DUmmy Cleita starts perhaps her dumbest thread ever, with no idea whatsoever about anything she is discussing. She wants to sign onto a medical plan for people in some European socialist hellhole, and then use it where ever she wants in America:
Cleita (1000+ posts) Mon Aug-24-09 01:31 PM
Original message
Foreign health insurance. Is there any law that says we can't buy it?
It occurs to me that the only way we are going to get the insurance industry out of the health care business is to stop using their product, which would mean we all have to cancel our insurance. Most people, even with the crappy pay or die plans, are hesitant to do this for good reason. Years ago when I worked for an agent who specialized in health insurance, we also brokered Lloyds of London insurance for high risk clients. I'm not suggesting that we get Lloyds as they specialize in high risk and are very expensive but the fact that we could get insurance from a foreign country is what I'm pondering right now.
What if we could get good health insurance from a foreign company like Holland or France for instance underwritten by some of their insurers who aren't affiliated with any of our corporations and who are regulated by the countries of their origin? Maybe this is the way to break our system's stranglehold on us. Now, since we really don't know what our final sausage is going to look like and how it's going to work, I'm only suggesting this at last resort.
Any ideas DUers or any devil's advocacy as to why this couldn't work?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6380427NashVegas (1000+ posts) Mon Aug-24-09 01:35 PM
1. None I'm Aware Of
Yesterday I was in a conversation with an OR nurse who's had some 5 or 6 surgeries in the last five years. Most were from athletic injuries/ortho (acl) problems.
In one instance, she went in for a knee surgery and the OP scrapped the procedure 10 minutes in, deciding the whole knee needed replacement.
How many people who weren't in her position would have been able to get all this done, no questions?
The answer to DUmmy NashVegas's question is that anyone could have it done, and you didn't need that feeble bouncy to find that out.
LynzM (1000+ posts) Mon Aug-24-09 01:36 PM
2. It's an interesting thought.
Force them to compete with what Europe has, that we want.
I have no idea about the legality, but I'm very curious to hear the responses. I'd guess that if anything, other insurers wouldn't accept U.S. patients, knowing how expensive our care is.
DUmmy bobbolink, who every day shits in someone else's doorway in Denver:
bobbolink (1000+ posts) Mon Aug-24-09 02:35 PM
17. Well, it wouldn't actually be a "competition with what Europe has", since in almost
all those countries it is illegal to make a profit on basic care.
These companies would still be making a profit on basic care here in the U.S., so it's not really the same.
However, this sounds like a good, smart idea, and well worth investigating.
ItNerd4life (597 posts) Mon Aug-24-09 01:38 PM
3. It's not allowed.
States control what you are allowed. Insurance companies can't cross states. Ever notice the names like BCBS of Delaware, etc.
We just need to not have the states dictate what is covered. In some states hair transplants MUST be covered by health insurance. This is the biggest problem of health insurance. No competition and binding laws that make no sense.
I would love it if states allowed competition and insurance from other countries.
This kills DUmmy Cleita's stupid idea, but the DUmmies just go on and on and on with more dumb comments.
Cleita (1000+ posts) Mon Aug-24-09 01:40 PM
4. That answers that. Thanks.
So apparently we should be tackling this on a state level. So how does Blue Cross, Aetna et al get to be all over the country? How do they get around it?
This is a very big bonfire, with tons of DUmmies chiming in with moronic opinions.
I can answer all DUmmy Cleita's questions very simply:
With O-care we don't need no steenking insurance.
Why not, you say?
Consider this: Under O-care, our O-docs will be proles like us. They will punch a clock every morning, treat patients
for 8 hours, then punch out and go home. They will make a normal prole rate of pay, say, $20/hr. Another facet of O-care
is that profit will be outlawed in the health sciences. We will not pay a dime more than the care actually cost. The last
time you were at your doctor's office, how long did he actually spend with you? Fifteen minutes? Okay. That means you owe
$5.00 for the O-doc's time. Maybe another buck for the office help. Total $6.00. Need insurance for that?
It gets better. Let's say you have surgery. Complicated. Two hours in the operating room. Several O-docs may be involved, but only one can
have his hand in your chest at a time, so the O-doc bill is $40.00, plus maybe $5.00 for sponges and sutures. Need insurance for that?
Hospital care would be on top of that, but nurses would make a much lower rate than doctors, and no one can tell me a hospital should charge
a daily rate higher than a nice Marriott. Need insurance for that?
O-care is the answer to DUmmy Cleita's medical insurance woes.
