Quote Originally Posted by Total_Blender
There's a difference between care and coverage. If I had an accident at work and had to go to the ER I could get treatment and they'd just send it to a collections agency or write it off as indigent care.
No, that would be a workers comp issue, you would not be laible for a penny.



Quote Originally Posted by Total_Blender
But if I wanted a yearly physical/checkup as a preventative thing and had no means of paying (because of unemployment, being a full-time student, poverty, etc) I'd be SOL.
I realize this and I agree it sucks. Me and my wife did some research a few months back about dumping our medical/dental insurance in favor of a private major medical plan. The plan we looked at had a $2500 deductable and paid out as much as 250K in a year. It would have cost us a little less than half of what our current payments are. Then we started adding up the costs for an uninsured doc's visit and 2 trips to the dentist a year for both of us. It worked out to just about even when you add co-pays in. We never did it because I hurt my ankle pretty bad and I still may need surgery on it.

If I get this new job, we are going to see what the insurance is like. If it isnt any better than her insurance will will most likely dump regular insurance in favor of a private major medical plan and we will cover everything else out of pocket for less.