Our individual insurance story is sadly typical--we need about $30,000 a year to pay premiums and other out of pocket expenses.

My family spends about $15,000 a year out of pocket for insurance premiums, with a $5000.00 deductible per person for individual coverage a family of three. Uncovered expenses--things like mammograms and check-ups run about another $10,000 if we are lucky.


Why can't we be considered as part of a group??? Hey, why not consider all the people who buy insurance from, oh say, Company A be considered part of the whole group of folks who buy coverage from them??

If we lived in Birmingham our identical coverage would be $300.00 a month cheaper, from the same company. WHY???



We have never had life threatening illnesses. We are over fifty and yes, we have seen a doctor recently. But we are eating our savings and working very hard to pay for what is basically catastrophic care.

This has been a far greater expense than anything in our lives including our mortgage. Something is really, really wrong with this picture.

We need a menu of benefits from which to choose and the ability to shop across the country--just like car insurance. Like some of the other posters, I strongly believe that a free market system would create savings across the board.

And by the way, I don't smoke or drink and I can't get pregnant. We all get regular exersize and are not overweight. I am 55 and therefore ten years away from government benefits of any kind.

we may be in debt but so are all the other industrialized countries in the world but having said that we are still the richest country in the world. However in terms of quality of healthcare that we are getting we are ranked 37th in the world;European countries such as france , Spain which have a national healthcare system(supposedly inferior system) are ranked in the top ten. Furthermore, their citizens are living longer then we are. People who argue that we do not need a government run healthcare system are simply ignorant. If these people simply travelled to some of these countries they would see with their eyes and hear with their ears that people in these countries would never swap their national healthcare system for ours.

Clark,
Most of those who are opposed to reforming the health care payment system in this country have never been involved with health care and do not seem to understand the concepts. No it is not about your political persuasion, it is about the fact that the infant mortality rate in this country is higher than CUBA, it is about the fact that your insurance company already decides which doctor you can go to - they give you a list remember and its about the fact that they already decide how many times you can have services to rehabilitate your total knee repalcement. When those of you who are now speaking the loudest get an opportunity to have a stroke or a major car wreck, you will see the limitations placed on the services you think you have. Beleive me, I see it everyday as I work in the home care environment. No, I do not see only poor people, I see your mothers and grandmothers and aunts and uncles who now have the chronic illnesses associated with aging and now need services to make their's and your lives easier. I listen to the adult children (like those of you speaking loudest)who now have to spend your money or sell mother's assests to pay for services that are not covered by insurance, medicare or the medicare HMOs. Yes, I listen to you grumble and complain, because you are now involved with the system and know now that it is not nearly as perfect as you thought it was.
This health care payment system needs to be changed. We need a system that encourages preventative care rather than management of illness. We need a system that understands that it may take 6 sessions of rehabilitation for the 55 year old's total knee replacement, it takes more than that for the 85 year old total knee replacement Mr/Mrs insurance company executive. Everyone is different. We need a system that the elderly fixed income patient does not have to spend $600 on medications even after getting some on the Walmart $4 plan.
In essence before you insist that there is no need to reform the health care system in this country, take a walk in the shoes of some of the folks that I see daily who were middle class like you and struggle everyday to manage in this monstrous system.

Clark,

A free market solution to health care? I'd like to hear more. Imagine it for us. What would be the ideal free market health care program for you? Lots of competition among a wide range of insurers or perhaps physicians simply doing credit card pay-as-you-go? That's very simple and fully in line with free market ideology, right? If you don't have the money, you save and save for that cancer surgery and you shop for the cheapest deal around, even if that means driving your dying daughter to Mexico, maybe, for that 100,000$ treatment. Or maybe, like Clark advocates...you pull yourself up by your bootstraps and just realize that those are the breaks, that life is tough and that somebody's daughter has to die sometime, so stop whining about it and expecting to suck off the teat of Big Government.

Unfortunately, the health care
"market" is a little different than the car or computer or whatever market. Clark's usual bromides about the purity of the free market and about personal responsibility fall kind of flat when you're talking about human lives.

Health care will be rationed based on the whim of a goverment agency. People like Ted Kennedy will not be denied, but the average joe will be sent home with pain pills to die.

I had never been to a Whole Food store and after reading what the Ceo wrote I along with two of my neighbors decided to visit our local store and loved it. Whole Foods now has three new customers, so Sandra Montgomery..Whole Foods will not miss you. Sandra, Ken Gray is right, read his post and then read the constitution, you may learn something.

