""Scary" Government Health Insurace - is it scarier than yours? Compare!

[K8-EEE]

Don't our elected officials already get government-subsidized insurance? And we pay for it, right?

Interesting to compare the coverage here with what people in the wonderful world of private insurance get:

https://www.fsafeds.com/fsafeds/eligibleexpenses.asp

Mileage reimbursement to health care appts? Reimbursement for over-the-counter meds? Clearasil? Reimbursement for chapstick and hand sanitizer??

Anybody out there get anything like THAT?

[OhioChick]

1. Must be nice....

After paying for a majority of mine monthly through my employer....and the high deductibles, co-pays, etc., my out of pocket expense is approximately 10-15K yearly. (I have a chronically ill child)

[jwirr]

2. Some states authorize transportation through Medicaid and Medicare.

[K8-EEE]

6. But that is also "socialized medicine," right?

These RWers who want to get rid of Medicare -- can you imagine being old and/or sick and trying to buy private health insurance???

[jwirr]

I can imagine it very easily. I am 67 years old and that is my nightmare.

[ThoughtCriminal]

3. I laugh at the "Nightmare of Socialized Medicine"

The "Private" health insurance companies I've had to deal with seem to be worse than Stalin Era Soviet Bureaucracies.

The idea that under the current system, consumers have any real choices is delusional.

[K8-EEE]

7. the Senators don't want to opt out of their own "socialized medicine"

and join us in the wonderful world of Private Health Insurance?

Why is that?

[bobbolink]

14. Have you put that question to those who consistently vote against it?

Excellent question..... make some phone calls, and report the results here.

I would be really interested in what their aides have to say about this!

:thumbsup:

[kimmylavin]

4. Must be nice, indeed...

I've often said that if Mr. Cheney had to deal with the healthcare the rest of us schmucks have, he'd have been dead years ago...

[wurzel]

5. Remember they are only there to serve us.

[Obamanaut]

Sometimes there seems to be an air of displeasure directed

toward elected officials, yet they are reelected for multiple terms, up into their 80's. Why is that?

[bobbolink]

15. True. But serving dishes of warmed-over shit isn't very healthy for us.

:) :) :) :) :)

[onethatcares]

8. deregulation of

the cost of health care and healthcare insurance will lead to competition which will engender lower costs for everyone. ( where the hell did I see that?)

[K8-EEE]

9. So the Senators should be able to get WAY better private health ins...

than THIS....and why don't they? They can afford it more than most of the rest of us can!

[Deja Q]

10. I see lots of doctors offices and insurance companies out there. Competition already exists.

:shrug:

[K8-EEE]

11. They're in competition to maximize profits

and deny coverage -- "competition" doesn't really make sense in health care.

[annabanana]

17. It was the line they threw out way back when HMO's were invented

(remember the tape of Nixon about Kaiser Permanente?)

[Swamp Rat]

12. I haven't had health insurance since Bushler assumed power.

[REACTIVATED IN CT]

13. This is not their health insurance coverage

This is their FSA - flexible spending account- eligible expenses.


Anyone whose employer offers an FSA can have the same coverage. You put part of your paycheck into the account pre-tax every pay period and can submit claims for these expenses. It is use it or lose it - so you have to be careful in estimating your out of pocket expenses for a year. Sometimes its referred to as a cafeteria plan or Section 125 plan - and it is part of those.

Also it does not help with unanticipated expenses. I didn't sign up for the FSA at work and then had $10 co-pays for dozens of physical therapy visits after I broke a bone.

[Prophet 451]

16. Socialised medicine is so scary...

...that I've been happly living under it for 32 years (British).

[amandabeech]

18. This is a Cafeteria Plan for federal workers, NOT HEALTH INSURANCE.

Some private employers choose to offer them, too. They are available to all employers.

The Cafeteria Plan member (the employee) puts pre-tax dollars into an individual account with the plan, and then is allowed reimbursement from his or her account with the plan for health expenses specified by the plan and the Internal Revenue Code, like over-the-counter acne medicine or allergy medicine--think Claritin and Zyrtec.

I worked for a firm with a Cafeteria Plan. They offered health insurance, but didn't pay for it. Instead, employees paid for it through the Cafeteria Plan, which meant that the employees did not pay any taxes on the money they paid for health insurance. For me, it mean that my $450 policy cost me more like $315.

These plans can also be used for child care and maybe elder (parent)care expenses.