-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 On Fri, Oct 20, 2000 at 01:23:32AM -0700, petro wrote:
Most insurance companies are worth millions, if not billions, of dollars, and they make huge profits. Insuring all of the people that they now deny based on genetic abnormalities would still allow them to make decent profits.
So? Where is it mandated that they cover those?
In fact, display proof that they *DON'T*.
I believe that currently, they do cover people with genetic abnormalities. However, they have been trying for quite some time to allow for discrimination based upon said abnormalities.
Most children--which is where genetic "abnormalities" show up--are covered often sight unseen through their parents policies, and often before they are even conceived.
OK. This lowers the amount of people the companies would be discriminating aginst. Therefore, the insurance company is saving less money. Therefore, we have more reason to force them to insure said people, if it affects them less.
Also, people cannot simply create insurance companies. Breaking into the healthcare business is damn near impossible, unless you have established relationships inside the industry.
No, you have to have (a) big chunks of assets, and (b) follow some *EXTREMELY* thick government rules.
It's the government stupid.
And many people are denied coverage outright, therefore removing the possibility of simply paying for their coverage.
Huh?
How does denial of coverage prevent them from paying?
Oh, you must not have meant what you wrote.
Like I've said before, people may be able to afford coverage without being able to afford the care.
You must have meant "many people who are denied coverage are denied treatment since they don't have health care".
Guess why? Government again. If I have a health care bill, and pay even a *TINY* bit on it--like $10 a month, the creditor cannot file negative reports against me, cannot come after me legally etc. even if I owed 20k in medical bills. (you do the math on how long it takes to pay off 20k at $10 a month). Therefore, the hospitals know that for anything less than life threatening treatment, it's a losing battle to provide treatment to those without the demonstrated means to pay.
Medicine is not a commodity, but it's *still* a business. It has to be.
Why does it have to be a business? - -- Nathan Saper (natedog@well.com) | http://www.well.com/user/natedog/ GnuPG (ElGamal/DSA): 0x9AD0F382 | PGP 2.x (RSA): 0x386C4B91 Standard PGP & PGP/MIME OK | AOL Instant Messenger: linuxfu -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.0.4 (GNU/Linux) Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org iD8DBQE58MBv2FWyBZrQ84IRAodQAJ9spTbVw/amKCcPVFvDoJzQ6MeO5gCgry1x DTZOue8kOe9jrc01n8M7Euw= =pWUy -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----