Obama may bump Lost premiere
Giving me yet another reason to dislike this guy no matter how much I try to like him, Obama’s considering moving the State of the Union Address from American Idol’s start date to Lost’s (‘cuz he wants to have his crappy health care plan no one here wants to be finished so he can brag it up). Read about the Twitter campaign here – Or call the White House Comment line at 202-456-1111 ; )
Depending on his clothing chose, we’ll know who is behind this plot to postpone the Lostie’s destination.
I think the point is to give all Americans access to decent health-care. This bill should lead to a vast improvement in healthcare services for the under-privaleged.
Trouble is it keeps getting watered down – same thing happened when Clinton tried during his reign.
There’s a lot of support for the ideal but maybe the actual methods need to be re-examined. What do you think?
Oh and of course I love the fact that the rest of the world has to wait until Lost gets screened in the US.
So Obama’s power is even bigger than we thought – he can control when we get to see Lost.
Unhappily waiting in the UK.
CoolBreeze – Since I put this in ‘general discussion’ I’ll answer your health care question – others please ignore.
I don’t know what they’re feeding you in the UK, but all Americans HAVE access to decent health care, and 83% of Americans rate the quality of their health care as ‘excellent’.
Towards the end I’ll explain how the bill doesn’t do what it claims and is just a give-away to the drug and insurance companies, and lawyers but first and formost …
1) As an American I am against the government mandating I do something. I am responsible for myself, thank you very much. I don’t believe in robbing Peter to pay Paul, but that CHARITY is FREE-WILL. Furthermore, as founding father Thomas Jefferson said, “‘A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.’ There is NOTHING the government here makes you do just for being alive, and it makes the blood of 10,000 (Irish) ancestors boil just thinking about it!
2) The federal government does not have the constitutional authority to do this, as reaffirmed in 2006 wrt Oregon’s assisted suicide law. The Supreme Court established in a 6-3 decision: “Congress did not have this far-reaching intent to alter the federal-state balance,” that the federal government did no have authority to “unilateral attempt to regulate general medical practices historically entrusted to state lawmakers” and the Supreme Court’s decision was “to limit federal power to regulate medical practice.”
3) You don’t need a 2000+ page bill. Mandating insurance would leave 6mil still uncovered, the same number the other 2000+ pages do.
4) We don’t have a health care problem in US (and we certainly don’t have thousands of women giving birth in hospital hallways, like in UK). Of the 48mil est. ‘uninsured’, the majority of them make enough money to pay for insurance if they chose (over US$50,000). Of the rest, most are already eligible for coverage but for their own reasons refuse it – leaving those same 6mil uninsured. [BTW: Of those who can afford it, most native born Americans acquire it, but 25% of non-natives don’t; perhaps because they culturally/historically don’t see it significant.]
5) The bill LIMITS health care. A quick look at Medicare cuts and new elderly recommendations make this clear.
Take H1N1. Anyone can get the shot if they have a 2ndary issue – unless they are 65+ [they say it’s ‘cuz they were exposed before, but it hit big in 1976 so anyone over 33 has been exposed]. 65 is the cut-off for mammagrams and PAP tests, too. This year there has been many cuts for homehealth aid to Medicare will pay for (I know ‘cuz they hit my mother.)
6) Give-away to lawyers. Unnecessary lawsuits account for high malpractice insurance that drives up medical costs. The Congressional Budget Office determined simple tort reform would save $54billion dollars and allow tens of millions to be more likely to acquire insurance. No tort reform in this bill.
7) Give-away-to insurance companies. Over 1/2 of all Americans are self-insured, either by themselves or the company for whom they work (the larger the company the more likely self-insured). These bill mandates you go through a Health Insurance Exchange and disallows medical insurance accounts (that give you enough to buy insurance cheap and catastrophic insurance and give you a little extra for retirement).
