We already pay for the uninsured through higher preminiums.
No we don't. We pay higher premiums because of the mandates and lack of competition. We pay higher premiums because people don't take care of themselves.
The higher cost of medical care is not all about insurance and never was. It is about a system that needs to be fixed by allowing some things to happen and people to take responsibility for their own health.
BCBS doesn't seem to refuse people with 'pre-existing' conditions and many other insurance companies also don't. The problem with that is choice should be the person's to fnid an insurance policy that fits their needs, which has only to do with the competition within the industry. The tax laws are the real prevention to allowing people more control.
The problem with insurance is that there is too much that should not be covered by basic policies. I am not talking about a weight lost program or an experimental treatment that can limit cancer's reach in the body but things like Tattoo removal or sex change operation.
The latter I used as an example and some people here think I am making it up to bash gays but not really. I know of a few cases where BCBS covered the sex change operation at a total cost of $455,000 - excluding follow treatment and hormone medication, that is extra. One case the man turned into a female and he scammed BCBS out of a lot of money (another serious issue for all of us) by claiming he was his "partner's spouse" after he had his final operation and went through the court to change his name. It took an coder to find out what was going on after she was hired to audit the doctors billing.
Tattoo removal is also something that is very expensive and depending on the state, is part of the mandated package. I think it is NY that has this listed as one of the services paid for, it cost an average of $5000, sometimes as high as $10,000 to have one removed with follow up visits.
To answer your question, I had no insurance for a while and I made it without any real problems but I would not ever want to have the government have a hand in anything to do with my health care.
Knowing what I know about the abuses behind the scene with insurance companies, hospitals and especially private practices, it would be 1000 times worst and we would end up with limited care across the board so those with public health care would not "feel" bad about their situation because they would drag the rest of the system down to that level.
Just the privacy issue alone has me very concern. If you guys don't understand why they want to push for standardized records and the talk of a medical record clearning house, go read
1984 or better yet
A Brave New World.
The other thing is this, with this "health care reform" there is one group who is going to suffer the most in the next 10 years, the seniors. They will get their benefits cut and end up with a lot less then they ever imagined. The second group who will get screwed on all of this is the 18 to 25 years olds who will be forced to take a public option and then have to pay for all of this with more taxes and more fines.