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A Uterus Costs 50% More In McCain's Health Insurance Market

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Flackette Goes Retro
10/30/08

In reply to A Uterus Costs 50% More In McCain's Health Insurance Market
My brother had to self-insure for awhile, and even as a young 20-something healthy guy it cost way more than the $2500 McCain is talking about per person. I have fabulous insurance through my university employer, which I could never ever afford on the open market. I'm sure they would claim my antidepressants as well as my fibromyalgia-like stuff and migraines were all pre-existing.

The way I see Obama's plan is this: I have good insurance, so I get to keep it. Some people don't have insurance, so there will be a federal safety net system to help them out. Makes sense to me. If I'm going to be taxed to support something, I'd much rather send my tax money to universal healthcare than to Iraq.

Also, last year I got sick with horrid food poisoning type stuff while on vacation. I had to go to the ER because I was becoming severely dehydrated. My old insurance didn't want to cover it because it was out of area. I was looking at a FIVE THOUSAND DOLLAR charge because I was puking myself into danger of passing out. Five thousand dollars, people. The nurses agreed that I absolutely did the right thing by coming in. But if I hadn't had insurance (they did pick it up after much dickering) I would have been completely screwed.
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sybann
10/30/08

In reply to A Uterus Costs 50% More In McCain's Health Insurance Market
McCain's karma guarandamntees he'll come back as a lower income female. Often. Hopefully by then we'll have cleaned up his collegues' messes and he/she won't have to suffer as much as he seems to think we should. Wait. I've done it again haven't I? Curse you LOGIC!
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exelizabeth
10/30/08

In reply to A Uterus Costs 50% More In McCain's Health Insurance Market
Like Samantha Bee said, we can all agree on the unimportance of women's health.
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JinxyMcDeath
10/30/08

In reply to A Uterus Costs 50% More In McCain's Health Insurance Market
Also ladies, go to Planned Parenthood if you need gyno stuff and don't have any health insurance. I did and it was WAY cheaper than anywhere else and they hook you up with the birth control ($20 for brand name!) and free condoms. Now that I have health insurance, I donate $25 every other month to Planned Parenthood to pay it forward. We need to stick together ladies.
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Jack_Burton
10/30/08

In reply to A Uterus Costs 50% More In McCain's Health Insurance Market
McCain is taking another page from Homer Simpson here:

"How can you be so selfish - it's uter-us, not uter-you."
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kaywinnitlee
10/30/08

In reply to A Uterus Costs 50% More In McCain's Health Insurance Market
Call me a conspiracy theorist, but...I can't help but think that the Republicans have it in the back of their brains that their whole system of doing things will eventually "cleanse" America of poor & undesirables in society (which is really most of us). Drug addicts who can't afford rehab will die off, all of us loose, immoral women who won't be able to get birth control or abortions will either die in childbirth or afterward because we can't afford health care, and they can blame it on us all being heathens...
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silentrationale
10/30/08

@kaywinnitlee: I'm highly partisan, but I think that's fair. Although it's probably less a plan to "cleanse" America than a sense that people with difficult lives deserve it for one reason or another, whatever the consequences.
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hellosunshine
10/30/08

@mossaia: Sadly, I'm with y'all. It seems as though unless you're a wealthy white male in this country, you don't count. God bless America, indeed.
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SomeAuthorGirl
10/30/08

In reply to A Uterus Costs 50% More In McCain's Health Insurance Market
As a businessperson, I am intimately familiar with this - being real-world costs of health care. Here to assure any other Jezzies that may be unsure of what to think that the Obama plan is definitely better and I highly recommend that you vote accordingly. What my company's insurance rate went up this year is...unconscionable. The McCain plan would do not a fucking thing for you if you worked at my place, and in fact would hurt immensely. The Obama plan however would not only protect what I could give you, but perhaps even make it better. Especially if you're a woman. Just sayin'.
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TheFormerJuneBronson
10/30/08

In reply to A Uterus Costs 50% More In McCain's Health Insurance Market
I once worked in health insurance, and then in P&C insurance, and I eventually left partially because I began to feel what a dirty, dirty business it is. As far as I can tell, I may be the only person in America who thinks this, but I'm okay with that. I have to tell you, I always laugh a little when I see that one Simpsons where Ned Flanders reveals that he doesn't have homeowner's insurance because he feels it's sinful because it's like gambling. But the truth is, he's right--just not for the reason he thinks he is. It is gambling. You're betting the insurance company that you'll have an accident or a loss or an illness and they'll have to pay up. The thing is, if you win the bet and they pay, they can then either deny you the right to play the game any more, or they can take you in the back and rough you up a little by making your premiums unaffordable. Whatever happens, they believe that they have the right to profit from you, and when you're unprofitable, they no longer want to do business with you.