8) Give-aways to big pharma Part 1. Despite Dems crying about the high cost of pharmaceuticals during Bush not one stepped forward and addressed it in these bills. The hypocracy makes me sick. In fact, Walmart, who they run down, has done more to reduce drug costs in this country than the federal government ever has. [If you’re in US go to MedTipster.com to find cheapest pharmacy in your area for specific drug.]
9) Big Pharma give-away Pt. 2 Obama has pushed drugs all through the process, claiming doctors would rather cut out tonsils (or worse yet, legs) than give drugs so they can make big bucks [apparently, he doesn’t know the difference between a physician and a surgeon ‘cuz it’s not the same guy making the decision here.]
Furthermore he has said ‘doctors get rich running unnecessary tests’ [note: Insurance companies won’t pay for ‘unnecessary’ tests, and doctors here are only extra-cautious run ‘unnecessary’ tests because they will be sued if they don’t. See point 6.]
10) The bills tax medical equipment. How’s that going to improve care while driving the costs down?
11) We don’t need it, and can’t afford it. The vast majority of Americans are happy with their health insurance. People who’ve argued w/me have stopped once I show them how affordable it is. (Anyone who thinks ‘free’ is ‘free’ hasn’t looked at the bills, pun intended. We don’t even know what it will require for minimum – but we DO know that what they are pretending to be minimum has been authorized as a big tax on the recipient of it – including dental.) Furthermore, the only reason this bill came in OK by CBO is the expensive parts are being passed as other bills and tossed into the general fund account.
Govt. regulation is what drives up the costs of insurance (ex. MI ins averages $1500/person, but group rates have more regulations and average $4500/person).
What we need:
A) Tort reform
B) Portability (easily achieved by using Commerce clause to ban states from requiring insurance bought within their state and adding encouraging IF someone has insurance their preexisting is covered – in most cases preexisting ARE covered by insurance if not a problem for 6 months-2 yrs. An extra premium for those who stoopidly chose not to have insurance could easily address this and the rest will level out over time.)
C) Making agreements w/big pharma to provide ‘in bulk’ highly used pharmaceuticals.
D) I’d even go for a public option where the government negotiates a ‘group’ rate (without the horrible costly regulations) that allows the average Joe to buy the insurance they have.
Our government does nothing for less money and is incredibly in debt. (We owe over $300,000/person – not taxpayer, but every citizen, even child.) Ex. Medicare. In 1966 it was projected to cost $12billion by 1990; instead it cost $111billion.
Turning again to Jefferson. If the government can MAKE you get health insurance it can MAKE you get health care and MAKE you get treatments with which you disagree while polititions MAKE lots of money from big pharma, insurance, lawyers, etc.
BTW: I’ve read most versions of the bills. If you’re in America and have no insurance, check if you qualify for insurance or check out http://www.esurance.com – a 50yr. old non-smoking woman in MI can get insurance for abt. $113/month (how much do you spend for cell phone, cable, dry cleaning, etc.?)
*NOTE: POLITICAL, NOT LOST-CENTRIC*
CoolBreeze: Oops, forgot this – “The built-in “marriage penalty” in both House and Senate healthcare bills has received scant attention. But for scores of low-income and middle-income couples, it could mean a hike of $2,000 or more in annual insurance premiums the moment they say “I do.” You can read more here http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126281943134818675.html
@waycurious – I appreciate the reply and hope it didn’t take too much of your day to write that.
Obviously in the UK we get a skewed view of things from over there and I believe most of our US news comes via the BBC’s relationship with CBS. It’s great to get an American view of this.
In the UK, the introduction of the NHS (National Health Service) is one of the best things politicians have ever done here.
We don’t have FREE health care – it comes out of our wage packets as an obligatory payment but it’s something I wouldn’t do without. With that we are all supposed to get the same cover but because hospitals in each region are run by their own trust, some procedures or drugs are not available everywhere. This has always been the case because each hospital is in charge of its own budget.
There have been times when I’ve has enough money to either eat or pay some rent and I doubt I’d have paid my medical insurance instead given the choice.