Ok, so the CEO of Whole Foods has an opinion. Hmmm, doesn't everyone? He just has the nuts to speak out about his opinion. You know what? GOOD FOR HIM!!!!

Why on earth do folks like Sandra feel like everything is owed to them by the government. If you want that kind of welfare lady, move to Canada or China even! God forbid that a person actually take care of themselves by purchasing the type of insurance they feel THEY need in an open market. Maybe Sandra would feel better if she walked into a government run grocery store and they just gave her the free powdered milk and cheese. That should make her happy because she didn't have to spend a stinking dime of her precious paycheck. Oh, wait! Sandra probably doesn't have a job! That would explain why the rest of us hard working Americans should be footing the bill for her lazy butt as well as taking care of our own families who DON'T get the free ride!

Get real people, you should be inspired by this man who takes the initiative to speak his mind. Too many people just sit on their butts complaining and doing nothing. Those are typically the ones who find it too burdensome to go out and vote. If you didn't vote, don't complain! Geesh!

I agree we should fix the health care system, but it will only be possible to lower costs through free market reforms, not through government takeover. If you really think government run health care will be better, more compassionate, etc., talk to anyone who has been in the military (Walter Reed, anyone?). As for health care being a right, the preamble to the Constitution does NOT say the government 'shall provide for the common welfare', but rather 'promote the common Welfare'--not even close to the same meaning. Didn't you listen to Schoolhouse Rock at all? :)

Contrary to popular belief, people have been dying for thousands (maybe more!) of years without bankrupting their countries.

Perhaps we should just outlaw death. Create a special "Life Czar" who is overseen by the Federal Reserve, to "Do whatever it Takes" to ensure that everyone lives.

Get serious people.

Like the professor who also posted, most of Andrew are in fact working pros. According to the IRS I am in the top 5% of income earners in the county but I don't certainly feel "rich" and I own my house and both cars out right! I can pay for anything I need in cash. So, get off your horse my friend. This is not a freeloader party of haves and have nots. This is about real experiences where friends and family members get sick with medical insurance (even when young) and face down $200k in medical bills and still die. My bro-in-law who had medical insurance while in med-school (available through the school) got brain cancer in his early 30's and yes was covered with some seriously high deductibles and max caps. Total bill after negotiations with the hospital? About $150k. Another friend, in her late 30's died last year of cancer and although their combined income was way over 200k they still had to liquidate savings to "afford" their coverage. These were the people that can "afford" health insurance. They didn't go bankrupt because they are high wage earners but don't think for a second it didn't put a lot of strain on their finances and their family's finances. The reality is myself and my close friends are the top 5% income earners at huge corporations and we are worried about paying for unexpected health costs. What about the rest of the county? The worst group to insure that is the most costly (over 65) has no worries other than they are scared to death Medicare might be available to more people and their benefits might get reduced or changed somehow. We already pay for them! They are the group getting the best deal bar none and they know it. To qualify for Medicare all you have to do is pay taxes for 10 consecutive quarters in your lifetime. That's it!

Give us your secret, Robbie. I don't think "anyone can do it;" I don't even believe you are doing it. How can you be debt-free and supporting yourself and wife on $40,000/yr and paying to put her through medical school without one or more of the following: a drawdown in a rather large savings account; subsidies in the form of grants, scholarships, etc, and/or additional income you are not revealing, such as a parents paying some expenses? Perhaps you mean community college and planning on a medical degree one day?
If you have a magical formula, please share it.
_aleph_

I am a small business owner. I have been using HSA for the past three years with every high deductible of $10K. Even my insurance is going up, though I never used insurance money as my costs were below $2K. While I agree with most aspects of the article, insurance companies need to have competition from a non-profit, no-cost govt run insurance agency.

Aren't you people sick of living paycheck to paycheck? $5,000 is NOT a lot of money if you actually make saving a priority. I'm a 26 year old graphic designer, my wife is a medical student, and we are 100% debt-free with 6 months of living expenses in savings. Among other things, we max-out our HSA every year.

If this 26 year old making $40,000 a year while paying cash for medical school can do it, anyone can. Stop whining about not having any money if you're not willing make saving more and spending less a priority.

Laura -
I am sorry that your family had such an unfortunate series of events. When your daughters auto insurance would not pay "for whatever reason" did you not persue this?

