Quote:
Originally Posted by jackson33
mandated, required and government control are socialistic symbols.
the US insurance programs are all voluntary, un-mandated and there is no government involved. even the group policies a company or organization provides are optional. if you are on social security, a government program, you are liable for Medicare payment or insurance. even here you can opt out, but lose the SS benefits.
every person in the US, is provided medical service via any emergency room in the country. this has a combination of reasons, but primarily a mandate of government.
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Massachusetts has just begun a mandatory universial health insurance program on January 1, 2007. Everyone in the state is required to get health insurance through their employers or if there is not any offered or they are simply without it the state will sign them up. It is a sliding scale program with those who cannot pay being totally subsidized and then others have their premiums based on income levels.
One of the main reasons this was implimented was MA was spending over $1 billion per year on emergency room visits for the uninsured. This program through premiums and cost savings by sending those uninsured to clinics instead of the ER is by law to pay for itself. Of course, we will have to wait to see the results, but 100,000 of the uninsured have signed up.