Fund mis-management has led to some problems in hospitals but the reality is that there aren’t vast numbers of people on beds in corridors.
I’ve worked in UK hostpitals and I have many issues about the way they are run and staffed but those issues won’t get solved by legislation only by better management and training – and by getting rid of the lack of professionalism I have seen in some staff.
anyway – I’m way off topic here.
I just hope Lost doesn’t get put back a week because I need some answers.
dont trust waycurious. hes one side of the story. im not saying hes wrong, but he damn sure aint right. the “stuff you are getting fed in the UK” is just opposed to the “stuff he is happily getting fed” here in the US. the bill sucks, yes, but so does the condition of health care in this country. only the rich are happy with it and i wouldnt trust his poll, like i dont trust most polls (and most statistics, because i have taken statistics myself)
For me to visit an Emergency Room with no insurance will cost me over a 1000 dollars just to walk in the door and get a shot or a prescription for drastically inflated antibiotics…I’ve DONE IT…more than once…and that’s 5% of my annual income, so I’m calling BULLSH*T on the notion that what we have is EXCELLENT and count me out of the 83% who are allegedly “satisfied” , what a crock! I have extended family who travel to Asia and routinely smuggle brand name medicines back to the US for a fraction of the cost of the same drugs here and then promptly distribute them to the folks they know need them the most…it’s so “satisfying” that our citizenry is prompted to federal criminal activity in an effort to circumvent big Pharma who provide the same pills in other economies at the price those markets will bear. I’d come live in the UK in two seconds flat if they’d let me, as the only driving force in the U.S. is GREED. Cheers!
Eko: I used Dec. ’08 Gallup Poll numbers. The numbers were the same w/Washington Post/ABC polls in July ’09. Just because you’re in the 16% who find it ‘fair’ or ‘poor’ doesn’t make the numbers ‘bad’ (‘cept 16, of course).
Eko & Jed, give me specifics and I’ll try to lead you to where I guarantee it’ll be cheaper than OUR gvt. involvement.
My complaints are: it’s manditory, it’s unconstitutional, and it costs trillions while doing NOTHING to advance health care/reduce number insured IF they took advantage of what is already there. In otherwords,as I initially defined, the bill is ‘crappy’.
If you want ‘free’ health care, you can always get your STATE to do it. That’s how our system is supposed to work. (Though, you’ll note, though, the states that have it find it too costly and they system going broke.)
Jed – I agree. One mega problem w/these bills is it’s lack of drug cost reduction.
You may like our healthcare, but you may not like their taxes (or choosing between rent/food since you will be forced to pay for insurance, as CoolBreeze affirmed). Gas, for example, is closer to $10/gallon there and France (Canada’s closer to $8). In the end, $1000’s a deal (where do you live and what is the health program there).
From the US Census and Dept. of Labor:
45.6 mil are uninsured, of which
14 mil qualify for Medicaid
27 mil make more than $50,000 annually
—
6 mil not insured (seem familiar?) The vast majority of those are illegal immigrants.
Of those legals not qualified for Medicaid, 70% are uninsured for 4 months or less.
The simple fact is, the uninsured in the US largely young people who can afford insurance but who make the decision to temporarily go without it as they move between jobs.
Hardly an ’emergency’.
When you control costs by not paying for services, you don’t get the service. The recent Medicare cuts have resulted in hospitals not taking Medicare patients (even AZ Mayo’s that Obama cited as a great hospital).
Any old health care bill isn’t better than the status quo, and the rest of us shouldn’t suffer because you’re unhappy with it (and I’d be glad to help you become more happy if you give me specifics why you don’t have insurance and think you don’t qualify for it. Where are you located?
CoolBreeze: BTW: In US we LOVE our politicians – skewered before canabalized.
All I know is I have health care from a fortune 100 company. But I still don’t make enough to want to pay the deductables and co pay so that I can get good preventative care. This bill won’t help me. I wish they’d tax the hell out of us, and give us the option of free health care.
