One thing to remember is that if you happen to have a traditional, big company, salaried job (or a spouse that has one), a) you have your company helping you with the insurance payments and b) your company has the negotiating power to get lower rates from the insurance company.
But these days, those jobs are fewer and further between, and more and more of us move jobs several times during our lives (by choice or by fate) and work freelance. If for some reason you and/or your husband lose your jobs, what happens to your insurance? Can you still get it where you're getting it from at the same rate you're getting it, or do you have to brave the (far, far more expensive) market like the rest of us?
Sure there are people who would rather go to Olive Garden a few more times a week and skip little Jimmy's insurance payments, but for a *whole* lot of us (like me, single, freelancing, self employed), we don't have the privilege of buying into the same big-company-subsidized system that those in traditional jobs do, and for us it's not a choice between no insurance and what you're (likely) paying, it's a choice between no insurance and likely a *lot* more than what you're paying.
Never mind my current (uninsured, for the record) fear of going in for a routine check up. If anything gets found in my right now, while I'm out of the system, I could be utterly fucked in terms of getting insurance. And if I could pay into something reasonably priced, I would. But as a single, non-salary employee forced to buy insurance on the open market, I'm in a very different position, with very different choices than those who are salaried, full time employees (like I assume either you or your spouse are).
And for those who have full time jobs with benefits, yeah, it's possible to have decent insurance. But for those of us whose careers haven't led us that way, plenty of us aren't asking for a bail out, we're asking for reform to an industry that works relatively well - sometimes - for those in traditional jobs who stay with the same jobs for a long time, but for those of us in more 21st century, patchwork careers, we're *seriously* underserved and overcharged by an industry designed to service a 20th century work force. And we? Are gaining in number.
I don't have the answers about health insurance, I don't know if what Obama and congress finally squeeze out will be a turd worth swallowing. But I do know that when I choose not to pay for heath insurance (and it is a gamble, I get that), it's *not* a question of me paying or not paying what your share of your family's insurance happens to be. I'm seriously penalized for not being in a full time salaried job (or being married to someone who is), and what I'm unable to afford is likely way more than what you're lucky enough to pay for the same coverage.
But these days, those jobs are fewer and further between, and more and more of us move jobs several times during our lives (by choice or by fate) and work freelance. If for some reason you and/or your husband lose your jobs, what happens to your insurance? Can you still get it where you're getting it from at the same rate you're getting it, or do you have to brave the (far, far more expensive) market like the rest of us?
Sure there are people who would rather go to Olive Garden a few more times a week and skip little Jimmy's insurance payments, but for a *whole* lot of us (like me, single, freelancing, self employed), we don't have the privilege of buying into the same big-company-subsidized system that those in traditional jobs do, and for us it's not a choice between no insurance and what you're (likely) paying, it's a choice between no insurance and likely a *lot* more than what you're paying.
Never mind my current (uninsured, for the record) fear of going in for a routine check up. If anything gets found in my right now, while I'm out of the system, I could be utterly fucked in terms of getting insurance. And if I could pay into something reasonably priced, I would. But as a single, non-salary employee forced to buy insurance on the open market, I'm in a very different position, with very different choices than those who are salaried, full time employees (like I assume either you or your spouse are).
And for those who have full time jobs with benefits, yeah, it's possible to have decent insurance. But for those of us whose careers haven't led us that way, plenty of us aren't asking for a bail out, we're asking for reform to an industry that works relatively well - sometimes - for those in traditional jobs who stay with the same jobs for a long time, but for those of us in more 21st century, patchwork careers, we're *seriously* underserved and overcharged by an industry designed to service a 20th century work force. And we? Are gaining in number.
I don't have the answers about health insurance, I don't know if what Obama and congress finally squeeze out will be a turd worth swallowing. But I do know that when I choose not to pay for heath insurance (and it is a gamble, I get that), it's *not* a question of me paying or not paying what your share of your family's insurance happens to be. I'm seriously penalized for not being in a full time salaried job (or being married to someone who is), and what I'm unable to afford is likely way more than what you're lucky enough to pay for the same coverage.
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