Individual health insurance in the USVI

When I couldn't pay for healthcare I took a job I didn't want but needed in order to have the insurance. I have friends who think they shouldn't have to take a job they don't "want" - I call it being an adult and doing what needs to be done. While my friends were out partying I was busy working but I had insurance.

Our economy is currently a monopoly of about 12 major corporations, most of which who receive significant and nauseating amounts of corporate welfare from our government.

Where did you get this? You sound like you have some authoritative source, hopefully something better than "nuts-r-us.com". Please enlighten us as to your sources.

ETA: I was a Libertarian about ten years ago. Not any longer - I now consider them some of the most deluded sociopaths on the planet, in a general sense.

That's interesting, I think of extreme liberals as people who are unhappy with their lot in life and rather than deal with their problems themselves they expect other people to take care of them. They see others with more than themselves and consider life unfair. Poor baby. Americans used to be self sufficient. Now many are cry babies looking for a handout.

BTW - I find ravens very interesting, especially the unique kind from Bam, Burkina Faso.

Rotorhead, so what would be your plan for dealing with those who could not pay for healthcare?

I don't have a plan for dealing with them. I do my best to provide for my family and plan for our future. When the government comes along and decides that I am responsible for people who did not plan for their own future it throws a kink into my plans.

I like your firefighter story. If everyone paid for health care then it could be affordable. It should be affordable, but everyone should pay or not be covered. When I was checking on health care in Panama, I found that as an ex-pat I could buy a policy through the hospitals for about $1000 a year. That's affordable! It included prescription drug coverage. If you didn't buy this coverage then they would require proof of ability to pay before treating you.

When liberals decide that we are all responsible for each other then I want to get in on their decision making. Why am I responsible for paying for someone who smokes? I don't smoke, that keeps my rates lower. Why can people decide to have 4 or 5 kids when they can't even afford health care for themselves? Why am I responsible for their health care? If I am responsible for supporting them then I want to limit how they live their lives not just have to pay for whatever they decide to do.

I do not think that the government has a mandate to redistribute wealth.

I do not think that it takes a village to raise a child, I think that it takes parents who take an interest in the welfare of their children and plan accordingly.

I am socially liberal but fiscally conservative, a Libertarian. I am pro-choice, LGBT friendly, pro-contraceptives, etc. People have a right to live their lives as they see fit. But if things don't work out the way that they plan then they are responsible for their own risk management. America has always been a place for the self-sufficient, the self-reliant.

A welfare society is a dependent society, all good little democrats. I support private charities. Private charities do a better job of oversight than government charities do.

Rotor, that's my point. Someone has to be responsible and it shouldn't be all the rest of us - so it has to be each individual. To me, this is just like car insurance, if you have a car, you have to have insurance at least to protect others from you. Same with health insurance.

And it will have to be mandatory. Otherwise it just won't work.

I too tend to be socially liberal and fiscally more conservative.

Another setback! Go figure..

So, late in the night when no one is paying any attention and we are all focusing on Thanksgiving festivities, the Obama administration once again delaying the launch of an online small-business health care exchange, pushing the deadline back a full year to November 2014.
Maybe this entire mess should be repealed and something simpler and EFFECTIVE should be implemented! In the midst of the angst and uncertainty that small businesses and Americans feel about Obamacare, today’s news of yet another last minute delay is just more proof that the law is unworkable and bad for individuals and small businesses.

Just one more example of why the government should not be in the healthcare business and get out of our lives!

It seems to me that the liberals who have been experiencing a wet dream over this entitlement for the past 4 years should now stand up and admit that it is a seriously flawed piece of legislation and needs to be replaced, along with it's founder. A number of inept politicians were put in charge of this and what we have seen to date is only a minute portion of the problems that this is going to cause in the coming year. The debacle will likely set liberalism back for years! All you have to do is to hit people in the pocketbook as few are really paying attention to what is really going on that past few years.

Our deductible just went up from $1250 to $8000 and it the letter that we received from BCBS, it stated that the premiums will likely go up in 2014. All because of the 'Affordable Care Act! So, who is it affordable for? Affordable only to the people who are getting FREE or subsidized healthcare paid in part by the responsible and accountable people who have tried to do the right thing and done what it takes to take care of themselves and their families.

The sooner ObamaCare becomes a single payer system like Canada, France and many other progressive countries the better. We need to get these parasite insurance companies out of the picture and take the profit out of healthcare. Additionally, we need tort reform so frivolous healthcare lawsuits can be eliminated too. Its coming, but not quick enough.

