All I have to say is that the US systrem does not work. Foreign health systems that I have had free and lifesaving use of, Australia and the UK, carry the day. The American debate over health care, if it can be called a debate, is misinformed, malign and stupid.

Democrats need to repeat this over and over:

Republicans believe human life is sacred unless it interferes with corporate profits.

We need to say over and over, "Yes, 'death panels' are real - and they are the health insurance companies!" Make Kimberly Young the Neda of the USA.

Obama has said (paraphrase) "Single payer would be the best way to go if we were starting from scratch." Dude -- WE NEED TO START FROM SCRATCH. If you want to put a 2-year transition in there to allow all of the insurance industry workers to find work, fine. (btw, how exactly are they helping deliver health care?)

Slightly off-thread - is H1N1 a flu strain that hits young adults harder?

Could be a long winter with more horrible examples that, no, the US doesn't have the best health care in the world.

Republican's don't care about the average person, they care about themselves.

To them, life is not precious, it's just a statistic.

Really sad story. My thoughts and prayers are with Kimberly's family and friends.

Here's another story: My son & daughter-in-law have health insurance because their university requires it and no, their workplaces don't offer it for p/t people. The student health plan the univ. offers used to be affordable, but not anymore, so my son sought out a less costly plan, though it had to meet certain minimum requirements per the university. Good thing they had it, too, since my d-i-l had to have emergency eye surgery earlier this year (to correct a problem which would have made her blind in one eye within a week). The procedures were billed at $16K, of which they have to pay $4K out of pocket. Pretty tough for two kids in school full time and working half time, but they are on a payment plan.

And here's the kicker. John Aravosis of Americablog is in France visiting and had to have the same emergency eye surgery. It cost $3K (19% of US cost) and no, he didn't have to wait for the procedure.

Republican's don't care about the average person, they care about themselves.

Ok. The game must be to make the most stupid generalization offending an entire group of people. OK. My entry is..

Democrats are all idiots who don't understand sound business principles.

That's as least as ignorant and stupid statement as the above comment by Dean. Way to elevate the tenor of the discussion Dean.

How long before the RW noise machine starts assailing this victim's character?

I fail to see the point , republicans appear to the point of no distinction to overlook any serious discussion with numb shouting points . Conflating that with respect for the general principles of respect , which invariably come into conflict "sound" or utopian business principles seems , disingenuous .

Please... Just how many people die daily while Republicans delay being part of the process and instead - oppose the process.

The sickest part is that everyone knows a solution has to be found for social and economic reasons and it is in both parties best interest to find a common solution.

There's a different angle, too, which I admit will sound a little callous but which I think is still true: People refusing to seek medical care, in the age of pandemic, are endangering -everyone-. This woman's loss of life is tragic and heartbreaking. In addition, she potentially exposed many others to a dangerous disease.

It's another reason why we need universal health care (and one that might appeal more to rightwing selfishness): The untreated aren't the only ones who suffer.

This tragedy should remind us that while it is true that uninsured youths are taking the smallest risks of any age group, they are still taking a risk they should not be taking. To go uninsured is a poor choice for anyone, and public policy should be structured so that they can't make that poor choice.
It is a little like laws that require you to wear a seat belt. If you don't wear one today, the odds are very good that you won't be in a serious wreck, so you didn't need to wear one. However, if your car does get hit head-on, the cost of not wearing a seat belt is grevious.
Across society, the social costs of not wearing a seat belt are so great that government forces you to wear one. Similarly, the government should force you to have insurance so that you can be shielded from a calamitous downside risk.

This is just a shameless attempt to distract us from the ACORN story...

But seriously I do hope this one breaks through and we can put a human face on the real tragedies going on while the GOP plays games about health care.

John Hansen said:
Democrats are all idiots who don't understand sound business principles.

Not quite correct. Liberals just don't think our country should be run according to "sound business principles".

As a liberal who owns his own business, I agree with Milton Friedman's statement that the purpose of a business is to increase its profits.

