Date: Mon, 07 Oct 2013 17:11:20 -0400
From: "Mike B." <yahoo at omniphile.com>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: A point of information about the government shutdown
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

On 10/5/2013 9:57 AM, Walter Miles wrote:

> Healthcare reform *could* have been the key to U.S. budget stability,
> and plus I managed to spend a moderate of money on it (kidney stone)
> when I could least afford it.  It's really worth name-calling.  Bad
> names.

One of the points we agree on.  Healthcare is one of the more likely
things leading to bankruptcy for the country.  The problem is that
demanding that everyone get health insurance isn't the right starting
point.  The right starting point is figuring out why health care costs
so much here (and I think that health insurance is a prime suspect).
Second step is reducing the costs of health care once you know what's
causing them to be high.  THIRD step might be to get everyone health
insurance...maybe, if it's still needed.

I'm with you on the cost thing.  I have to pay my own health insurance
premiums, and have been for the last several years.  After mortgage
(P&I) and property tax, it's the next highest chunk of my monthly
earnings...and it's not far behind property tax. It may pass it
soon...it's going up much faster than property tax is...double-digits
for this year.  Even with that level of cost for premiums, it doesn't
kick in until I've paid a very large deductible, and even then it
doesn't cover all the costs...I still pay a fairly large percentage of
each charge until I hit a large percentage of my take-home pay every
year.  Nothing about the ACA is going to do anything to change that
situation...and I suspect that a lot of that double-digit increase I got
this year is due to the new mandates on coverage by the ACA...though of
course, proving it would not be easy without a class-action lawsuit and
there's no grounds for that.

-- Mike B.