Found out you must have Health Insurance if you have money. (medical, plan)

[JD59]

Friend of mine had a business and he had no medical insurance. He had a accident on one of his machine shop machines which made a steel bar hit him on the head and he was in coma for three months. This cost him over 500,000 dollars in medical bills. He lost his business. This friend could afford insurance but just didn't think he need it. He was in his late 50's when this accident happen.

[Briolat21]

I'm really sorry your friend got hurt... and lost his business through his inability to work...

but I'm not really suprised at the news that "you need health insurance". Pretty much everyone needs to have it (in case of a horrible accident, if nothing else) ... just a lot of people would rather spend their money on something else and so they skip health insurance.

Unfortunately, as your friend found out, not having health insurance doesn't mean you don't get billed when you do have a problem. It just means you must use up your savings, or sell your assets (or file a medical bankruptcy) to pay.

Hope your friend gets better, and I hope he's able to rebuild his business and his savings account.

[rational1]

> Found out you must have Health Insurance if you have money

I realized this was the case 30 years ago when I started to have money in the bank.

You need to be very wealthy- not necessarily Mitt Romney wealthy but well into the millions- to be able to risk paying for health care.

There are many conditions where you can go into a hospital and come out with a future life expectancy of many decades- and end up owing nearly a million.

[veuvegirl]

Did he not have workman's comp? Or any disability insurance to protect his business?

[JD59]

Originally Posted by veuvegirl

Did he not have workman's comp? Or any disability insurance to protect his business?

No insurance of any kind. He is now 67 years old and has completely Recovered from his accident.

[Minervah]

Sadly your friend was one of thousands upon thousands who have simply assumed that Americans have had some sort of government health plan that would pay their hospital expenses as they had unemployment insurance or Worker's Compensation coverage. Although having his own business, your friend should have known he had neither of the latter.

I know people here are very knowledgeable will find this difficult to believe but it is true. As a health insurance claims adjuster I cannot tell you how many times employees of the companies we covered called me totally aghast at the fact that their Plans did not cover all their medical expenses and really believed they had to have had some sort of government plan to take up the slack. Or those who had no coverage because for whatever reason were not eligible or did not elect to take coverage were certain there was some kind of government program for them that would handle all their medical expenses.

Americans in the past have been incredibly naive about medical coverage. I think they are more aware today but only just.

[fumbling]

Originally Posted by Minervah

Sadly your friend was one of thousands upon thousands who have simply assumed that Americans have had some sort of government health plan that would pay their hospital expenses as they had unemployment insurance or Worker's Compensation coverage. Although having his own business, your friend should have known he had neither of the latter.

I know people here are very knowledgeable will find this difficult to believe but it is true. As a health insurance claims adjuster I cannot tell you how many times employees of the companies we covered called me totally aghast at the fact that their Plans did not cover all their medical expenses and really believed they had to have had some sort of government plan to take up the slack. Or those who had no coverage because for whatever reason were not eligible or did not elect to take coverage were certain there was some kind of government program for them that would handle all their medical expenses.

Americans in the past have been incredibly naive about medical coverage. I think they are more aware today but only just.

Just because this is how it was, doesn't mean this is how it should be. I think there SHOULD be a government program that handles all medical expenses, funded by taxes or single payer system that EVERYONE pays into whether they want to or not.

[golfgal]

In most states Workman's comp does NOT cover the owner of the company if they are set up as anything except a C-Corp.

[Minervah]

Originally Posted by fumbling

Just because this is how it was, doesn't mean this is how it should be. I think there SHOULD be a government program that handles all medical expenses, funded by taxes or single payer system that EVERYONE pays into whether they want to or not.

I couldn't agree with you more. Every presidental election for decades. I wrote to the new incumbent stating this. I also wrote to my sentors, representatives and anyone who I could think of. This began way back in the 60's when I first began this type of work and realized how the need for a health insurance system for everyone in this country was needed.

I read about how other countries had universal health care and how their systems worked. I saw howw there were times when the US came close but the the the system was always defeated. I was most saddened by the irony that my fellow citizens were not as passionate and concerned about this subject only taking notice when it affected them personally only then realizing it was too late after losing their everything they had worked for to pay their medical bills.

To say that "just because this is how it was, doesn't mean this is how it should be" is an understatement. But it is what the American people have accepted for all these many decades and is what so many are still willing to accept. Fortunately many today are not but it is an uphill battle.