Guaranteed Healthcare

I am in the process of returning to the USA after many years living in the UK. I knew that getting myself insured would be problematic. I had no idea it would be such a painful experience.

Agents spread their brochures on my dining room table and tell me about the 'options' available, as though I were buying a new car or selecting cabinets for a new kitchen. Do I want emergency room coverage? Ambulance? Doctor's office visits? Of course I do - who wouldn't? But all of these 'options' - I would call them essentials - come at a high price. One plan added $74 per month to my premium because of slightly elevated blood pressure.

In the end, I chose one of the 'affordable' plans that the current issue of Consumer Reports recommends avoiding, because it was the only one I could afford; it will take 1/4 of my monthly salary, has a high deductible and includes less-than-minimal coverage. After living for 22 years in a country with a national health service I was shocked to find health coverage marketed like a consumer product.

Health care is a basic human right and should not be subject to 'market forces', and no one should have to 'decide' what coverage they can afford. Of course, as you acknowledge, our governnment leaders don't have to worry about exclusion of previous conditions, deductibles, co-payments, emergency room coverage, or medical bill-induced bankruptcy. They've already got what they call scornfully call 'socialized medicine'. But what about the rest of us?