"Want medical coverage? That will be $25, fatso."

That's rich. What do you think you'd be doing under either of the health care plans that Obama and Clinton discussed over the course of 482 consecutive debates?

 

Your time may be coming, you never know.

Don't be so cavalier.

 

I blame Saban.

 

You often do.

 

If Mr. 400 lb. fatty drops dead at 45, haven't we saved 30 years worth of health costs? I say give him a discount.

What about Mr. in-shape rec league athletic type who visits the emergency room twice a year and needs 2 knees and a hip replaced before he's 50 form all that healthy exercise?

 

I'm not being cavalier.
I'm just saying that in my working lifetime, I have probably paid close to 15 grand in insurance premiums and what I have gotten out of it is two dental cleanings a year for the last few years.
If insurance companies want to charge people more making unhealthy choices, how about cutting me a break for not using the insurance?

 

If a de facto fat tax levied by one's employer forces overweight/obese people to shape up, then in a way it can work for their good.

I expect though that though everyone will gripe about it (and rightfully so), some will simply end up paying it while still practicing their unhealthy habits. Some smokers griped about the smoking fee and still opted to pay it and keep on smoking.

You have to want to get in shape. You have to want to eat right and exercise. A fat tax, the threat of diabetes/heart disease, scorn from people can all be incentives, but you have to want to do it for yourself.

 

I suppose you can continue to complain if for the next, what, 40 years you live you never visit a doctor.

 

You're all correct. Jay, insurance companies are freaking out because single people in their 20s are choosing not to buy coverage because they figure (correctly) they're paying way more into than they'll ever use. Of course, if you get hit by a truck you're screwed financially for the rest of your life, but it's a chance a lot of people are willing to take. That's why insurers are coming up with "hip" insurance lines (I'm not kidding), and why they're supportive of state measures that allow people well into their 20s to stay on their parents' insurance. At least it guarantees more money being paid in by people who aren't using the system.

Sluggo, you're correct in hinting that the spiraling of health costs is in part the ability to keep people alive longer. That 45-year-old guy might have died from a heart attack 30 years ago. Now, assuming he's gone to the doctor, a more severe problem could be caught earlier, which is great for him but also means more money is being spent on health care. Heck, look at how unusual it seemed that Gene Upshaw was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and died only four days later. These days, cancer isn't an automatic quick death sentence, and a lot of people are living happy, productive lives with chronic conditions that might have made them homebound, or dead, not all that long ago. Of course, that costs money. And you're also correct when you hint that aging boomers contributed to the cost as well. It's not just the hyperathlete who needs a knee replacement, but the simple fact that the older you get, the more you need care.

And, Ragu, you're correct that our behavior contributes to this, although growing up in the 70s and 80s I don't remember everyone eating healthy meals and running six miles a day, either. In fact, the smoking rate was far, far higher than it was today. Others more learned than myself have surmised that a major factor driving the obesity rate is that fewer people are smoking. Thus people are trading one oral fixation for another.

Also, the dream of HMOs focusing on preventive care was long dashed when insurance companies realized they didn't keep customers for 40 years, so it made more sense to try to deny services or, as happens now, make you and your doctor jump through so many hoops you decide it isn't worth it. Many insurance companies have arms or hire companies that do just that with imaging, bragging that at least 10 percent of the time the PATIENT decides against a CT scan or MRI because the red tape is too complicated to get one.

Bottom line is, the population grows older and unhealthier each year, and there are fewer younger people willing to pay into the system if they don't feel they're using it. It creates a vicious cycle where the cost of insurance and care goes up, so more people don't pay into the system, and so on, and so on.

 

Wait, state health insurance for only $25 a month? Sign me up! I'd love to only pay that little for good coverage.

 

I think you'd have to work for the state.

I hear this from my aunt all the time. Work for the state or the county. Benefits are up the ass awesome.

 

Up the ass awesome?

Wow, Beej. I am speechless.