This was the plan from the git go. That is why you haven't heard a word from Harry Reid (daddy Obama) or Nancy Pelosi (momma Obama) about the troubles and issues with the new rollout. They Know the only fix for this travesty is a single payer system. But this is what happens when one political party controls both houses and the presidency, it reminds me of a quote "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Let me add one comment!

Lived and worked in the U.K. and Canada for a number of years and all my family lives in Canada today. Let me inform you that NEITHER HAS THE ANSWER TO THE HEALTHCARE ISSUE, unless you want to wait months for a specialist and have 50+% of your income taken by the government to subsidize their entitlement and welfare programs. If you like that idea, then move there and see how it works for you!
And CaribSTX, your healthcare in Canada and France are not FREE! The responsible citizens are paying for it in their income taxes..

In Canada, our neighbor who is a doctor in CANADA, has a health insurance policy in Michigan for him and his family with BCBS. He would not take his children to hospital in Canada! Also, when you see high profile people from other countries ill, they DON'T go to Canada or the U.K. for treatment! They come to the U.S. where we have not only the most qualified doctors but also the most advanced treatments in the world!

The sooner ObamaCare becomes a single payer system like Canada, France and many other progressive countries the better. We need to get these parasite insurance companies out of the picture and take the profit out of healthcare. Additionally, we need tort reform so frivolous healthcare lawsuits can be eliminated too. Its coming, but not quick enough.

This was the plan from the git go. That is why you haven't heard a word from Harry Reid (daddy Obama) or Nancy Pelosi (momma Obama) about the troubles and issues with the new rollout. They Know the only fix for this travesty is a single payer system. But this is what happens when one political party controls both houses and the presidency, it reminds me of a quote "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Let me add one comment!

Lived and worked in the U.K. and Canada for a number of years and all my family lives in Canada today. Let me inform you that NEITHER HAS THE ANSWER TO THE HEALTHCARE ISSUE, unless you want to wait months for a specialist and have 50% of your income taken by the government to subsidize their welfare programs. If you like that idea, then move there and see how it works for you!

In Canada, our neighbor who is a doctor, had a health insurance policy in Michigan for him and his family. He would not take his children to hospital in Canada! Also, when you see high profile people from other countries ill, they DON'T go to Canada or the U.K. for treatment! They come to the U.S. where we have not only the most qualified doctors but also the most advanced treatments in the world! And, it doesn't come cheap!

I agree, something has to offset the other and if you want good healthcare, you have to be able to pay for it. This reminds me of the housing market where for some reason the government misread the constitution to include people being given the right to own property and a home no matter whether they could afford it or not, hence the trouble we are in now. So should own homes while some should always be renters. I saw a documentary a while back where the UK was actually losing like 70% of their earning to subsidize government programs. I'm afraid sooner rather than later the US is going to wake up from this coma and realize we can't keep up this pace of spending and government handouts. I just hope it doesn't take as long as it did Greece, but I'm afraid when it does all hell is going to break loose when they have to start drastically cutting.

The Government sooooo reminds me of when my daughter was young, she would come to either me or her mother and at first ask for those $150.00 dockers or British Night or Nike shoes and when we would tell her no, we couldn't afford them, she would demand that we go to the bank and get the money, they will give the money to us. Out of the mouth of babes, no concept of where the money comes from, how it was going to get paid back or nothing else, just that SHE wanted it. Sound familiar?

I'm not what I call a liberal, by any means, I believe in live and let live, freedom of choice be it reproductive right or whether to choose if you want health care or not, I also have no problem with Gay marriage. What I do have a problem with someone telling me I need to help or pay for my neighbor, who doesn't hit a lick at a snake, sits on his and her butt all day long smoking dope or whatever else they do rather than going out and working for a living. I disagree with rich people getting hammered for not taking their money and giving it away to everyone. Why should they, those people worked hard for what they have, they saved, they took risks and suffered failures as well as successes to get where they are. So why should they have to support the lazy non risk takers?

The sooner ObamaCare becomes a single payer system like Canada, France and many other progressive countries the better. We need to get these parasite insurance companies out of the picture and take the profit out of healthcare. Additionally, we need tort reform so frivolous healthcare lawsuits can be eliminated too. Its coming, but not quick enough.

This was the plan from the git go. That is why you haven't heard a word from Harry Reid (daddy Obama) or Nancy Pelosi (momma Obama) about the troubles and issues with the new rollout. They Know the only fix for this travesty is a single payer system. But this is what happens when one political party controls both houses and the presidency, it reminds me of a quote "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Let me add one comment!

