Something *has* to be done about the healthcare system here in America. I was just watching a story on Nightline about a woman who had to travel all the way to India to have a hip operation because her insurance wouldn't pay for it...it was actually cheaper to make a 30 hour trip to India than for her to go to a hospital 2 hours from her home and have it done! That's rediculous!

Valerie.
I agree. We have a client who was originally from Romania{sp}, but has lived in this country for years. I am ot sure if she is a citizen or not, but I work in an income tax office, a nd she has paid taxes for years. Anyway she has cancer, she has no insurance, so she had to go back to Romania, because health care there is free. She couldn't afford the treatments here. So she went back for 6-9 months. We haven't heard from her yet.

I don't have any insurance either...last time I went to the Dr., it was $70 just for the office visit, and that was probably about 6 years ago! Thankfully the Dr. gave me enough antibiotic samples so that I didn't have to go buy any, but she also gave me a perscription for cough medicine with Codine, which we did have to pay for...but it would have been worse out of pocket expenses if we would have had to pay for both the antibiotics and the medicine.

One good thing now, though, is that Walmart has expanded their $4 generic perscription drug program, and other stores, such as Target, Publix, and HEB are getting on the bandwagon offering low-cost generic perscription drugs so that those of us without insurance won't have to worry about the expense of perscriptions, in addition to paying for office visits.

It is very important to have health insurance which is why it is important to have a job. Most people who work fulltime have health coverage through their employment and I know that some companies/businesses even offer health coverage for their partime employees( I'm pretty sure CVS is one) because it is an incentive to get peopel to work for lower wages. The health insurance companies, such as United Health Care and Oxford also have "contracts" with phiysicians and hospitals that has them accepting whatever it is the health insurance pays and prohibits them from charigng the patient the difference(except for copays and deductibles).
Oneof the reasons for the high cost of health care is because of malpractice insurance fees. Prescrription drugs are high because of the time and research involved in producing the drugs- some drugs have been in "production" for years.

I've been self employed for years. There were times I had insurance and had to drop it because I couldn't afford to pay the premiums. The last time I had health insurance was right before I found out about having this nerve disorder. When I first got the insurance the premium was $178.00 a month . As I got older it had increased,over a period of 4 1/2 years, to just under $500.00 a month . There were times I really had to save my pennies. Then I went on Medicare and dropped the medical insurance . I do not have a supplement policy . With my house payments and just normal living expenses I am back to not being able to afford a supplement . Oh, sure ,I could hibernate and never do anything for fun ,however, not this girl. I just do the best I can . I do know some people who are very bad off and can't retire due to medical problems that require them to take medications that would be unaffordable to them if they didn't have coverage at their job. One of my friends is bi-polar and she has to take med's that are expensive. She said she went to Walmart to check on their generic drug list to see if any of her med's were listed. Not one . She is my age and also works a hard job in an assisted living facility out here. All she has is her income. It's very hard . I have heard horror stories since I've lived in,near and around this retirement area. I am really not complaining ,just explaining. I have a good life and only take one medication .There are so many who really are in need of help. Sorry for rambling on so.

Anna, You did not ramble but did explain very well about our health care system. I understand what you mean and wish that you could have a supplement as 20% left over on something is still too much. We were covered as long as I worked but did not get health care with retirement and neither did husband. We are blessed to be doing alright but sure do understand those that do not have the insurance.

Lona

My grandmother has Medicare, and when we were in FL, she had Humana as her Medicare suppliment. She didn't have to pay anything for it and it had drug coverage. When we moved here to Central Texas, the cheapest "medigap" insurance she could find was thru the local hospital, and that was $25 a month without drug coverage. Thankfully she doesn't take any drugs, but that was still a big expense. This year, we found out that another company we had contacted last year dropped their premiums to $9 a month, so she switched. She still doesn't have drug coverage, but when I contacted Humana about a $0 premium policy, they said that in order to be able to get drug coverage, you need to have an originaly policy that you pay a monthly premium on...and when we made an appointment with Humana to come out, they never even bothered to show up...so we just said 'forget about them' and went with Sterling...$9 a month is much better than $25 a month! And now with Walmart offering $4 generic perscriptions, even if she needs medication at some point, she can check and see if the meds are on their $4 list. HEB is also now offering a $5 plan that you can sign up for...might have to check into that at some point...