Alabama congressman: “People who lead good lives” don’t have preexisting conditions

[Dill]

(05-04-2017, 03:06 AM)RICHMONDBENGAL_07 Wrote: Sorry I hate when I don't know something that I feel like I should know...but what the hell is a coop? 

You put chickens in them. Sell the eggs to pay for insurance. Works very well in Europe!

LOL, no, a Cooperative is what we are talking about. For example, I had family health insurance from a coop in Germany for 10 years.

The customers or clients actually own the insurance company and elect a board and regional managers to manage it.  It is totally non profit. Once a year we elected people to positions and we got yearly reports on budgets.

So in Germany it was mandated that people below a certain yearly income had to have insurance. Coops were then available to these people.  For the rich, there was what Americans would call private insurance. No exclusions at any level for pre-existing conditions.  That was the norm everywhere in Europe.

When I arrived in 1983 I was astounded. I, my wife, and my daughter were covered for everything, plus eye care and dental, for half the price of our Blue Cross back in the states (which required us to pick and choose what the company would cover). My son was born in Germany, my daughter went through two years of chemotherapy, and I had two gall stone operations--all covered without question.  Germans would ask us questions about healthcare horror stories they heard from the US--sadly all true. And as I mentioned above, we were never swamped with bills.  We went to the doctor, were treated, went home. No bickering and endless calling to understand what we were charged for.

When we returned to the states in '93, it was insurance hell.  No one would cover our daughter for a year. Emergency room visits were 400 dollars! (in '90s dollars).  My daughter had an MRI that cost 1,000 dollars. We were no longer covered for dental and eye care--and our rates doubled.  This was about the time Bill and Hillary were pushing for healthcare reform. Everyday in the news we had to hear how the US had the best healthcare in the world and the best system, etc.  Every conservative I knew had a friend in Canada who came to the US for treatment, etc.  People who could not afford any health care were worried about losing their FREEDOM TO CHOOSE plans and doctors because of a GOVERNMENT TAKE OVER.  The free market was keeping prices down in the US!   LOL Poor Europe.