And while unfortunate that you had to pay 3k for stitches, and your daughter was stuck with a $5k ER bill, never once did I hear you say that you did not have the ABILITY to pay. Non profit hospitals have assistance programs, but they are for those that do NOT have the ability to make payments. It sounds as if you received the treatment you needed, but felt it was too expensive. Had you met the financial guidelines for assistance, you would have received it, if you asked.

I am terribly sorry to hear of the loss of your husband, and hope you had adequate life insurance.

I do believe that SOME reform is in order, but I DO NOT believe that a new government program is in order. Why not adjust Medicare/Medicaid - which are ALREADY in place, to accomodate those with insurance needs that are not being met by the private sector?

Is there anybody out there, that actually works for a living (i.e. remove government workers, tenured college professors, Ivy League entertainers, union workers, politicians etc.) and people who actually create value to the world (take out lawyers, bankers, lobbyists, media, tax accountants, etc.) who agrees with this government healthcare foolishness.

When people actually have to work hard for a living, and they don't financially benefit from the dumbification of a society, they tend to value their money more. Hard, value-creating workers realize that money isn't just magically created.

I would love to see a poll showing professions (and IQ's, now that I think of it) of the people that support and oppose this idiotic govt healthcare idea.

Clark....get on it! This could be the first of its kind pole.

I don't necessary disagree with CEO, but being in the grocery business does not make him the guru on health care. I care as much about his opinion as I do the big mouth celebrities and their causes of the month.

I'm not going to make this a Republican versus a Democrat thing. I'm just going to tell you that the cost of Healthcare for both the insured and uninsured is exhorbitant and people fall through the cracks. Here are examples:

On May 31st at 7:30 pm, I cut my foot on a piece of galvanized metal in my yard. I soaked three bathroom towels with blood. I called my doctor who actually makes house calls, and he said he would not come and stitch up my foot. I called three minor emergency clinics, and they were all closed. I had no choice but to go to the local emergency room. For three stitches and a tetanus shot (and I have insurance) I paid $3,000. NO JOKE. I almost fell over when I learned of the cost.

Two years ago my adult daughter was broad-sided by an uninsured teen driver. Her car was totalled. Because she was having severe pain in her abdomen, I drove her to the emergency room and they did a cat scan to see if her spleen was bleeding. For whatever reasons, my daughter's car insurance would not pick up the medical part of the accident and she was left holding a bill for $5,000. She had just graduated from college and had no health insurance.

My husband died three years ago. He went on hospice but didn't die in the allotted six months. At six months, the insurance cut the payment of his hospice care off. He could not work. Fortunately, his co-workers all chipped in part of their sick time to cover living costs and hospice donated their time until he died. The system is sick. It doesn't work.

No maybe were not "entitled" to health care, but bad things happen to good people and there should be a safety net.

I am NOT a racist because I do not support Obamacare, or any other form of socalized/nationalized medicine. I am a member of the healthcare community who on a daily basis sees those with no insurance, and NO LEGAL STATUS in this country getting equal or SUPERIOR care to patients with insurance. Those without insurance are not going without medical care. Trust Me. I am so tired of the liberal media and the democratic party amping up the drama on the healthcare issue. How many of the "uninsured" have access to insurance, but made a decision not to take that insurance? Let's take it back to the drawing board..

The liberals have taken over Whole Foods, don't let healthcare be next!

This nation should not be thirtieth in categories of health care and death rates. How can we afford NOT to join the
modern nations in offering health care to all citizens? Certainly more worth than the expenditure for the most recent military costs for our nation
and the corporate welfare for our most
misbehaving billionares.

Rights are things we are allowed to do whether other people want us to do them or not. The health care system requires other people to do stuff for them and you should not obligate people to serve you.

It is your choice whether you live a healthy lifestyle... it isn't a medical practitioners responsibility to take care of you regardless of the situation.

People in general are extremely afraid of change. Healthcare has gone up 2.5 times in the last 10 years for family coverage with higher deductibles. It will come to the point where everyones pay raise will be the cost of benefits. They can tax gas to raise money for the program. Gas is cheaper, more people are racing around our highways and secondary streets. As a small business owner, costs have skyrocketed with pre-existing conditions that looking into my wifes coverage would be going from $300/month to $1,600 because she had approved bariatric surgery with no complications of any kind for over 5 years, except lose weight and feel good about herself.