U.S. Health Insurance cost $5800 a year!!

Comment #6

DrannyMa7 — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 01:12:49 GMT

I did this and Senator Obama's plan works for me and mine.

Comment #5

ochoop17 — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 14:03:42 GMT

I think most of the LP Players belong to that 95

Comment #4

pacattack05 — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 13:49:44 GMT

The republicans are the best. I love republicans so much.....I'm at a loss for words. They are heaven sent. We all know that another 4 or 8 years of Bush's mindset is what this country needs. We haven't killed enough Americans citizens and soldiers yet. If we want to bring christ back in a timely manner, we must first be on the brink of genocide. Yeah...that's the ticket... Bush? I love Bush....Who wouldn't want a president who's father (Prescott) helped fund the Naz... [ More ]

Comment #3

NBey6 — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 13:31:42 GMT

***************************************************************** I'm voting for McCain and here's why: "AMERICA FIRST - MCCAIN/PALIN '08" Which America are they for?? Oh yeah, 1% - 5% of the wealthiest. That's because they'll , I mean, we'll continue to get tax-breaks that will ensure we can hire the other 95% and the wealth will trickle down............just like it did the last 8 years!! BTW - McCain said he would continue, continue, continue the Bush Tax... [ More ]

Comment #2

pacattack05 — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 13:12:31 GMT

For future reference, please, only post things that are wrong with those evil democrat degenerates of this ailing world, because they are the ONLY ones responsible. <br

Comment #1

NBey6 — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:52:57 GMT

When you have as much money as the McCains-Palins, $5,800 = $12,600.

Original Blog Entry: U.S. Health Insurance cost $5800 a year!!

NBey6 — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 12:52:16 GMT

Posted on Tue, Oct. 28, 2008

U.S. health insurance costing $5,800 a year?

McCain's proposal for U.S. families is deeply troubling.

Uwe E. Reinhardt is a health-care economist

and a professor at Princeton

As a longtime health economist, I almost fell out of my chair when, during the third presidential debate, Sen. John McCain told the audience that the average cost of a health insurance policy in America today is $5,800.

He continued: I'll give them [families] $5,000 to take with them wherever they want to go, and this will give them affordability. He seemed to suggest that the average American family could get adequate health insurance for an additional $800 a year.

Try calling up one or more health-insurance companies in your area. Pretend you are part of a family of four without health insurance. Throw in that one of the adults has diabetes, or had a bout with cancer. Then see what kind of health insurance policy - if any - you can get for $5,800 a year.

According to a highly respected annual survey of employer-sponsored health insurance in America, conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Heath Research Educational Trust, the average annual premium for the type of insurance employers provide is $12,600.

That includes the employer's and employee's contributions to the premium, but not the family's out-of-pocket costs, which have been rising steadily in recent years. According to the Milliman Medical Index, based on millions of privately insured Americans, average medical costs for the typical American family when out-of-pocket spending is included are $15,600.

What kind of coverage, then, could an annual premium of $5,800 get you, even if your whole family were healthy? And what if one or more members had a chronic illness, or had had a bout with cancer?

Sure, an insurer might get the premium down to $5,800 by excluding enough services from coverage (for example, maternity and mental-health care), strictly limiting various types of spending (such as prescription drugs), and imposing a deductible in the thousands upfront and significant co-insurance thereafter. But what kind of insurance would that be?

Most likely, it would be un-surance. Once seriously ill, you would quickly find yourself paying a lot of money out of pocket.

I am deeply troubled that McCain appears to believe that a mere $5,800 can buy American families the protection they need against the costs of illness - especially as our economy moves into what may be a deep, prolonged recession, and as more and more Americans are laid off from work.

If you are uninsured or fear that you might lose your coverage, go to the candidates' Web sites and carefully check out what they say about their health-insurance proposals. Leave aside any ideological baggage and clich s, such as socialized medicine - which Sen. Barack Obama's plan, based predominantly on government-subsidized private insurance, certainly is not. (Socialized medicine is something like the health system Americans reserve for their veterans.)

And then support the health plan that you believe protects your own family best.

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