That way waycurious could choose to opt out and get his own health care and pay his taxes like a good republican.
Ban- not a republican, just someone who thinks the bill sucks.
Are you saying I can opt out of the ‘free’ health care but still be ‘tax(ed) the hell out of’? Gee, thanks.
Now, if you’re saying the government (at all levels) can make deals with whomever they purchase insurance to include anyone who wants it at a cost, I’m all for that.
But, recent changes in Medicare shows us that once the government is in charge, payments are cut and care soon follows.
In conclusions, I have friends I trust with my money, some I trust with my beer, and some I trust with my husband – and while I’m not sure there’s any I trust with all three I know I trust the government with none ; )
The bill should be scrapped and Lost should be able to start on Groundhogs Day.
FIND CHEAPEST PLACE TO FILL PRESCRIPTION
http://www.MedTipster.com
It’s free and only asks your zip and prescription info. Directs you to closest first. Not all drugs here, but most are. Also, many places (like CVS, Kroger) have deals where you get $25 for new prescriptions. Combine w/what you find here and save. (I know several people who are saving over $70/month – including government retirees who found pharmacies who charged less than their co-pay.)
CoolBreeze: I didn’t mean ‘feeding you’ as a dig. I went to Ireland for the summer as a teen and my father told me to read the papers daily. When I returned to the States he had saved the papers here and had me read them. The diversity in perspective was fascinating and the fact is neither yours nor ours is ‘right’ – but the truth lies somewhere between – peppered with where they want to lead us (kinda’ like Lost, ‘eh?)
all polls are made with an agenda in todays media. but i already agreed with you that the bill is terrible. its like the insurance companies wrote it themselves.
but just because the bill is terrible doesnt mean health care in this country is done right (financially at least).
Polls are always crap. They can conveniently be manipulated for anyone’s purpose. But this bill sucks. BanLinus and waycurious….with this plan, you can’t opt-out of the plan. they’re gonna make you pay for it anyway. Obama hasn’t delivered on one promise yet.
Eko: We’re on the same page. I’m all in w/reform (done according to our Constitution). We need portability, pre-existing conditions addressed, lower drug costs, tort reform, etc., and I’m super irritated our representatives are ignoring us and dictating what we must purchase based on closed door meetings.
My only point was to give the heads up that they might pre-empt our long awaited Lost premiere to talk up a crappy bill that, as you said, may well have been written by the insurance/drug companies themselves.
I never intended to get into it other than it was ‘crappy’ (both the bill and the political game of waiting for State of Union until it’s rammed through); just replied to the ‘what do you think’ part – which I wouldn’t have if this was under anything but ‘general discussions’
Keep Well ; )
WayCurious: This started as a reply, but evolved pretty much to a rant. Apologies in advance.
My intent was simply to state that the idea that the VAST (83%) majority of Americans are satisfied is simply too far fetched for ME to believe. I’ll add that the notion that most of the uninsured are making over 50K and simply choosing to forego insurance is also to fantastic for ME to believe…it could be true…I just find it very difficult to believe. If I was making twice what I make now or more…I’d get some insurance without thinking twice. Maybe you’re right, but those stats FEEL like too tall a tale IMHO.
The last time I was insured was through Kaiser, about a year ago, and it was costing me just under $400 a month, as I’m currently self employed. I’ve already noted that my gross annual income is well under 30K a year, so as you can guess…as all things economic torpedoed, I finally gave up my coverage in favor of FOOD. I’m not saying this bill is good…I’ve no doubt that it’s TOTAL CRAP and will leave Americans in even worse straits than we are now…but if you run the numbers above, at my current income…it was either pony up a sixth of my annual income against the chance of some “possible” medical catastrophe, or bend over and take it in the A$$ if I did have to visit the ER, neither option is attractive…which is why I don’t have a problem with the argument that the bill is crap, that it’s unconstitutional or any of that…my issue is with the portrayal that things are “pretty good” right now.