However, the obvious corollary to that statement is that if you expect a business to do anything else -- like produce a product that doesn't kill people, produce a product in a way that doesn't harm its workers or the environment, or in the case of this discussion, provide a service that customers have already paid for even if it costs the business money -- then the business must be legally required to do so.

And then of course, there is the hypocrisy of the self-proclaimed "Party of Life", fighting tooth and nail to preserve policies that will cause people to die unnecessarily . . . .

I'd also like to know what Kimberly's bills amount to for Urgent Care and other procedures; and who is responsible for paying them? Are her parents in a position to pay the debt? Perhaps J. boner could be brought to court for negligence. At least, someone could file a nuisance suit agains him. Seems the birthers got pretty far in their litigation before being called out.

Let's use the courts for something besides protecting corporations from liability and responsibility for their actions.

In every modern democracy on the planet, those who get sick don't have to put off treatment because they lack coverage. It's time the United States join them.

Given many well known facts ( eg: the "bipartisanship" fetish, the role that money plays in politics, the need to tailor policies to that which will "get through Washington," the role of the corporate media, the War on Drugs, the military-industrial complex, the bailout bust, and so many other such well known items):

Why do you suggest that the United States qualifies as a "modern democracy"?

The problem Dean is you are so convinced of the correctness of your own position that you neglect the input of others. You define Republicans taking part in the process as Republicans choosing to agree with you.

I don't really know how to solve all problems, and I don't know all the answers. Certainly for every anecdote which Democrats tell about the horrors of private insurance ( which for some reason, this poor woman declined to carry ,even though from the fact she graduated from a prestigious university, she probably could certainly afford it ), another story could be told about the horrors of government health care.

There are no simple solutions. Asking someone (Republicans) to contribute to the debate only if they agree with you, is not asking them to participate. Its asking them to be your lap dogs because you are just so smart and easily can see what should be done. I apologize for the snark, but you sound like a closed-minded individual with an immature overestimation of your own wisdom. Please grow up.

Ontology is hard work ...
In accordance with general principles of the philosophical study of the nature of being , existence or reality in general , John Hanson is recognised as novice first class .

For the Win ,
Champion
All around novice first class , and mumble dissemble ideologue devotee
............................................... John Hanson ..........................................
My hat , and hearing aid , are off to you , oh mighty one .

May you find a curiously refreshing hobby where the talents you have cultivated to the extinction of your ability to see either forest or trees , not hit your other wise blinkered focus instrument (good luck) .

Steve T.

Please try reading a comment before commenting on it. I said.

"Democrats are all idiots who don't understand sound business principles.

That's as least as ignorant and stupid statement as the above comment by Dean."

In other words, I was saying that the above statement would be a stupid and ignorant thing to say.

When I give a statement as an example of something that is stupid and ignorant, its not a statement I believe. So why argue with it???? I was merely commenting on Dean's comment. A nice apology would be accepted.

@John Hansen:
Your projection is so loud, I cannot hear what you are saying:
"...but you sound like a closed-minded individual with an immature overestimation of your own wisdom. Please grow up."
You "assume" that because Kimberly graduated from a "prestigious university", she has money and can afford good, private insurance. First of all, good and private do not equate. There are lots of private insurance programs that are not good. The horrors of government health care? Are you kidding? Compared to private insurance, "our" government health care is both affordable and good. I qualify for VA coverage and am getting excellent, affordable care.

I'm sure you will attack me, either here or in your mind. Go for it. You are a wonderful representative of what the trouble with our system is.

Peace,
st john

There's no polite way to say this ...

Whoever actively opposes a public option is complicit in murder. Oh, hell, John Boehner IS a murderer!

People refusing to seek medical care, in the age of pandemic, are endangering -everyone-. This woman's loss of life is tragic and heartbreaking. In addition, she potentially exposed many others to a dangerous disease.

