And I have to agree with Dave here. I don’t see how you expect your situation would be significantly different under Obamacare. The fact of the matter is health care IS expensive what with drugs, MRIs, ultrasound machines, automated vitals monitoring, etc. AND health insurance to guard against significant outlays due to hospitals stays are ALSO expensive. Please don’t fool yourself into thinking that these costs are going down by any significant amount, they aren’t.

I have a great job and I have “great” insurance. Its still a bitch sometimes, we still pay co-pays for everything, preventative care is inexplicably not covered in many cases, and yet between myself and my employer, the plan costs over $20K per year. Right now you are not paying that. Instead you pay about the same amount to a hospital. I pay by month, you pay in one lump sum. That money still comes from somewhere, and it isn’t a magic fairy.

Frankly I don’t see why you think someone else should be paying or subsidizing your health care. Nobody is subsidizing mine.

Worse would be a two-year wait for a free doctor who doesn’t have an access to an MRI.

No, really, it is objectively better.

I recently had to have a hospital stay, unexpected. The bill ran into tens of thousands.

That’s tragic but the reality is you did get the best care in the world .

You can probably negotiate them down to a much smaller sum, then work out a payment plan that isn’t too painful. Depending on your state, you may be able to get an interest-free plan, which can make long-term payments very small.

And realize you won’t be any better off under this bill. Yes, you’ll have insurance, but it won’t be free. You’ll end up paying more in the long run, one way or another. There is no free lunch. You may end paying with your life when rationing kicks in.

What, private insurers can’t innovate, can’t offer more coverage for more money, etc.?

Private insurers can’t operate at a loss. Gov’t can.

1. De-Link health coverage from employment

2. Medical malpractice reform — shut down the ambulance chasers and the over-testing and defensive medicine it engenders.

3. Open up competition by allowing health insurers to cross state lines.

4. Have people take responsibility for their own health. The 3 biggest killers are heart disease, cancer and stroke. Major components of all 3 are lifestyle.

A buncha other stuff, too, but no need for multi-trillion dollar, big-gov’t reform.

-HB

I recently had to have a hospital stay, unexpected. The bill ran into tens of thousands. When — not if, when — I declare bankruptcy, all of you insured people will be paying that bill for me. I’m hardly alone. Or even if I don’t bankrupt, it doesn’t matter: at my current means, it’d take many years to pay. All for a two day stay.

This stuff matters, it’s real. Everybody pays hidden taxes under the current system, if they have insurance and often even if they don’t.

And, why is it that I suspect the “public option” will be inferior in many ways to private insurance? What, private insurers can’t innovate, can’t offer more coverage for more money, etc.? I’ve heard nothing suggesting that.

No, because everyone understands and accepts that Medicaid is inferior to most private insurance, and its only available to the poor. The public option is supposed to be as good as anything else and available to everyone.

badly broken, desperately-in-need-of-reform system

It’s the best health care system in the world. People are complaining it doesn’t meet some impossible Platonic ideal.

They’re actually pretty conservative.

http://www.cms.hhs.gov/ActuarialStudies/downloads/MedicaidReport2008.pdf

Estimated average Medicaid enrollment was 49.1 million people in 2007. At some point during the year, 61.9 million people, or about one of every five persons in the U.S., were enrolled in Medicaid.
——

The number of people who can’t afford insurance and aren’t eligible for Medicaid is about 12M, as covered in a previous post.

I won’t argue with the rest as I lack the energy, but I’m pleased that now, by defeating the filibuster, we are now talking about HOW we will reform our badly broken, desperately-in-need-of-reform system, rather than whether it’ll be reformed.