Lived and worked in the U.K. and Canada for a number of years and all my family lives in Canada today. Let me inform you that NEITHER HAS THE ANSWER TO THE HEALTHCARE ISSUE, unless you want to wait months for a specialist and have 50% of your income taken by the government to subsidize their welfare programs. If you like that idea, then move there and see how it works for you!

In Canada, our neighbor who is a doctor, had a health insurance policy in Michigan for him and his family. He would not take his children to hospital in Canada! Also, when you see high profile people from other countries ill, they DON'T go to Canada or the U.K. for treatment! They come to the U.S. where we have not only the most qualified doctors but also the most advanced treatments in the world! And, it doesn't come cheap!

I agree, something has to offset the other and if you want good healthcare, you have to be able to pay for it. This reminds me of the housing market where for some reason the government misread the constitution to include people being given the right to own property and a home no matter whether they could afford it or not, hence the trouble we are in now. So should own homes while some should always be renters. I saw a documentary a while back where the UK was actually losing like 70% of their earning to subsidize government programs. I'm afraid sooner rather than later the US is going to wake up from this coma and realize we can't keep up this pace of spending and government handouts. I just hope it doesn't take as long as it did Greece, but I'm afraid when it does all hell is going to break loose when they have to start drastically cutting.

The Government sooooo reminds me of when my daughter was young, she would come to either me or her mother and at first ask for those $150.00 dockers or British Night or Nike shoes and when we would tell her no, we couldn't afford them, she would demand that we go to the bank and get the money, they will give the money to us. Out of the mouth of babes, no concept of where the money comes from, how it was going to get paid back or nothing else, just that SHE wanted it. Sound familiar?

I'm not what I call a liberal, by any means, I believe in live and let live, freedom of choice be it reproductive right or whether to choose if you want health care or not, I also have no problem with Gay marriage. What I do have a problem with someone telling me I need to help or pay for my neighbor, who doesn't hit a lick at a snake, sits on his and her butt all day long smoking dope or whatever else they do rather than going out and working for a living. I disagree with rich people getting hammered for not taking their money and giving it away to everyone. Why should they, those people worked hard for what they have, they saved, they took risks and suffered failures as well as successes to get where they are. So why should they have to support the lazy non risk takers?

Hey mtdoramike

I think your daughter may be a 'closet liberal'! Only joking but I'm with you.

I did not come from a 'privileged family' and we worked very hard and many long hours to acquire what we have today. Nothing is easy in this world! I would like the opportunity to spend what we have been able to save and invest over the years as I like and not the way someone else would like me to. I donate to charities and pay my fair share of taxes and am very tired of paying benefits and subsidies for others who are not worthy of it. Nuff said!

Govt interference separated the consumer of health care service from the person paying for it. This is the root cause http://www.thinkreliability.com/Root-Cause-Analysis-CM-Basics.aspx of the problem we have. Whining IT'S NOT FAIR is not going to fix the problem. Govt created this problem and can only make it worse. Why is this so hard to figure out? Govt cannot efficiently run a postal system, efficiently run a retirement system, efficiently run a railway system, etc. Why would anyone think (therein lies the problem) the govt can efficiently run a heath care system?

"Once there lived an ant and a grasshopper in a grassy meadow.

It is wise to worry about tomorrow today."

hahahahahahahahaha, I think your right, I believe she started off a liberal being brain washed by those liberal doctors while in the recovery room at the hospital :), but she has since had a change of heart once she got older and had to start working to pay for those Nike's, that and I think I brow beat the other concept out of her. That was in the 80's, oh yes, those wonderful 80's that conservatives on Fox new love to tout about. Those glorious Reagan years. What I remember was working for $8900.00 a year in the early 80's to finally getting a raise to $10,400.00 a year a year or two later and trying to raise a family of three on. We were eating a lot of canned Tuna and egg sandwiches during those times just trying to make ends meet. The interest rate for a car at that time was 11%, which is what I paid the bank. There was no such thing as a savings account, who had extra money to put in the bank? So when I hear people touting those Reagan years as wonderful, I have to ask, did they really live through them? hahahaha. I guess I'm more of a moderate conservative if there is such a thing?

As Winston Churchill famously said, "If you're not a liberal when you're young, you have no heart; if you don't become a Conservative once you're older, you have no head"!

You've probably heard the joke, but...

You know how to convert a democrat to a republican?

Make them move out of their parents house and get a job!