Okay that makes no sense. A visit to the doctor would not have cured her of the infection, or otherwise have quarantined her on account of her infection. In any case, the pandemic nature of H1N1 means that isolating infected individuals from the general population is pointless.

FYI--

The right (e.g., my Dad) is sending around an e-mail that asserts that health insurance premiums that would be paid as a result of mandates on those who are currently uninsured are a tax on the uninsured.

In other words, according to this viral e-mail, mandates previously supported by the right (and first instituted by Republican Governor Mitt Romney), are now taxes on the poor that we should oppose.

As Steve sometimes puts it, the irony is rich.

John Hanson,
Ditto on what st john said.

BTW - John Hanson, what do you think good, quality insurance costs per month?
Let me tell you what it is for Blue Cross/Blue Shield in here in NY State per month for an INDIVIDUAL - over $800 per month. I'll gladly get their good, quality insurance (with co-pays, etc.) if you give me the money monthly. You see, I've been unemployed for 10 months - with no unemployment insurance. I'm willing to work, however, I have a disability which prevents me from standing for any long period of time. Not laziness. But damage from prior athletic injuries. And almost any job where I live is in retail, which requires standing. I tried to work a K Mart for a week, but the pain was indiscribable.
I'm hoping that I can get this telemarketing job I've applied for. It pays $10 an hour. Yes, after 3 months, you can get health care through them, and I will - if I can afford it on $10 and hour.

If there were rainbows, Republicans would be looking to steal the pot of gold while they insult you for even mentioning that one might exist.

There is a solution to this problem and it wont be solved by building a wall and lobbing distortions over a wall.

The problem is simple, Americans are dying and Republicans are not embracing that they must rise to the occasion to find a solution. Instead, my friend, they turn their backs and are not honest peers at the table. American needs action, not indirection and you sir, are an example of the problem.

If life was indeed precious, you would hear Republican's sounding the alarm "We must find a solution, people are dying" and instead they turn their backs and shun anyone for not holding the line.

"...may have been fatal whether she had insurance or not."
Steve, quit making Boehner's case for him, damn it. The correct response is "Senator Death Boehner, why shouldn't you be held responsible for this young woman's death?" Let HIM make the case that she probably would have died anyway. I'm sure that will resonate with the proper tone it so richly deserves.

How dare you put a face on the thousands and thousands of American citizens who suffer and die because our health care is controlled by corporations only interested in grinding humans up into profits -- and their paid off lackeys in government.

How dare you! And to use John Boehner's district for your sleazy antics. We're gonna get the teabaggers after you dirty commie fascist islamic terrorist conspirators. We want our country back...ad nauseum...

neill, neill, neill: cut the boner some slack. he is well meaning(mean) and just wants us to spend our money responsibly: for wars and killing and his secure mansion on the hill. if some girl dies because she is irresponsible and doesn't take care of her personal needs, of what concern is it of mine? I don't live in Ohio, so I'm not exposed. since her parents have not come out with a statement and her friend's mother didn't reveal her last name, they are probably hiding some dark secret: maybe they are muslims. is young a muslim name? could be; maybe they changed it to hide their ethnicity.

and, before you attack me as a conservative who hates my country///snark///

peace,
st john

john john john... the love disciple -- how could i not git yer snark from the git-go?

on the other hand that hansen boy named fer ya -- what a piece of work!

reminds me of the evil jesuits! (not to be confused with the occasional good 'un)

shalom, dear john, (i have always loved yer contrast to the synoptics)
bon weekend!

@John Hansen

Republican's don't care about the average person, they care about themselves.

You may not like the statement, but it is reflected in the actual statements of several elected republicans.

John Grassley told a constituent to go get a government job.

John Kyl thinks that because he doesn't need maternity care, nobody needs it.

Eric Cantor and several others, including Boner, have told their constituents to sell all they have until they're poor enought to qualify for medicare, or to go beg from neighbors and charities.