This is what happens when you have an amoral system like a free market running an enterprise that should be deeply committed to ethics and human rights. We just can't go on like this. Yes, I do expect insurance companies to eat the higher cost of insuring women, just like they expect us all to eat the higher cost of insuring the sick, elderly, and frail. I'm tired of giving a fuck about the opinions of healthy men on this subject. It's not even a matter of feminism. It's human compassion. We all deserve it.
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Sukie in the Graveyard
10/30/08

In reply to A Uterus Costs 50% More In McCain's Health Insurance Market
the timing of this is perfect. I had no idea there was a different rate for women.

Just last week I was trying to convince the boyfriend that we need to go back to Ireland (it would be better this time since the euro is losing power). Now, I think, if McCain - through some evil twist of fate - wins, I may just suggest that we STAY in Ireland.

I've always wanted to run a bed n breakfast (with special discounts to fellow jezies of course)
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punkrockgirl
10/30/08

In reply to A Uterus Costs 50% More In McCain's Health Insurance Market
I have a good story about men's use of the health care system. One of my friend's clients recently was in the hospital. Why? He had an ingrown hair that became so infected that a growth about the size of a tennis ball grew and he got gangrene. An ingrown hair! Now, tell me, ladies, we would have stopped that shit when it started. Am I right?
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Megan
10/30/08

@punkrockgirl: And our $100 office visit would've been far, far less costly than his care.
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Pretentious
10/30/08

In reply to A Uterus Costs 50% More In McCain's Health Insurance Market
Actually, preventive care in this country does cost more than just treating the illness when and if it does happen. I spent two years at a major school of public health with students who couldn't believe this, but a great professor who had peer-reviewed journal article after peer-reviewed journal article that showed this. Which goes to show you can't make a financial argument for preventive health care -- it had to be a cultural value that the society is willing to pay for.
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Political Party Girl
10/30/08

@Pretentious: I wonder if you factor in the cost to society, whether that theory holds. Serious illnesses like advanced cancer require people take long periods of time off from work causing damage to the economy whereas an out-patient surgery or regular check-up takes about a day.
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scullymurphy
10/30/08

@Pretentious: I agree. It doesn't matter if preventative care costs more, less, or in between and so cost savings shouldn't really be part of the argument. The care that people need should be available to them no matter what.
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clevernamehere
10/30/08

@Political Party Girl: Having also gone to a major public health school (possibly the same one), even with the cost the society preventative care doesn't really save money. Most people don't get cancer when they're young and working, its why socialized medicine tends to have less preventative care. On a population level, it isn't usually cost saving. Secondary and teritary prevention tends to be more cost effective (ie helping people manage diabetes so they don't need an amputation).
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SmritaCylla
10/30/08

In reply to A Uterus Costs 50% More In McCain's Health Insurance Market
I'm an employee of a non-profit health insurance company, and spend a lot of my time trying to assess the economic impact of prevention. This post points out serious issues McCain's plan and in the pricing of policies, but is weakened by the assertion that prevention will save money in the long run. With the exception of a few basic things like immunizations, and daily aspirin therapy, almost none of the prevention that happens in the doctor's office saves money in the long run (including PAP smears).

You can read more about this in the recent NY Times piece:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/07/health/views/07essa.html?_r=1&ei=5070&emc=eta1&oref=slogin

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exelizabeth
10/30/08

@SmritaCylla: That's an interesting article. It's tough, because I had persistent cervical displasia that eventually they removed because my body wasn't clearing it by itself. Now I've had several years of normal paps. We did sort of "wait and see" but when waiting didn't work, we treated. The monitoring was probably rather expensive, but ultimately cheaper than cancer treatment.
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Kali Mama
10/30/08

In reply to A Uterus Costs 50% More In McCain's Health Insurance Market
I'm Dutch and my entire pregnancy, midwife prenatal visits, laboring in hospital and emergency cesarean + 4 day stay for me and NICU for baby was a whopping sum total cost of nothing.

But then I live in one of them filthy socialist countries.
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leftcoastgirl
10/30/08

In reply to A Uterus Costs 50% More In McCain's Health Insurance Market
Is it just me, or are insurance companies hoping we'll all just send them money, never go to the doctor and then conveniently die in our homes to avoid any pesky, expensive procedures at a hospital? Of course, then they wouldn't be INSURANCE companies as much as they'd be MONEY COLLECTING companies.
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hellosunshine
10/30/08

@leftcoastgirl: As far as I can tell, yes.
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Never_Nude
10/30/08

In reply to A Uterus Costs 50% More In McCain's Health Insurance Market
This attitude undoubtedly contributes to childhood mortality, too, considering lack of prenatal care and the number of uninsured women and children.

Leading cause of death among white men? Heart disease. I bet that will always be covered. Ugh.
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