Quote:
Originally Posted by darklinensuit
You're right, but I hate that if I'm thinking of leaving a job, I need to take benefits and pre-existing conditions and my age into account before I can really give up a policy. IMO, linking policies to jobs is as random as linking them to where you live - i.e., Gee, I'd love to move to another apartment, but the one that's closer to my children's schools has a worse benefits package, and the one that's closer to my work won't let me enroll my spouse. It's just a dumb set-up.
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I totally understand, Jake, & I'm all for LEGITIMATE steps to control costs. Costs (insurance, malpractice, delivery, etc.) are so high that millions of people are in trouble. I agree with you that I'd prefer to be able to afford my own private policy rather than rely on the coverage bought by my current employer (which means I have to fork over a LOT for COBRA if I leave my employer, just to tide me over the interim before any new employer-sponsored coverage kicks in). But I just don't understand the thinking that says medical care should in general be "free" -- why should it be free any more than food should be free, or water should be free, or shelter should be free? I believe in the concept of the safety net in any civilized society when it comes to the necessities: food, water, shelter, medicine. We all, at least potentially, fall on hard times or bad luck or accidents. But a safety net is a safety net. It doesn't mean you get to buy yourself big-screen TVs & Apple MP3 video players & cool new cell phones while a new state bureaucracy, ostensibly intended to cover everyone, grows fat, lethargic & wasteful with public money. (It's a moot point, anyway, because the state doesn't provide anything for free, as hundreds of people here on the Ledge have already pointed out.) Let's think of something
better that takes care of the people who can't take care of themselves & that also respects privacy & liberty.