John Hansen wrote, "...some reason, this poor woman declined to carry, even though from the fact she graduated from a prestigious university, she probably could certainly afford..."

Mr. Hansen entirely skipped over the part of Steve's post that said According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 30 percent of 19-24 year olds are uninsured, more than any other group. Despite the conservative argument that young people are voluntarily refusing health coverage in favor of extra spending money, the reality is that high costs on the individual market put coverage out of reach." The article also said that Miss Young worked jobs that didn't provide health insurance.

Like many so-called conservatives, Mr. Hansen makes assertions which are unsupported by the facts (even when the facts are right there in front of them).

While I'm here, I want to address something Hansen said in another post. He was generalizing to make a point, but the sentiment that, generally speaking, liberals don't understand sound business principles is real.

If in Mr. Hansen's case, this sentiment arises out of the attitude that "the business of government is business", he's sadly mistaken. The business of government or, more specifically, government representatives is to represent all of their constituents--not just the ones that own and/or operate businesses.

Sometimes what is best for we the people is not consistent with what's best for business. When such a conflict arises, the right (generally speaking) chooses what's best for business to the detriment of the people, while the left chooses what's best for the people.

This doesn't mean that liberals don't understand sound business principles. It's that when it comes to our government looking out for business, sometimes (not always) we don't give a shit.

That said, I want to add, that the right aren't the capitalists/free-marketeers that they claim to be. To the contrary, a) they're against competition when they don't enforce anti-trust laws b) they're against transparency when they, for example, sought to eliminate mark-to-market, oppose Sarbanes-Oxley, and oppose many other such regulations that increase transparency for the benefit of investors and fair competition c) they're against free markets when they oppose placing the burden of pollution clean up costs on the companies that cause the pollution instead of placing the burden on taxpayers d) they oppose free markets and fair competition when they seek to subsidize big business such as private health insurers through Medicare Advantage, the nuclear power industry, big agriculture, big oil through reduced or uncollected royalties, and many others. These examples are just a drop in the bucket of how Republicans prop up big business at the expense of the free market and fair competition.

No, come to think of it. Republicans aren't capitalists or free marketeers at all. They're plutocrats. There's a big difference.

John Hansen said:
Steve T.
Please try reading a comment before commenting on it. . .
When I give a statement as an example of something that is stupid and ignorant, its not a statement I believe. So why argue with it???? I was merely commenting on Dean's comment. A nice apology would be accepted.

I recognized that you were being hyperbolic. And I used your hyperbole as an excuse to repeat what I would love to see become a plank in the platform of the Democratic Party -- that businesses will do whatever it takes to increase their profits unless government regulations prohibit them from doing so.

But someone who did not read all the comments could have read mine and assumed that you subscribed to your hyperbolic example. For that I apologize.

However, Dean's statement -- Republican's don't care about the average person, they care about themselves. -- seems pretty accurate to me.

Republicans, well, conservatives anyway, have opposed any government effort to help working people get health care since the time of Teddy Roosevelt. In todays debate, only one Republican in Congress, Olympia Snowe, has shown any genuine interest in changing the health insurance industry. The rest are doing and saying anything they can to preserve the status quo.

Remember, the stimulus package passed with no Republican votes in the House and only three in the Senate. The 2010 budget passed with no Republican votes, period.

In don't know what the Republicans' motives are. They could be dogmatically clinging to their faith in Reaganomics. They could be doggedly protecting the interests of their corporate donors. Some of their rhetoric in the debate over the auto industry bailout indicates a real disdain for blue collar workers.

But whatever their motives, Republican actions and rhetoric can be used to make a strong case that the Republicans in national elected office care much more about themselves than for the interests of the country or of people that they're supposed to represent.

This post is exactly what this country needs - identifying the human faces behind the daily tragedies that a lack of health care brings, directly connected to the congressmen who oppose the help their constituents need.

My condolences to Ms. Young's family and friends.

