The average Joe who can afford a benchrest rifle, ( plus an expensive scope, a bunch of expensive handloading equipment, large amounts of brass, bullets, powder, and primers, an SUV to haul this stuff to matches, etc.) likely already has health insurance and is immune to all the issues that supposedly come with selecting a plan from one of the exchanges (or paying the penalty for opting out).
It's a little worse than that. If you're 65 & qualify for Medicare, all is OK. If you're under 60, you're at risk. Yes, you have health insurance. But if you change jobs, you likely have new insurance, and in most states, the "pre-existing condition" clause kicks in with that new policy.
What people forget is you need a net worth of about $2 million to be immune from the health insurance industry. One bout of cancer at age 50 can cost close to 1 million if you are outside the insured group. (Yes, I know it is usually not that high. Believe me, I do know. But I also know it can cost that much.) Now if you get sick with a bad (expensive) illness, you better keep your same job, because a change in most states means you've gotta go for some time, maybe three years, with that pre-exsting condition not covered.
And the insurance companies still aren't done. The last time I had surgery & chemo, the insurance company wrote my doctor, behind my back, trying to get me declared disabled, because then they could put me on COBRA & be rid of me after one more year.
Laws don't always work. At this time, it is illegal for hospitals to have two prices. It is not illegal for them to dicker with insurance companies. So the "list price" is usually about twice the dickered price, even before the insurance coverage kicks in. Last time I had surgery, my wife had to deal with it, and on request (not that easy), she got a full statement from the hospital. It was about 10 pages of single line items, around 40 to the page. 400 line items to resolve. At that hospital (Duke), you either get one price as a line item, or you got a bill with each tablet of Tylenol listed. Nothing in between available.
The bill (5 days in the hospital) was, as I've said, around $26,000. About half of that was dickered away by the policy before we even got to what insurance covered. I wound up being around $3,000 out of pocket. But if I hadn't had insurance, that one event would have been the full $26,000.
Uh, no, I didn't change jobs, and yes, I got all over that company for trying to have me declared "disabled."
The thing people have to decide is whether or not health is a right, like life & liberty. If not, just die & don't B**** about it. If it is, look at what things cost now. It's a little different than when the founding fathers looked at "health." Hell, it's a little different than it was in 1960.
Then look at how much you will need if the insurance companies kick you out -- and if you get sick, they will try. You will be forced to conclude it will take government to have the clout to deal with them. Or, as I say, you need to have about $2 million to be safe, then you don't need the government. Or just accept it all & die quietly, leaving your heirs only debt.
