against people getting health insurance.  People could always
>>>> get health insurance here.  It is just that people with no income on
>>>> the books never got it and would rather use the ER as the primary
>>>> care.

>>> couple of things here...

>>> 1. how can people with no income get any health insurance?

>> Well, in NYS, if you have no job, no income, etc. etc. you can get
>> Medicaid. That's what it's for..

>nope... i've been turned down more than once when i've been out of work for an
> extended period of time and badly needed medical attention... when i had
> custody of my oldest son, i was qualified but once he left home, my coverage
> was revoked and refused to be reinstated...

That's in your state? ... in NY, if you have no insurance, no job, nada, the
hospital even goes out of it's way to connect you to people who can help. They
did this with my friend I mentioned ... he'd already spent a week in the
hospital and at checkout time, the hospital gave him the info he needed to get
signed up to Medicaid.  No rigamarole.. It was easy.  Seriously.

>> I know of at least one person who has it, and it's the only way he can
>> survive with his medical situation.

> i know of several and almost all of them have some really huge hoops to jump
> through to keep their coverage...

Not so here.  Just a form to fill out and mail back in.

>>> 2. people without income have no way to pay for doctors visits.

>> That person above uses Medicaid here.  Pays the bill...

> medicare and insurance are both scams... how else can they charge such
> exhorbenent rates to insurance companies and then chop them by 90% for
> uninsured individuals who have to try to pay out of their pocket???

I'll agree that insurance companies are some kind of demons from hell - I've
dealt with enough of them in my lifetime.  But NYS gives some protections
perhaps other states don't?  For instance if an insurance co. decides to jack
up the rates 35%.. the NYS Insurance commission might come back with a 3%
increase instead after looking over the situation.. really, this has happened
here.

>>> 3. people without income have no way to pay those emergency health care
>>> clinic if they try to go there.

>> Same as above again.

> maybe we're thinking of different clinics? all the ones around here require a
> minimum of $50US just to get a walk-in appointment...

What a drag Mark.. seriously, it's not like that here.  There's no upfront cost
to enter if you've got medicaid.  It is all paid for.  Done and done.  Any kind
of clinic necessary, any kind of doctor.  My friend had to have MRIs and Cat
Scans to make sure that the cancer he'd had was gone.. those are frigging
expensive tests. They were all paid for by Medicaid here.


>>> 5. for many folks, it is a last resort going to the ER because they
>>> still get billed for the visit.

>> He doesn't get a bill.. it's all taken care of by Medicaid here.

>every time i've been forced to use the ER, i've been billed for it... i have n
>insurance and have never been able to afford any sort of insurance... the last
> time i had anything like that i was in the USAF... since i didn't retire from
>there, i don't have any coverage any more... only once or twice since then hav
> i had a chance to get some sort of coverage but it took over half my paycheck
> and since i/we were already living paycheck-to-paycheck there was no way that
> the money could be spent on a "nice to have" thing like health insurance...

Wow, I can understand that one.  That's horrific.

I'm not sure if you saw my earlier message.. Ron and I both have regular (not
medicaid) insurance and we each pay $200.00 a month for it.  Our copay for
visiting a neurologist (specialist) is $45.00. For our family physician the
copay is like $30.00. Everything else is taken care of by the insurance agency.

>>> 7. i've personally seen a $1000 ambulance charge reduced to $100 due to
>>> no income. that reduction didn't help the person, though, because they
>>> still couldn't pay it.

I can see how that would be a kicker.  Wouldn't happen in NYS for a person on
Medicaid.

>>> sorry that's more than a couple but not as many as i originally started
>>> to write...

>> One's state has so much to do with this crap though, it makes me sick.
>> They should ALL be doing this, not just NYS IMO.

>yeah... i don't know... all i know is that every time i look, all i see is the
>scam... insurance and banking are the two biggest scams around... hell look at
> banking... where else is one allowed to jump to the beginning of the line and
> take penalty funds from an account when there are other debtors already ahead
> of them in line? the removal of those funds to pay that banking penalty can
>then cause the account to not be able to cover the next bill and poof! there's
> another penalty removed from the account which can then lead to the next bill
>back not being covered and around we go until there's no $$$ in the account an
> none of the bills have been paid because the bank jumped to the head of the
>line and took their $$$ first... definitely a scam and always has been... then
> with the interest rates being such shit today? hell, you can make more in
> interest by keeping your $$$ buried in a box in the forest out back...

Yes, that is sick... I'm not sure about this but I think and Ron seems to
remember that about 3 years ago banking laws were changed so that say you had
10 checks out in one day.. the bank would have to pay the lowest total first.
May not help in the long run though 

Take care,
Janis

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