Political Discussions
Do Bloggers Have Health Insurance?
Posted by drjalee52 • 7/22/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
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There are many people online are self-employed. They may or may not be covered. Tell me what do you think?
User Comments
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I think that they may or may not be covered
I am a blogger and a freelancer, but I have coverage through the state. (I couldn't get private insurance if I wanted to) My husband has a day-job and is also covered through the state (His company does not offer health care).
In other words, it's a crap shoot.-
Thank you for the honest answer. I am concerned about the 45 million plus people who are without insurance and may need help. Is anyone concerned?
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I'm very concerned about it! But your question was a little strange because it revolves around bloggers.
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@drjalee...the magic number of "45-47 million uninsured" in this country is a faux pas.
For example, nearly 10 million of that number are illegal aliens and legal aliens on work visas, etc...
Many millions more are 18-34 years old and would rather spend their money on iPods, cell phones, etc...
A great many more live in households which make $75,000 a year or more and could afford insurance, but decline.
I am not saying that there are not a lot of people in America without health insurance, but the number is a long way away from 45 million.
I got all my facts from the Census Bureau.
www.cnsnews.com/Public/Content/article.aspx?RsrcID=49986
www.census.gov/prod/2008pubs/p60-235.pdf
Also, these figures are quoted in Mark Levin's book, Liberty and Tyranny. But I didn't have a link for his book as it is still on the best sellers list, so I could not find an online reference; however, he also cites the PDF link I gave and this one as well:
aspe.hhs.gov/health/reports/05/uninsured-cps/index.htm
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I think there is plenty of concern but not necessarily for bloggers.
In my state a small business can get health insurance for it's employees with no codicils allowed, the cost however is prohibitive for many, and the rates having gone up 20 percent across the board this year. -
I think there is plenty of concern but not necessarily for bloggers.
In my state a small business can get health insurance for it's employees with no codicils allowed, the cost however is prohibitive for many, and the rates having gone up 20 percent across the board this year. -
I think that it's worth looking at who doesn't have insurance, and WHY they don't have it.
Is it that they can't afford it, or that they don't believe they need it. And, if they do not want it, is it right to force them to purchase such.
I also wonder if it might not be more efficient to simply provide for catastrophic and emergency care by collective means, and provide subsidized preventative care for those actually need it, as well as the reforms of insurance and medical practices that were spoken of durin the campaign.
Such would seem to be progressive measures, while what seems to be brewing in the legislature sounds decidedly regressive. -
The question at face value is a bit od. To raise the question without bloggers would get bye most bloggers. However, you missed the point regarding the self employed. What about bloggers who become ill wthout insurance? Should they stay home sick or what will happen to them?
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If they're any good they might be able to afford it. -
many of us have day jobs, some of which provide insurance, notwithstanding whether our blogging is "any good"
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What if someone dose not have money, insurance, and sick. Who just so happened to be an average blogger? What should happen to that person?
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We need to look at how many people are dropping health insurance because they can't afford it. We also have to note that cost vary from state to state depending on the Insurance Commission in that state. The cost of health insurance in my state is pretty high, for a high deductible policy $1700 deductible for a single 23 year old, not including dental, it's three hundred a month that does not include a prescription plan which jack it up to almost $400 ad dental it's around $430, for a family of 4 high deductible $2400, the plan cost would he $1500 a month with prescription plan maybe more with dental coverage. That is a lot for some people.
Preventative care is a necessity for everyone.
An ER visit can cost thousands and is not uncommon, nor should it be considered catastrophic ( if you've been in an ER recently you've probably know this) a fall of a bike, rock climbing or off a ladder and your our thousands of dollars maybe more. Anything that lands you in a hospital is catastrophic because of the cost.
People need their own physicians because a lot of people use the ER as their only place to go get care when they get bronchitis, the flu, and so forth. This drives cost up significantly.
I think it is too bad that this thing needs to be rushed through, and it does due to the way congress works and due to the overt obstructive processes going on. I think a good solid six month, sit down, look around and revamp would be the best thing. I'd also prefer a congress that really has the best interest of the people in mind and not either - the single goal to obstruct this process for political gain, or on the other side to pass it quickly for political gain. -
Self-employed insurance is so high for us that we're considering dropping it, since they only raise the rates to compensate for any prescriptions one gets, thereby making it hard to afford the outrageously high copay in the first place. The deductibles for a hospital visit are scary, as are the limits. And then there's the insurance company not paying claims so that you get an unexpected call from a collection agency asking about a doctor's bill. Those are always fun. Course, that might just be bad billing practices on the hospital's end.
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What would be the ideal system?
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Hard to talk about ideal systems. For me it would a single payer system, but I would be happy if Congress got its behind in gear and passed a mixed public and private system. (Bad news today about Senator Reid saying no vote in August. Would help if Obama was more forceful in Congress. Seems to have given them too much of the initiative, and they're doing what they do best, stalling.)
If you are actually in the market for health insurance, there is an organization called NASE, National Association of Self Employed (or something like that. I'm not convinced of the value of the health insurance we're getting through them, but each person's situation is different, and the products on offer probably vary by state. At the very least, you can benefit from being part of a larger pool of people, though I'm surprised they are able to leverage their numbers for better results. Maybe the number of self-employed getting insurance from them is smaller than I think, howevr. -
Non-profit, non-government coops and a public subsidy board that would buy insurance for the poor for them, but otherwise have no legal authority. It would still have an economic cost of course, but there would be no rationing involved, no takeover of hospitals, and the "public" option (in this case not-for-profit coops, similar to what's already sometimes done with banking through certain large corporations like Boeing with it's Employee Credit Union) would be essentially in consumer control. All the freedom, all the availablility, none of the rationing, the only downside is there would be a slight increase in cost, but that would be true of any government plan that wasn't truly heartless, as even the state beauracracy (with it's byzantine and highly democratic rules designed by congress people) alone would drive up the expense.
@MS: Obama can't be forceful with congress - they're too angry with him about not being able to read the stimulus bill. Eventually things gotta give man, especially in politics.
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Why is it that most insurance companies make millions? Do they do anything to help people without insurance? Do they have programs for blogger? The ideal system would provide basic preventive care for everyone, good companies would reinvest in people.
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The ideal system would be the Star Trek system. Remember, they don't use money in the 24th century, well that is what Captain Kirk said in one of the movies, anyway.
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Great answer. Do you mine if I use it. We should simply do away with money. Will that make the problem go away? If so then all bloggers will be 100% insured?
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*shrugs* I was just being facetious.
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I would love to be able to have health ins.-
Dumb question time, but have you explored all your options? I, of course know nothing about your circumstances, but just thought I would ask.
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Do we really need insurance? Can we just have hospitals and clinics that help people just like the irs?
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We have those in a lot of the bigger cities. Even in our state capitol of Illinois, there is one or two - I can't remember how many. They are called urgent care centers and were designed to alleviate the ERs from acting as primary care facilities. And those facilities are fine for primary care, colds, flu, sprains, etc... I think the debate is over more major medical needs, but that is my opinion.
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there are often non-profit clinics. There's one here in Spokane that charges about the same as a co-pay.
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