And for the record, I lived in the town of Wokingham, Berkshre, England for a year as a teen, have traveled to Britain at least a dozen times (back in the booming 90’s) and most of the blood in my veins is British (Irish, Scottish and English – sorry Wales…but I love you too.) so I’m very well aware of the differences in the two countries including gas prices and I’m “in process” of leaving this one and opting for the other, but it’s not as easy as I’d prefer. I’ve stopped caring and certainly stopped believing in the U.S. government a long time ago. For my money, there isn’t a more corrupt entity on the planet and certainly our government is responsible for more suffering worldwide than any in recent history…all in the pursuit of riches. As wiser folks than I have stated previously, it’s not money which is evil, but the love of it that drives men to evil…and we live in GREED central.
We all find ways to get by, and I’ve got my CIPRO by way of Cambodia for really bad infections…but I feel bad for those who do not. We’ve reached a point in human history where we have what it takes to do away with MOST of the world’s ills. We can end hunger, offset poverty, diminish disease, solve energy problems…all of it. The world COULD live in peace…but the reason we still are NOT doing that…is again…GREED…some, perhaps a minority, want more than their fair share…and the AVERAGE American tops the charts in wanting what they want, when they want it, regardless of cost to anyone but themselves. Is it any wonder that our government is the way that it is? Those criminals and puppets are just a reflection of ourselves. Of our desire to have it ALL.
In 2006 I was lucky enough to spend a month in Peru and 10 days DEEP in the AMAZON…DEEP. To a man, every scientist we spoke to, at two installations concurred that between 30 and 70 percent of that area of the world is still undocumented. Just after a rainstorm one afternoon, a very large (4-5 ft.) lizard came sauntering through our camp. I’d never seen anything like it. The installation was funded by Cornell University and there were plenty of high rez cameras shooting this guy like crazy as he passed through. Immediately following, the naturalists on hand started going through books and books on reptiles and no one could find anything that resembled it. The “shaman-guide” on staff who was full Quechua and had lived in the area for 50 years…had never seen the animal either. As you’d expect, SAT phones were sending images back to Cornell within minutes.
All that is just another part of this long rant to say that we’re killing ourselves through greed. How many medicines are yet to discovered, but are possibly being eradicated before they can even be found in that area of the world? The Indians of the region claim to have cures for almost any ailment you can name, including cancer. Yet, acre after acre after acre is cut down…so guitars can be made from the wood and cows can graze afterward. Yippee.
The bullshit that’s going on in D.C. is symptomatic of our own American values, which have changed greatly in the last century, and so…we’re about to get f*cked again because that’s what we do to others all the time through our choices and lack thereof.
“Hey Iraq, sorry we blew your country to kingdom come, murdered a million of your brothers and sisters, and destroyed all your cultural artifacts but it wasn’t “hip” to go GREEN at the time and we needed a bit more oil/gas for our SUVs.”
Yea America!
Sorry, I’m just so sick of the rampant consumerism & materialism that I see literally EVERYWHERE around me. RANT OVER. Cheers.
I’M NOT JOINING IN THE POLITICAL DISCUSSION… I just figured that you may want to know that Obama said he will not be interfering with the LOST premier. At least that’s what FOX news is reporting according to my boss.
JEDIFIFFEN: Walmart has Ciprofloxacin 250mg or 500mg for $4/month (qty 14/20) or $10/3 months (qty 42/60), respectively.
I wish you had told me in which state you live and age. Perhaps I can find you a better deal for insurance.
