Bankrupt (via Mano Singham)
A comfortably-off middle class couple had twins born prematurely.
By the time the boys hit 18 months old, we had exceeded the cap on our $2m insurance policy and incurred $450,000 of medical debt. We liquidated our retirement accounts, saving account, sold everything we owned to try and pay it off. When I realized our savings weren’t enough, we listed an estate sale and opened our doors to crowds of Craigslist shoppers telling them everything is for sale...
And all that wasn’t enough.
The Obamacare changes to lifetime caps and pre-existing conditions would have changed our story dramatically. The pre-existing conditions clause forced us to remain in the insurance pool, while the lifetime caps excluded us from coverage. We fell into a gap that very few people hit, but it financially destroyed our family and restricted the care we were able to get for our children.
Individuals - excepting the really rich - can’t cope with huge expenses like that. Spreading the cost is the only alternative to ruining those unfortunate enough to need major medical care for themselves of their children. That is the point of the mandate.
I guess you can say that the babies should just have been allowed to die, but how does that square with the Right’s views on abortion and euthanasia? Would the people who thought that Terri Schiavo’s corpse should be kept on life support indefinitely really go for that ?
™ Version 4.2