Well wishes for a great and Happy Birthday to xxmagex.

Have a great one, buddy!

I don’t usually talk about health issues, but today, I’m going to. Not a health issue specifically, rather, the insurance related to it, will be the focus.

By law, everybody has to have health insurance. A basic insurance that supposedly covers most used costs, plus extra packages to cover more stuff you might need. This has been the case for several years now, an “upgrade” from the previous state of things, which was the same but different in that under a certain income, you were insured through the county medical insurer and paid a fraction of what you’d pay if you were earning above a certain income level.

The government changed the rules so that a basic package, no matter where you are insured, contains the same coverage. It also sets the price for the basic package, arbitrarily. It’s that arbitrarily that’s the problem. As usual, due to their incompetence, they’ve, from the beginning, miscalculated the costs, resulting in much lower intake of funds. Even before the first year of running the new scheme was up, the insurance companies were complaining, stating that they’d have to raise prices next year because of the government’s incompetence.

This has been going on since the inception of the new scheme, some five, six years ago. The government doesn’t address any of the problems, only sets the targets for the insurance companies, tells them what should be (or not be) insured etc.

Imagine my (non-)surprise when I received my new insurance policy yesterday for 2011. My insurance rate goes up by almost 13 percent for the year. That’s about the same as last year AND the previous years, since the start of the new insurance regulations. Last year, I dropped one of the extra packages to one with less coverage, otherwise, the rate would have been almost 20 percent higher. I’m paying almost double of what I started with in 2006.

The even worse part is that what is supposed to be in the basic insurance, is declared by law, so, none of the insurance agencies can change it. As a single male, I have no need for over half of what’s in there (I’m not planning on getting pregnant) but I still pay for it. I’m currently looking into removing all the extra packages which include dental healthcare.

I agree with everyone that health insurance is a good thing. Everybody should have it but not that government mandates it. Or at the very least, that they not use the largest common denominator. I want to be able to decide what I don’t want or need in my insurance and only pay for that which I want and/or need. That way, prices wouldn’t rise so sharply. Pretty soon, as it stands now, more and more people will not be able to pay their medical insurance AND be able to pay their other bills. Since the new scheme has been in place, the rate of non-payment of health insurance has almost tripled and is projected to rise.

I’ve not even mentioned the waiting lists for operations and such yet. Insurance companies have been advertising with their ability to get you past waiting lists. What they don’t mention is that most of the time, even with that, you are better off going to Belgium to get much needed operations since you don’t have to wait six months minimum.

I wear contacts, a new pair every month. Costs me 25 Euro a month; even through online purchasing, the price is the same. Every insurer only pays 50 Euro a year, so I and most everybody, pays it out of pocket instead of going through the whole sending the bill to the insurer.

This is what happens when you let government decide what everybody should purchase, the “Public Option”. You pay for pre-natal, IVF and tons of other stuff you don’t need, yet what you need, is either under-represented or non-existent. You can’t pick and choose what you need, it is DECIDED for you, since you’re incapable of decision-making. One good thing, my basic coverage has 8 visits a year to a psychologist covered. I’m thinking I might have to take those, soon.

Rant over.

Microsoft has Pirates!!!!!

But nothing, absolutely nothing, beats Google’s NINJAS!!!!!!!!

Shudder!

Shudder in FEAR!!!

Ninjas Unboxing

Ninjas Unboxing 2

Just wanted to wish an early Happy Birthday to the Magnificent Bastard !

Enjoy the day, compadre!

The Supernatural Comedy Trailer

Many Happy Returns, xxmagex!

To both my LJ-friends and everyone else, wherever you may be, I wish you good tidings for this holiday season.

May your dreams, hopes, wants and needs be fulfilled in this coming year.

It’s bastardsnow's Birthday!!!

Congratulations on surviving another year!