Let’s see what the healthcare bills do for you. You are self-employed, so REQUIRED to acquire a qualified insurance plan OR pay $750 and get no insurance. Your income puts you at 3x the poverty level; 4x is the subsidy cut-off so you’re OK for awhile (unless you belong to a small biz that offers insurance you can buy – no subsidy for that or even cheaper.) You’ll be REQUIRED to pay $250/month for insurance that is pretty bare bones (the ‘deluxe’ plan that gets taxed is what everyone thinks they’ll get, but not really). AND, you’ll have 30% co-pay. Kaiser has a pretty good run down. http://www.kff.org/healthreform/upload/housebill_final.pdf
I also ask you reread CoolBreeze’s 3rd post, PP4 as no one believes me even when I source the Census and Labor Bureau.
The numbers are probably high in individual’s satisfaction because we don’t live in a country where 15,000 die in 2 wks ‘cuz it’s hot – like France, where the hospitals didn’t even have air conditioning.
BTW: I agree w/greed (for money and power) being a problem, but contend it is part of human nature (Helen’s face wasn’t all that great to launch 1000 ships). THAT is why there will not be world peace (they corrupt … destroy).
—————————————–
THANK YOU LILBOYBLUE42! Wanted THAT for the update : )
The bill sucks. They should scrap it but they won’t. If America wanted real reform we would vote in someone like Ralph Nader but he isn’t even running an uphill battle it’s more like a vertical incline that slants outward. I am self employed, also. I can’t even begin to think of buying health insurance. I’ve had this discussion on Facebook with some people one of whom sells insurance for a living. It’s always “Oh yeah come and see me we’ll find you affordable insurance.” They don’t understand that in order to buy health insurance I would have stop eating or quit paying my car insurance. The people below me in income get medicaid or medicare (don’t really know what the difference is between them) people above me seem to afford it somehow even if it’s crap insurance. I work hard, pay my taxes and still get screwed. I’m all for socialised medicine now. It should have been that way from the beginning. I don’t think it will ever happen because insurance companies and
pharmaceuticals have way more power in Washington than indivduals. I hope I’m wrong but I’m way to cynical to believe the change will happen without a civil war. So, since I’m in the construction trades it’s much more likely I will get hurt eventually. Then the rest of the tax payers can support me and I won’t even feel guilty about it.
Glad Obama isn’t bumping LOST.
In what state do you live? For most ‘uninsured’ there IS an affordable government program and I’d like to help you find it. (Workman’s comp would cover you if hurt on the job ; )
BTW: Under ‘socialized’ medicine you don’t have the CHOICE between health/car insurance, food/housing – health is taken from your check (like taxes) and you’ll have to pick from the rest … plus taxes are higher on day to day things. Gas in England/France is abt. $10/gallon; Canada it’s abt. %8 (so you may want to dump that car, she says jokingly). As always, M.Moore presented it completely different than is true – he IS a great editor, though. France (where 15,000 died in 2 weeks ‘cuz it was hot since hospitals didn’t have air conditioning), everyone must pay a compulsory health insurance and the government pays about 70% of costs – so you still have a 30% co-pay. It’s not FREE.
Waycurious I am from the same state as you. If you have some website I could go check different programs I would be appreciate it. A couple years ago I had some medical issues and I was denied any form of aid. So I’m a little bitter about it.
I’ve looked at Mich.gov website and find it very confusing.
Hey I’d like to bring some Quebec perspective here. You guys have discussed the fact that the poll was/was not pertinent but a major point that was not discussed was the very question. I think it’s just not a good poll to evaluate the quality of medical treatment, you can’t ask people subjectively whether they like it or not; if we would rely on such polls to evaluate how people are happy in their lives we would end up seeing a lot of 3rd world countries are better than the United States. Do you want to adopt all the politics of the 3rd world countries in the United States just because a poll says they are happier ? The fact that a high percentage of americans are happy with their healthcare doesn’t mean anything, a lot of them probably don’t know better and have let the insurance companies convince them that there was nothing better than what they know. Now let me correct some others facts that waycurious has wrong. In a socialised medecine model, yes it happens that the cares are completely free. It all depends on the level of taxation. For example here in Quebec, a lot of people do not make enough money to reach a revenue high enough to be taxed, so they do not pay taxes on their income because it is too small (usually under 15,000 to 20,000 $ / year, depending on your situation). Instead of taxing these people, we increase the tax rates for people who make a lot of money and who can afford paying taxes anyways. So for a lot of people (about 30% of population), healthcare is truly free.
