Don't get cynical, but...

[netmaestro]

Need some life or health insurance? If you're a smoker, your premiums will be higher. Have elevated blood pressure or cholesterol levels? Your premiums will be higher. This information is of course unsurprising, logical and well-known. However, when you learn that the largest investments by insurers are made in fast food and tobacco stocks, it's enough to take some of the tint off your rose-colored glasses. F***ing parasites.

[SFSxOI]

I don't worry about it for myself and my wife. Being retired military I get complete medical coverage, regardless of pre-existing conditions (or smoking or high blood pressure or etc...), family coverage (my wife and I - kids are grown and gone with kids of their own), for $68.00 a month, $3.00 perscriptions, and $12.00 office visit co-pay. Dental is another $68.00 a month. Heck, 26 years military service was worth it just for the medical coverage considering todays economic climate.

On the flip side, one of my daughters pays $900.00 a month for coverage for her and son and can't switch to another carrier now due to a pre-existing condition even though cheaper by about $400.00 because she lives in california and insurance companies there don't have to cover pre-existing conditions. Thats $10,000 a year. Thank goodness she has a good job and can aford it. If she lived in florida the same insurance by the same company would cost almost $400.00 less per month and they would have to cover my grandson because florida law says that insurance companes have to take you regardless of pre-existing conditions.

My other daughter lives in Kentucky and she's lucky as she is married to a police officer, the city pays 75% of the health care insurance so they only pay around $100 a month for family coverage medical/dental.

Daughter # 3 is a buyer for Saks 5th Avenue and she gets medical and dental for $120.00 a month.

My son works for the city here and can get their insurance for about $130.00 a month to cover him and son, but he's got disability from his military service (was wounded during his 7th tour in Iraq as a Navy seal) so he gets his medical coverage for $68.00 a month also like me.

[GWarner]

Insurance companies are pure evil, a necessary evil but still they are evil from top to bottom.

In a way its a form of legalized fraud.

[milan1612]

Man, I'm really glad to not live in the US. Conditions like that would be unacceptable
everywhere within the European Union...thankfully!

EDIT: I just realised that you (netmaestro) are located in Canada, not in the US.
I thought in Canada it wasn't so bad (Michael Moore's Sicko says so), is he wrong?

[Kaeru Gaman]

@milan
it's not that much better here - the difference just is that we have cumpulsory health insurances and you normally only look at your netto wages.
but what do you think how they finance their big companies and their TV spots?

[SFSxOI]

Man, I'm really glad to not live in the US. Conditions like that would be unacceptable
everywhere within the European Union...thankfully!

EDIT: I just realised that you (netmaestro) are located in Canada, not in the US.
I thought in Canada it wasn't so bad (Michael Moore's Sicko says so), is he wrong?

You have socialized medicine?

[netmaestro]

Doctor visits, hospital stays and nearly all tests are free here in Canada for citizens and legal residents, but drugs are not. You need private insurance for drugs, non-vital physiotherapy and of course life, which isn't socialized at all. The insurance industry here is nearly identical to that in the US, in fact many of the major insurers are branches of the US parent. The difference is that the government in Canada doesn't allow the smaller, less stable insurance companies to do business here. A bank or insurance company in Canada is very unlikely to fail.

[Kaeru Gaman]

You have socialized medicine?

we have cumpulsory health insurances.
the contributions are directly taken from your wages, together with annuity and social insurance, and taxes.
as an unmarried worker, you pay almost the half of your brutto wages for these.

[milan1612]

@ Kaeru: Of course it's not the best, there are problems everywhere. But in comparison
to for example the US, it's still a better system with more coverage and it's less expensive.
Denial of coverage due to pre-existing conditions would cause a national uprising I guess

@ SFSxOI: More or less, yes. The past 10 years braught a lot of changes to the system though.

Thanks for the insights netmaestro

[Rook Zimbabwe]

I don't worry about it for myself and my wife. Being retired military I get complete medical coverage, regardless of pre-existing conditions (or smoking or high blood pressure or etc...), family coverage (my wife and I - kids are grown and gone with kids of their own), for $68.00 a month, $3.00 perscriptions, and $12.00 office visit co-pay. Dental is another $68.00 a month. Heck, 26 years military service was worth it just for the medical coverage considering todays economic climate.

I knew I should have stayed in!!!

[GWarner]

Doctor visits, hospital stays and nearly all tests are free here in Canada for citizens and legal residents

Believe it or not, they are not free, you pay for them through taxes.

An insurance company in Canada is very unlikely to fail.

Maybe not, but I'll bet they are just as likely to drop your coverage if you are so much as a second late paying a premium, and when you do file a claim they are just as slow to pay it or just as likely to deny it as they are here in the US. Insurance is just a legalized way for companies to take your money and legally refuse to give you any value for it (fraud, theft, whatever).

I knew I should have stayed in!!!

I know there are some downsides to it such as constantly moving around, but from everything I've heard, if you can get it, you can't go to far wrong with a career in the military when you consider all the benefits you get. If it hadn't been for my vision problems I'd have joined right out of high school.