John Hansen: "Certainly for every anecdote which Democrats tell about the horrors of private insurance...another story could be told about the horrors of government health care."

The ability to compile anecdotes isn't exactly a scientific approach to defining the problem, but in fact, there aren't nearly as many anecdotes to be told about the horrors of government health care in this country (i.e., Medicare and the V.A.) as there are about private insurance.

Once again, Mr. Hansen is making assertions based on speculation that ignores facts.

Once again, Mr. Hansen is making assertions based on speculation that ignores facts.

You can call it 'making assertions', but it would be just as accurate to call it 'giving testimony', and it's an important part of many religions.

You're trying to refute a revealed theology, people. The old ones, they understood that cannot be done -- hence the stake, and the kindling, and the late-medieval version of kitchen matches.

Call all the Republican obstructionists' offices and give them hell in no uncertain terms. That's exactly what I've been doing lately, and they can hardly deny you the right since they've been actively encouraging 'rebellion.' I immediately remind them that the Tea Baggers have had their 15 minutes so it's time for them to hear the what the majority has to say. CALL THEM ASAP! They need to hear *our* unvarnished outrage, and it's kind of cathartic. At least temporarily.

I don't see how having insurance would have helped. She would have had individual insurance, and those policies never pay for anything anyway. I'd like to some some legislation to force insurance companies to at least call their individual policies what they are: Insurance Fraud. If you have individual insurance, give it up. They'll give you up as soon as you get sick, so you should give them up now. Those plans don't fall under any regulation and the insurance company has no obligation to pay. And it's far cheaper for them to not pay than pay. It's just plain fraud. They offer no coverage at all, they just take your money. At least having no insurance doesn't cost anything. Individual insurance is no insurance, except they charge you a premium to get it. It's nothing but legalized fraud.

Boner and the entire republican congressional delegation is a death panel that killed this poor woman with their unconscionable obstruction. Everyone of them, with the possible exception of Olympia Snowe, which still remains to be seen, is going to hell.

"There are no simple solutions."

I don't remember anyone claiming that health care reform was simple. It's a complicated thing to tackle, which is probably why the Republicans won't even attemtpt to touch it (still waiting on that plan...).

"Asking someone (Republicans) to contribute to the debate only if they agree with you, is not asking them to participate. Its asking them to be your lap dogs because you are just so smart and easily can see what should be done."

Please, have you even been paying attention to what has been going on ? The Republicans have been saying "we want this", and as soon as they get "this" from the Democrats, they fold their arms and declare that they *still* won't vote for reform. It's like with cap-and-trade, which was originally a conservative position. They just keep moving the goal posts and then bitching and moaning like little babies about how they aren't getting their way and how the Democrats are going to turn us all into commies (again, Jimmy Carter and old FDR apparently failed miserably at that task). That's pretty much the intellectual depth that the Republican representatives are bringing to the table right now.

Bottom line: when the Republicans start realizing that the status quo is not an option, and that the "market" isn't going to fix this one, is when they finally can start negotiating in good faith. I'm not holding my breath, though. They adopted an anti-government platform, elected a bunch of anti-intellectual, populist idiots that couldn't run a small village (1994, oh what a feeling !), and then expected them to come up with positive ideas for governance.

"the conservative argument that young people are voluntarily refusing health coverage in favor of extra spending money"

Essentially the argument is that they don't want the coverage - they want money. Funny that the fact that they have to *choose* between having good health or being able to buy lunch is lost on these folks. I spent 7 of the 10 years of my twenties without health insurance because I worked for low wages for companies that did not offer coverage. And since I felt invincible at that age, I can certainly see how I would have been hesitant to hand over my rent money for health insurance I didn't "need" at the time.

And that is why we *need* a government option in healthcare - for all the poor, young and old, who cannot afford to give up as much as others for insurance. Thank you, "conservatives", for highlighting this point.

death panels want to kill old people...

gop wants to kill young people...

got it...