When I traveled to the United States, I was shocked by lots of stories in the medias concerning people who had used their insurance too much and ended up being unable to get coverage because they had a disease when they were young which cost the insurance companies more than 1 million dollar, so at this point it appears that the coverage just stops. The worst thing is this was not a recurring condition, in the example I provide it was simply a h1n1 flu which had turned worst for a kid and he needed medical attention over 1 month but after that he was totally O.K. and not more at risk than any other children to get diseases.
I think healthcare is so basic you cannot put the responsability on the individuals to take care for those high costs; the best way to do it is to get together and offer the services to everyone. Why would a child in a poor family or an adult that is poor couldn’t receive the best care we can provide ? To me it doesn’t even make sense to have to debate on that.
When you look at what the US system has lead to, you realize that there is also a reduction of costs in the public system. I mean forget about where the money comes froms whether it’s from the patient or the state or the taxes: the US healthcare costs about 25% more per capita than any other country where there is a public system.
Having all that said, do I think that Obama’s reform will change the US ? No. He’s so busy wanting people like waycurious to be happy that he’s restrained in what he can do. So he implements a ‘kinda’ public system where people have the choice, and the service is not free you have to pay for it. Basically, he just offers an alternatie to the private system. This is a step in the right direction, but it might just have no effects, because for an efficient public system, you need to put all the ressources together and make a true, fair, public system without having to share the ressources with a private system. So the private system will continue to increase the costs, and in the end all the public system will be able to do is to offer a similar offer because the doctors, staff, and pharmaceutical companies won’t suddenly want to work for less just because you’re a public patient.
A true reform would be to render illegal all private insurance, to have a true public system with public hospital, free public coverage, public ambulances, and public staff. That’s the way to do it. The Obama reform, won’t do much.
Actually this won’t happen on February 2nd, meaning Lost fans will still get their Lost premiere on that date. 🙂
Roland: Lucky you. Michigan is good at #11 for having people insured. (Avg. cost Ind. Single Market $1878/Ind. Market Family $4118; GROUP Market Single $3780/Group Market Family $9,912 … ‘cuz there are so many more regulations on group.)
For some reason the Detroit area sucks and I suggest anyone in that area gets ahold of their Rep ASAP and find out why Oakland/Macomb, etc. don’t have the same options as Lansing and the state’s West Coast. (check out http://www.communityhealthplans.org/IHP/default.asp to see if they’re in your area.)
And, yes, the state’s website sucks, too. I’ve navigated this several times and each time it’s like starting from scratch.
This should help, though.
Main page (may find some links more helpful than others) http://www.michigan.gov/mdch/0,1607,7-132-2943_52115_52116-203743–,00.html
The 1st link is easy to navigate (though a bit wacky) – just need zip … then need state/county
You pretty much have to make under the poverty level for the Adult Waiver and Medicaid is hard w/o kids http://www.themoneyalert.com/medicaideligibility.html (Got kids? Remember MiChild )
Poke around to see if you qualify for something else.
Michigan offers a Precription Card http://www.mihealth.org/mirx/index.html. Get it, the RiteAide one and check http://www.MedTipster.com before using either ‘cuz it has lots of stuff cheaper than the MI card.
Finally, (and I’m sure there are others) http://www.esurance.com offers pretty cheap (but high deductable) insurance. I know people w/family 6 who got that + catistrophic for $200/month!
CALL YOUR STATE REP and see what they can hook up for you – it’s their job (county commissioner may help, too).
Hope this helps (if not, I’ll just dig some more : )
Thanks. I’ll check it out.
i wonder what the cost of healing on the island is? my soul perhaps?
Ouch. My sides hurt Eko. That was FUN-NY!