Insurance is a racket.

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A quick primer on the COBRA scam, for those who are unfamiliar with it...

When employer-funded health insurance terminates, either because an employee is laid off or resigns, the employee is offered something called COBRA (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act).

The law amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, the Internal Revenue Code and the Public Health Service Act to provide continuation of group health coverage that otherwise might be terminated.

COBRA requires insurance companies to offer the same healthcare insurance coverage to a terminated employee, MINUS the discount that they offer employers.

That is how they get around offering a good price to former employees who would otherwise have zero leverage in the market to secure it on their own.

How the scam works

Insurance companies set retail prices for health insurance coverage very high, e.g. $1200, and give employers a steep discount,e.g. 50%.

Typically, the employer pays half of that premium and the employee pays the other half, resulting in monthly premium for employees of approximately $300.

When the employee loses his or her job or resigns, the insurance company offers them COBRA coverage at the retail price of $1200/month.

So, an individual with no income is asked to pay four times as much as they paid when they had an income.

In other words, private for-profit health insurance is government sanctioned extortion of the vulnerable.

The more you need - the more you bleed.

Trusting GREEDY people to "protect" us from illness, disability, accidents, natural disasters or death is a recipe for disaster.

For-profit insurance is EXPLOITATION on a mass scale - EXTORTION, with NO MONEY BACK - guaranteed.

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Submitted by qrswave on Tue, 2007-05-29 04:38

The present health care system is a socialistic nightmare and more socialism will make it worse. In a supposedly free market system, you could pick your doctor and they would compete on price.

Do the math. If you're relatively healthy, you don't need to spend hundreds of dollars a month on health insurance. Cheaper to go to a doctor when you're sick. If you have a chronic condition, that's another story. But that's what "free" health clinics are for.

Doctors can only provide “remedies” that are approved by the authorities. Usually, they treat only symptoms. Anything that’s really cheap, makes more sense, and works is outlawed as “quackery.”

You could probably treat yourself more effectively looking at alternative remedies on the internet, that don't involve expensive and toxic "medications." Or you could just eat right, exercise a little and not engage in risky behavior.

Oral chelation is important for getting metals out of your body. Look up glutathione and L-cysteine for an explanation of getting rid of the fluoride and other metals. Metal in the body is what's driving everybody nuts and is only removed with a supplement. Otherwise, it keeps accumulating. That's the explanation anyway. See for yourself, this is not medical advice, blah, blah, blah...

Here’s an article that says avoiding doctors saves lives. Can’t vouch for its accuracy, since it seems like an ad. But it's pretty funny none the less:
http://www.thebirdman.org/Index/Temp/Temp-StrikeByDoctorsSavesLives-Henr...

Best to avoid doctors at all costs and do some preventive maintenance. Doctors can come in handy with infections, but the antibiotics are so strong these days that they actually have killed some people. I'm sure there are better ways of dealing with infections than killing off all bacteria, both good and bad, in your body.

Doctors are needed mostly for trauma situations, like a broken bone, and you can get relatively cheap emergency insurance (which is also a rip off, but won't bankrupt you).

duped | Tue, 2007-05-29 21:17

They are not only greedy, they are cowards, opportunistic, heartless bastards. For profit medical care is terrible, capitalism should only be applied to luxury items, not essential things like food/water/shelter/medical care/education. Usurance speculation is like running a casino, albeit slightly riskier. Those abacus-head, accountant sheckel shills need to stop their cowardly economic war on the poor, which is by design; of their systems of theft.

Grim Reaper | Tue, 2007-05-29 17:44

Thanks that was an intersting article.

I have no insurance and have felt the blunt of its effects myself.

I also found out that Hospitals themselves charge Insurance companies and Health Nets a big cut off the retail prices of the Hospitals services.

While if you don't have insurance they charge the full rate.

Example: If I have insurance, and I break my arm. The Hospital may bill the Insurance Company ...say....$500.00.
If its 80/20 you may end up paying $100 (if your premium is met).

NOW if I stroll into the Hospital with a broken arm AND NO INSURANCE, The Hospital will charge me usually 20-30% MORE then they would have charged the big Insurance company. SO I END UP PAYING around $700 out of pocket.

ITS ALL SET UP SO THAT IF YOU BLEED, YOU KEEP BLEEDING.

"I may not agree with what you say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it"...Voltaire

Peacetroll | Tue, 2007-05-29 12:24