Quote:
Originally posted by Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)
Personally, I think of the uninsured as those who do not have an employer through whom they may purchase reasonably priced health insurance. Am I wrong (read: cite please, not me)? There are a lot of jobs that do not offer health insurance, even entirely on the employee's dime, and buying on your own is outrageously expensive because of the adverse selection problem. In other words, of those who do not have insurance, what percentage are nevertheless eligible to purchase that insurance through an employer or other group plan?
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Insurance can be outrageously expensive even if you have the opportunity to buy at group rates thru your employer, esp. if your employer has a pool of employees that tends to be expensive. Some employers don't subsidize dependent coverage (or even employee coverage) and while the group rate makes it better, it still can be a huge proportion of income for someone making even a few thousand a month, let along for people making less than a couple thousand. I believe the COBRA (i.e, unsubsidized) rate at my employer is $450ish for individual coverage. That's coming up on 1/6 of income for someone making $36k, and that's not a family rate.
I can tell you that if you are young and healthy and only buying catastrophic coverage, it's pretty damn cheap.
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