So I'm still wondering, in your world, what happens to the 12 year old who falls off her bike and breaks her arm if her parents don't have insurance?

vinow

Sorry to see that an important discussion about health coverage in the VI has been hijacked by a few bloviating self important Obama haters. Please move this discussion to the coconut forum.

So I'm still wondering, in your world, what happens to the 12 year old who falls off her bike and breaks her arm if her parents don't have insurance?

The parents get to pay for the medical expenses out of pocket. That is the decision that they made. No ER will turn them away, but they will bill them later.

If the parents are not capable of taking care of their children then they should be taken from them and put into a foster home, hopefully with parents who can do a better job.

I encourage private charities. There are many private hospitals, like St Jude, that accept charity cases. I feel that charity is a personal matter, not a government matter. As I said earlier, I see no problem with people forming insurance pools to lower premiums and manage their risk but I am against the government FORCING people to participate. The government is not your MOTHER.

Sorry to see that an important discussion about health coverage in the VI has been hijacked by a few bloviating self important Obama haters. Please move this discussion to the coconut forum.

I don't hate Obama, I do disagree with MANY of his policies. ACA was pushed through congress during a two year window when Democrats controlled the presidency and both houses of congress. They could have passed anything and all they came up with is Obamacare. Many democrats have changed their minds about ACA.

As for individual insurance in the USVI, That could easily be fixed by the USVI Senate if they cared. The only thing keeping BIG out of state insurance companies from coming in and offering coverage that is affordable is local regulations. Same with auto insurance. Our local government believes in protectionism. They are protecting our local territorial insurance companies from competition at the expense of our citizens. You know, shop local no matter what the costs.

BTW - My comments are my own opinions, feel free to disagree.

That's interesting, I think of extreme liberals as people who are unhappy with their lot in life and rather than deal with their problems themselves they expect other people to take care of them. They see others with more than themselves and consider life unfair. Poor baby. Americans used to be self sufficient. Now many are cry babies looking for a handout.

BTW - I find ravens very interesting, especially the unique kind from Bam, Burkina Faso.

I don't think of those people as extreme liberals- I think of them as bums. They have zero idea regarding liberal ideals, philosophy, etc. Hell, the majority of them (if they do vote) couldn't even tell you the VPs name. That being said, the democratic party does appear to cater to them, just as the republican party caters to evangelical religious zealots. Bums are far less dangerous IMO, but I'm willing to call it a draw 😉

Sorry to see that an important discussion about health coverage in the VI has been hijacked by a few bloviating self important Obama haters. Please move this discussion to the coconut forum.

Wow. Just Wow. So if you talk about personal responsibility and doing what it takes to take care of yourself and your family this is what you get called. No wonder our country is in such shape.

Sorry to see that an important discussion about health coverage in the VI has been hijacked by a few bloviating self important Obama haters. Please move this discussion to the coconut forum.

I can't say that I hate Obama either, he's a likable guy BUT I do object to his ideology and the direction he is taking our country.
My primary issue with him is that he is NOT a leader, he is a savvy politician and that's it! He was re-elected on rhetoric, not performance. The world is falling and he is out fundraising for another campaign. That is not what a leader does. He obviously has the ability to squirm out of all the controversy that has recently plagued his administration, and no one holds HIM accountable and he holds no one accountable.
How many times have we heard that ' I am going to get to the bottom of this and hold people accountable'! Just talk, and absolutely NO action.

The fact is that is he was in the private sector, the board of directors would have fired him years ago for the lack of performance!
.

Rotor, my basic question is this - if a person can't pay for emergency health care - should they be cared for anyway?? If you think they should, then you are moving the cost to someone else. It's easy to say let the hospital/charity/etc pick up the cost or give the care and charge for it later (knowing full well the care can never be paid for). But the reality is that there are decent, hardworking people who, for a myriad of reasons, who do not have health care. Unless you are will to deny emergency health care to these people - then we as a country, have to figure out a way to provide this care in a way that is fair to all.

Rotor, my basic question is this - if a person can't pay for emergency health care - should they be cared for anyway?? If you think they should, then you are moving the cost to someone else. It's easy to say let the hospital/charity/etc pick up the cost or give the care and charge for it later (knowing full well the care can never be paid for). But the reality is that there are decent, hardworking people who, for a myriad of reasons, who do not have health care. Unless you are will to deny emergency health care to these people - then we as a country, have to figure out a way to provide this care in a way that is fair to all.

The only "fair" way to handle this would be to deny health care to people who do not pay for it. Health care is no more of a right than getting my car fixed. Should I expect a mechanic to fix my car for free? Health care is a service provided by trained professionals who expect to be paid.

