re: #152 Daniel Ballard

I’d like to add a suggestion to your good points. We should all have tax free MSA, Medical Savings Accounts. Or simply done, any cash spent on necessary medical costs is a straight write off. Every time I pay cash for a medical service it is a fraction of what any insurance company would be billed.

There truly are a number good approaches. We do not need to force everyone into a single payer system. I have used a catastrophic plan and an HSA for almost 20 years. Every year I put the premium difference in the HSA (well as much as is allowed). We’ve had a couple of health issues come up, but I now have well over $50k in that HSA account. Given my annual max out of pocket, doubt I will never go through all of that especially since the premium savings is almost as large as the max out of pocket.

I know it is not a good choice or even a choice at all for everyone, but don’t take my freedom of choice away because it is not a good fit for everyone.

P.S. I have encountered a number of instances where the insurance company has been able to negotiate a price better than the one I can with cash in hand at the counter.