John Hansen, you are a stupid and vile person! If you are offended, challange me and we can settle it Jim Bowie style!

Someone upthread doubted having health insurance would have made a difference since what Ms Young had was viral. Let me tell you a story.

Once I had food poisoning. I called my doctor, left a message. She called me back, listened to my story, told me I'd probably feel better in x amount of time, but if y or z happened, call her back. She was right, I felt better in about the time she had predicted.

Several months later, by coincidence, my husband also had food poisoning. He had a different set of symptoms, and when we checked with his doctor, the answer was, Go to the Emergency Room. Now. It turned out that what he had required strong antibiotics. The next day the doctor called back to check up on things.

What health insurance buys you in part is an ongoing relationship with a doctor who can give you timely advice. No one can know whether Ms Young would have died no matter what, but maybe if she'd had her own doctor she would have received supportive care (for example, intravenous fluids to combat dehydration) early enough to make the difference. I can imagine the doctor she didn't get to have saying, Kimi, with your asthma, and with this virus posing the most risk to people your age, I want you to...

I suppose I'll nitpick a bit, since the thread has already moved in this direction:

Republican's [sic] don't care about the average person, they care about themselves.

...is a bit of an overstatement. Republicans are certainly capable of caring for others, although IME in a highly prioritized way that uses personal identification and cost assessment to gauge others' societal value. What they don't care for are those who prefer not to conform to the variety of positive images and narratives on which conservatives rely to understand the larger world (which itself is only of marginal concern to many); by not conforming to positive models, individuals by definition embrace negative ones and therefore should risk fairly heavy punishment. There's some magical thinking involved, of course, that broadly assumes that some risk is admirable (there's the hero/visionary narrative), but any failure generally confirms that the risk was in fact a bad one and should be only mitigated in recognition of other, more conformist qualities.

It's like a mash-up of tribalism, Calvinism, myth-reliance, high (IMNSHO, excessive) self-regard, and a distaste for involvement.

The US spent over $7,200/person on health care according to OECD data for 2007. The WaPo can't seem to find that data to explain to its readers that France, a country deemed to have the best health care among, well, countries, spent $3,600/person. Japan spent about $2,300/person.

Where does all that money go? It can't be waste, or because of lawsuits or any number of other contributing factors, at least not any one of them. In short, that disparity in spending in simple: looting.
The economy, from pharmaceutical companies not having to negotiate prices under Medicare Part D (thanks to Delay, Frist and Billy Tauzin) to doctors getting fees for each patient plus all they can from tests to the insurance companies overhead and profits, the US economy is being very efficiently looted. People like this young woman are the unintended victims of the industry and the tragedy is repeated everyday in a different way.
Sad, pathetic, tragic. And unnecessary.

John Hansen said

(...for some reason, this poor woman declined to carry [private health insurance],even though from the fact she graduated from a prestigious university, she probably could certainly afford it)

So it was "probably certain" that she could afford it?

This is quite revealing, although I'm not quite sure whether the assumption being made is that people who went to good colleges must be wealthy, or that health insurance isn't that expensive for your average middle class family who sends their kids to college. Either way, you seem to be a little out of touch with the financial situations of average Americans. If by "afford" you mean "had enough assets to cover the costs", you may be correct, but it is by no means a minor expense, and a young, healthy person might prefer to spend the relatively little money they make in their first job out of college on things other than insurance they never use -- maybe repaying student loans, for example. And Miami is a public school, so the family weren't necessarily paying $30,000 a year, even if they didn't have loans or other financial aid.

Also, she was apparently a recent graduate who was working at coffee shops, so she probably could certainly not afford it herself, and would need help from her parents. Just as one shouldn't rely on employment at a particular place for insurance, neither should it depend on family situation. Or perhaps Republicans think young people should be forced to mooch off their relatives until they just give in and imprison themselves in an unfulfilling job, although this would seem to discourage "personal responsibility" even more than having the government provide an affordable option for young people who want to explore options for their future that don't involve working for a company just because of its insurance benefits. And while she got a very good education at Miami, it's doesn't quite have the prestige where having it on your resume will get you whatever well-paying job you want right after graduating. So getting that unfulfilling job isn't a guarantee, even for people who graduated from good colleges.

