Maggie's Farm

Re Bruce's post below, I'd like to point out that the government-designed medical insurance is not really insurance at all. It's just payment for medical services, at government-determined rates.

In fact, it's insurance only in the same sense that Social Security is insurance - you are forced to pay into it, and you are forced to take it.

I like to have freedom of choice in selecting my coverage, just as with my auto insurance. I have a relatively high-deductible ($10,000 over 2 years - 100% thereafter) Major Medical insurance. What I save in premiums with this comes close to my deductible - plus I have a Medical Savings Plan. It's all quite inexpensive. It does not cover aromatherapy, massage therapy, chiropractors, homeopathy, addiction treatment, experimental treatments, abortions and other elective procedures like sex-change operations, routine check-ups, and tons of other things that politicians, under pressure from interest groups, will squeeze into the government-designed plan.

The insurance I have today, which is designed to keep you out of financial  catastrophe if you get really sick, would not be permitted under the Baucus plan.