My Dr. only charges $40 for an office visit & he spends more than 5 minutes with you. I don't even bother using my insurance when I go see him. Of course he only has a receptionist, no fax machine & I don't think he has a computer either.

I remember office calls costing around $25 and each thing added wasn't much more than a few dollars each.

The reason things cost so much is the insurance companies allow the dangest charges. When my son was still in HS (he graduated in 1998), he had his ear cleaned out and it cost over $100 for the procedure, not counting the office call. The insurance claim form had minor surgery on it and we called the insurance company thinking it was a mistake, but they said that is what they allowed for spraying a little water in the ear. I couldn't believe it.

Insurance companies are a big part of why healthcare is in the shape it is. HMOs made costs go up to make up for the low reimbursements they were paying. We can't go home again, that's why Government run healthcare scares the bejeezus out of me. I too remember the good old days before HMOs, when we went to the doctor, who actually took more than five minutes to treat us & mom paid cash.

cut out the insurance companies from the whole health care equation

I'm content with the way things are. Always held a job that had insurance. A college education makes it easier to obtain these types of employment. Don't have the money for college you say??? Quit asking for hand-outs and take a stafford loan that is pretty much guaranteed to any US citizen and get your education the good ol fashioned way...........by juggling work and college for a few years and then when your reaping the benefits of that education by having a "career" oriented job, which provides medical coverage and a better salary.........you can afford to pay back your loan :) wow......that makes way too much sense......

18 months less...OMG that's terrible! If the average life expectancy was 40 something that would be a bad thing, but geez it's in the 70's. I don't want to live forever if my existance is a shell of my life.

My mom has teachers retirement insurance & it is better than what she had before she retired...it also picked up my dad with his preexisting condition that her preretirement insurance wouldn't.

You should see what the state of Texas offers teachers when they retire. I pay one tenth of my salary every month and still cannot afford to go to the doctor. Folks talk about a government take-over. What do you call the insurance companies who hold a monopoly on health care?

It's hard to say that our healthcare system is great the way it is. Too many people can't afford healthcare and have to wait until they are in a health crisis at which time they can go to the emergency rooms and not get turned away. I don't think people want free healthcare but rather affordable healthcare. Regarding: the comment about nobody had health insurance when you were a kid, the world of diseases has changed. With the emergence of antibiotic resistant infections, the prices of medications has skyrocketed, as well as the costs of testing and care. The US ranks 27th in infant mortality and our life expectancy is almost 18 months less than nations with widely accessible healthcare. Something needs to change, because we are not a third world nation. As far as Obamacare, look at the whitehouse website to see the www.whitehouse.gov for the proposed changes.
Don't listen to the commentators or pundits. But it is ironic that the very best healthcare in our country is only available (for free) to the people that are making decisions about our healthcare, i.e. the politicians, both active and retired.

Patients in Massachusetts must wait more than 100 days on average to visit primary care physicians, according to new research detailing the costs of the state's doctor shortage.
The researchers blamed the long wait times on the state's inability to attract and retain specialists and primary care doctors because of low salaries and high living costs compared with other states.
In Massachusetts you will pay from $500 to $1000 a month for health ins, go check it out, but you might get a discount if you don’t make much money. Sample, single making $20,000 a year must pay between $500 to $1000 per month.
Reason’s listed above concern me a lot about ‘Obama Care’ yet there are people out there thinking they are going to get free health care, yeah doctors can hardly wait to make less money, people do want to wait 100 days to see the doctor when they get the flu!!!!

VBB that was years ago. Same job now, part time now, for longer then I care to remember. You missed your calling maybe. Wanted to be an attorney looking for things to grab onto ? Sad really. You can go online and see the waiting periods for benefits on job postings today.

Freespeech: Quit changing jobs so often and you won't have your problem. Perhaps if you truely as smart as you think you are, you would have figured out that your "raises" didn't cover the costs of changing employment.

Of course, I'm certain your ex-employers don't miss you....

My company is definately for profit, yet I didn't even have to wait til open enrollment. Back in the day 90 days was the going time period. I thought you were old & retired...things have changed.

I thought it was a 3-month waiting period for most insurances. 6 months is too long.

News Flash VBB :
The rest of the universe does not necessarily reflect your life experiences. Many for profit businesses and some government jobs have a waiting period. Some even require a physical.

6 months? It kicks in immediately for me every time.

When I have insurance it is great. During that 6 months when I start a new job before the new insurance kicks in I have racked up medical bills that ate up 3 years worth of the raise I changed jobs for in the first place. Then it sucks !!!

When I was a kid growing up in Victoria, nobody I knew had health insurance. Dr. Webb Detar was our family doctor and he charged five dollars for an office visit. If you got a shot, it was three dollars more. I hated going to the doctor because I was afraid of getting one of those shots.
Healthcare quality and the cost of it has really gone up. Then, I don't remember anyone talking about malpractice lawsuits at that time either.

We need affordable health care not free care.