All of which is the long way of saying that this is exactly what is wrong with the system. Obviously, we should make sure everyone can use the healthcare system regardless of how much money they have. But beyond this, our system is so broken that even middle class indicators like attending a four year college don't necessarily correlate to being able to pay for basic healthcare.

In a free market, would insurance companies be forced to develop the yearly flu shots, or would people just have to go without?

The sad thing about the death of this beautiful young girl is that her rep in congress does not give a darn because he is working for the corporations, not the people who elected him. This does not happen in other countries because the governments work for the people.

What health insurance buys you in part is an ongoing relationship with a doctor who can give you timely advice.

This is a wonderful comment. Thank you for reminding us that health care is about more than treatment when you're sick.

Because I am lucky enough to have health insurance, I can have an ongoing conversation with my doctor about health issues, including stress, blood pressure, nutrition, contraception, regular mammograms, colonoscopy, digestive problems, consulting over odd-looking skin lesions - etc. That is what health care is all about, not just giving you a prescription when you're sick.

The Democrats need to make the argument for healthcare not only in terms of the uninsured. They need to make a pitch to the middle class that the high deductibles on many health insurance policies discourage people with insurance from seeking medical attention. Me and my friends would ditch our private health care plan for big government Medicare in a heartbeat.

Obama has said (paraphrase) "Single payer would be the best way to go if we were starting from scratch." Dude -- WE NEED TO START FROM SCRATCH.

The only thing that Obama and Congress are doing is preserving the status quo, of private insurance as the Black Hand, or Mafia, of medical care. They take a cut and provide nothing to people's health.

she probably could certainly afford it - John Hansen

Bravo John, with a mere six words you elegantly manage to encompass the entire position of Republicans on the need to reform health care: the clueless distance, the cold-blooded lack of empathy and the ability to talk out of both side of one's mouth.

Congratulations!!! [Slow clapping]

"the reality is that high costs on the individual market put coverage out of reach".

I call BS.

22 yo female college student:

Plan type: PPO
Deductible: $6000
Coinsurance: $0
Office Visit: $40
Monthly cost: $58.

That's right, $58/month.

Out of reach? Utter crap. And you guys AGAIN use utter crap to deceive yourselves and the populace into what will become a radical state takeover of a huge industry.

Shame on you for your lying.

"That's right, $58/month."

For what ? She's still got to pay out of pocket until she reaches her deductible of $6000. So, in essence, everyone here is correct - she cannot afford insurance, at least not the kind that actually covers a reasonable amount of care and not just catastrophic or emergency care.

As the idiot Coburn says, we have "help each other".

am, does your insurance quote reflect that Ms Young had a preexisting condition? She had asthma, and if you don't already know, asthma raises the risk of complications from all kinds of the flu and similar respitory illnesses. I'm not an expert on these things but from what I understand, that would have either raised her rate or exempted care for lung illnesses related to her asthma.

Considering she was working, as far as I can tell, what looks like two or three minimum wage jobs, the grand total of her annual out-of pocket expenses ($58x12 + $6,000 + $40 per office visit) would probably have been somewhere in the neighborhood of a quarter to a fifth of her annual pay.

But we'll be generous. We won't call BS on you, just very sloppy work.

OK. It's finally happened. After visiting this site irregularly for something like 5-6 years, I have finally read a post and comment section filled with such asinine horseshit that I don't think I can come here anymore---not even to just stir up trouble. Reading the comments to this post, and the inherent nonsense displayed in the ideology represented, actually frightens me. This reminds me of 7th grade when everyone wore a black armband to "protest the war, man," but there weren't 3 people in a hundred who had ANY comprehension of what they were protesting. God helps us.

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