[startover22]

Funny you should mention the "BIG mistakes", check out this: Ariz. hospital sends patient a $49M bill - Yahoo! News EEK! Now of course that was an admin error and I mention it for poops and giggles purposes only!

It's my understanding though, that doctors charge so much in part because of the malpractice insurance they must carry. There are medical malpractice suits out there where people are being awarded millions upon millions of dollars. I'm not saying if you are wrongfully treated you shouldn't have rights and options, but a botched boob job doesn't entitle you to $10million!

State to state plans... well, that means the federal gubment has to relinquish some power, so, probably not going to happen. :)

Wow, that is funny. I know it is crazy that people are being awarded that kind of money. I had 3 surgeries on my ear and was really screwed up after. I told the people I needed to and that was that. I didn't sue for millions although I am positive I would have gotten hundreds of thousands but I didn't... Money makes people go mad. Even people with enough of it to do whatever they want.
All right so I have no good ideas on what to do. I have opinions on what not to do though. I will not stand to see someone about my health that I am not comfortable with...

[AKaeTrue]

I figured Michael Moore was the reason you were asking this question. Michael Moore is the so called documentary film maker that hates America. He skews his figures to make America look like it's on brink of collapse and then sell his documentary to the rest of the world to paint a bad picture of us. His latest documentary Sicko (2007) is about how bad US health care is. He picks and chooses what facts he wants to display in order to make it appear as bad as possible. So if you don't know any better and don't do your research you agree with him.

Universal health care will only compound the jobless slackers that get free benefits and from what it sounds like from your situation universal health care would be very bad because instead of being able to make the choice not to buy health insurance you would be forced to do so by increased tax rates so that the government could cover you and the slacker down the street.

As Jillian said earlier perhaps you should talk with an insurance agent and see if there is a group plan that you can join for small business owners. I know our government has lots of programs to help small business owners out so there maybe something there for you.

I vaguely heard about Sicko...
LOL, the funny thing about it is that I thought it was a scary movie.
I happen to be terrified of scary movies, don't pay attention to, listen to or watch their pre views, so I had no idea what it actually was...

[AKaeTrue]

Jillian, thanks for all the info and links. I'll definitely being checking into them further.
I heard about the malpractice thing too.
It made sense to me because these days people are suing the doctors for large amounts of money for every little thing.

Startover, thanks every bit of info helps

[startover22]

Blue Cross Blue Shield is what she has. I loved them, they were great. They covered almost everything and $20 co-pay with regular visits. Good luck!

[AKaeTrue]

Yep, blue cross blue shield is awesome.
I had them growing up until I was 21 under my parents.
They are one of the best in my opinion.