Any system which forces people to pay for someone else's health care cannot be considered fair. Why should "everyone" be forced to purchase health care insurance, except that those who cannot pay today will get this insurance for free through subsidies and others will pay more than they normally would because someone has to pay for those who get it free.

Even if you were to pass a law requiring everyone to purchase national health insurance for $1000 a year, some would claim that was a hardship and expect it for free.

Insurance is all about risk management. Why should someone who has a net worth of over a few million dollars be required to purchase health care insurance? They might decide to "self insure", i.e. take the risk of having to pay out of pocket for health care expenses. Shouldn't they have the right to do that? Why should they be forced to pay for someone else's health care? How is that "fair"?

These are tough questions. What is a "right" and what is a "privilege"? You mentioned auto insurance requirements earlier. Driving is considered a privilege. So they can place restrictions on your ability to drive by forcing you to prove financial responsibility. You have to pass a test and prove that you know the rules.

On the other hand, child bearing is considered a "right". No classes in parenting are required. And you are entitled to have one or more children without having to prove financial responsibility. You are entitled to have children with the full expectation that someone else will bear the cost of feeding, educating, housing and providing health care for your children. How is this "fair"? We end up with many broken kids because of bad parenting. Is this lack of oversight causing problems in society? I think so.

I think that the government should be focusing it's attention on making health care more affordable, not on forcing some people to pay for the health care of others, no matter how creative they try to get. They should focus on the cost of malpractice litigation and prescription drug costs to begin with. Why do my medications cost one third as much in Mexico as they do in the US? They are produced by the same pharmaceutical company in the same factory. Why can I get dental work done in Panama for less than half the cost of getting it done in the US?

So Linda, what do you consider "fair"? How would you solve this problem?

What gets me is, we HAVE BEEN paying for those who do not have health insurance, this is why hospitals charge such outrageous fees is to cover those who show up at the emergency rooms like Illegal aliens. The cost has always been passed on to everyone else, so where is this any different, we are still toting the load with subsidies. Why do you think the ACA was pushed through in the blink of an eye BEFORE Immigration reform. All of those millions of new Americans will wind up being added to the dole and most will qualify for medicaide, which will nearly bankrupt every state unless something else is done to create a large enough pool of people and money to cover it. I believe this is why a single payer system was pushed through.

But all of this is an assumption on my part and my opinion only.

If we were debating anything else then I would agree - those who cannot pay should NOT receive services. But the reality is that we, as a nation, are not going to let people/children to suffer at the side of the road after an auto accident. Neither is 911 going to tell someone having a heart attack that no service is available. A farmer involved in a farm accident is not going to be shoved to the rear of the ER and left to die. It's just not gonna happen. So we have to figure out a way to pay for the services our society demands.

I don't know if the ACA is gonna help or just add to the problem. I do know that something needs to be tried and this is the only option on the table. In a better world, our elected representatives would have the best interest on the country at heart and would be working day and night on this and several other crisis issues. Instead, congress will be working 4 days between now and Christmas.

And during those 4 days, one of the things they do have enough time to worry about is the relocation of the US embassy to the Vatican from one part of Rome to another. Gotta love these guys.

In a better world, our elected representatives would have the best interest on the country at heart

If only this were a better world. Elected representatives only care about themselves and their pockets. If ACA is so great than why have our "elected reps" exempted themselves (and in some cases many of the businesses in their states) from it?

How can a country "of the people, by the people, for the people" allow our reps to sit "above it" all and exempt themselves from the law? Here's to Rand Paul's proposed amendment!

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2013/oct/24/paul-no-one-is-above-the-law-but-congress/

Just wait until we see what is in store for us in 2014 with Obamacare! We have only seen a 'TIP' of this outrageous legislation and there will surely be millions of families hurt by this.

A lot of people have been focusing on the website. This is the most mundane part of the entire legislation. It is truly amazing to me that after 3+ years and 600 million that they could not get this correct! Wait until the doctors don't get paid...the next shoe will fall.

So, here we are on Black Saturday and the administration is trying to persuade people to sit down with your income tax forms and ease into the New and Improved healthcare.gov website. Now, don't do it all at once and don't enter any personal data and don't expect an accurate assessment of your subsidy! Other than that, it's fine!

Liberals' fantasy once envisioned millions of Americans signing up in unison for government health care. That’s now their nightmare. It’s mine, too!

Here is the NEW Healthcare.gov!

This page can’t be displayed

•Make sure the web address http://healthcare.gov is correct.

Looks good so far! 🙂