Affordable Care Act

[bobodu]

Well...didn't even get nauseous over that laugher of a speech.....although I did spit a mouth full of soft drink when he claimed 9 million have signed up for insurance. It is more like 3 million and 6 million for Medicare. One third of that 3 million haven't even paid....and 89% of that 3 million HAD insurance before it was cancelled.
I decided that Kool-Ade was to be the drink of choice last night.

[jimw1949]

The major cause of bankruptcy in this country is having medical bills that people cannot pay. It isn’t just the people who don’t have medical insurance who cannot pay their medical bills, a very large percentage of people who DO have medical insurance cannot pay their portion of the cost when a medical crisis happens. So, consequently, they have no choice but to file for bankruptcy. In the end, just who do you think ends up paying the cost anyway? It make much more sense to have a system where EVERYONE is covered than it does to continue with a broken system like we had before the Affordable Care Act.

I am not saying the Affordable Care Act is the greatest thing since sliced bread, there are several things about it that I don’t care for either. But it is a start in the right direction and it is something that can be improved as time goes on. As far as people being dropped from their current medical insurance plan, I suspect they got cancellation notices because the plan they had didn't meet the minimum required standard. Obviously, the new plan costs more money, it has better coverage with less deductible, therefore higher premiums. But insurance premiums have been increasing every year long before the Affordable Care Act became law.

If you believe a health care system that covers everyone is a terrible idea, then maybe you should try to convince people from countries like Canada, Great Britain, or any of the European counties, that they should replace their health care systems with the same type system we had before the Affordable Care Act came along. Try doing that and let’s see how far you get.

[okie]

If you believe a health care system that covers everyone is a terrible idea, then maybe you should try to convince people from countries like Canada, Great Britain, .

How far do you live from Canada? Have you ever thought about moving there? This is the last I will post on this thread.

Travis

[bobodu]

a very large percentage of people who DO have medical insurance cannot pay their portion of the cost when a medical crisis happens. So, consequently, they have no choice but to file for bankruptcy.

So WHAT EXACTLY has CHANGED???? I mean...gee....if they can't pay the $5000 PREMIUMS ( that you and I will be paying for them PLUS that much for ourselves.) How are they gonna pay the DEDUCTIBLE under their shiny new Socialist insurance system?? Oh....I bet we get to pay that too !!!!
A simple fact the NEVER gets reported on by Main stream media is that a great majority of the cost of medical care by the poor is actually covered by church sponsored or Doctor owned hospitals. Two of the oldest hospitals here are named " Lutheran Hospital" and "Saint Joseph's Hospital".
Now....as far as meeting the new standards goes...How about we just add on additional costs to your current auto insurance to cover every single driver to have full coverage ?? Hell...let's throw in road side assistance too !!! Why stop there? Let's make sure that they never leave the driveway without a full tank of gas !!! That is NO DIFFERENT than making my wife and I pay for maternity care or contraceptives.....or the vile alternative.

[madmantrapper]

If you believe a health care system that covers everyone is a terrible idea, then maybe you should try to convince people from countries like Canada


In the late 80's and early 90's I spent a lot of time in Canada for work. Most folks did not like the health care at that time. I don't know if it has improved since then.

[bobodu]

I live two hours from the border and two miles from two hospitals that I visit twice a week at work. Fully 10% of the cars in the lot have Canadian plates.

[aj-allen]

jimw1949 just where do you get your info from????? Your union boss? There are no lower costs!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuA2_P-m4Sk

[jimw1949]

This past Summer we had a family reunion. At the reunion were 14 people from Canada. I made it a point to ask each of them how well their health care system was working for them. Every one of them said that for the most part they liked their system a lot. They said a few things they would like to see improved, but overall they were quite happy with their health care system.

Nearly every civilized country on this planet has some type of government funded health care system. If these systems are so terrible, then why do they still have them?

The United States pays more money for health care than any other country. Why is that? Please don’t try to tell me it is because we have the best health care in the world. The World Health Organization listed the United States as 37th the last time they came out with a report on this, just behind Costa Rica and just ahead of Slovenia. Do a little research into this and then tell me just how great the health care system in this country is.

I said it before and I will say it again, I don’t think the Affordable Care Act is the answer to everything that ails the health care system in this country, but I do think it is a step in the right direction. The system we had was not sustainable and had to be fixed. The Affordable Care Act is certainly not perfect and will need to be improved on. I am not trying to tell you otherwise.

You can criticize it all you want but at the end of the day it is the law of the land. If you feel things about the new system need to changed, then by all means, write to your respective representatives and explain what you think needs to be changed. Get with your friends that feel the same way as you do and start petitions designed to make changes in the system. Basically, instead of complaining about it, do something constructive to change it. Anything that you can do in order to make it into a better system will benefit not only you, but everybody else as well. That’s the responsible thing to do.

[bobodu]

Jim...would you just answer the question please? I wanna know how people who couldn't pay the deductible before are gonna magically be able to pay it now? What exactly has changed ??
There's the Law of the land.....Well, That law was passed in the middle of the night ...on Christmas Eve...with votes that were bought and paid for with bribes and kickbacks galore under threat...and NOT ONE REPUBLICAN VOTE. Hardly bi-partisan. And look what we get !!! Tell ya what....well see what becomes the LAW OF THE LAND come January when someone else has CONTROL of both houses of Congress.
Did you know that " every civilized country on this planet" was also a Monarchy??? Tell me Jim....what's in it for you?? Where is all subsidy money coming from ?? According to the website, Tami and I will pay $438 a month with GOVERNMENT chipping in another $745. That works out to $ 1183....I was paying $375 with no handouts.
I wonder if this $800,000 Obamacare ad was effective?

[jimw1949]

If people can’t pay the deductible, then they can’t pay. Why is that such a big deal now? It didn’t seem to bother you before, why does it bother you now? What should be bothering you is that people are filing for bankruptcy all the time because they can’t pay their medical bills. Not being able to afford our medical bills is a HUGE problem and is a reflection on our healthcare system. When the bankruptcy court rules the medical debt to be null and void, who ultimately ends up paying for that? I'll answer that question, we all do, in the form of higher insurance premiums and in higher costs for medical procedures. In the end it is the taxpayers who wind up footing the bill so in essence it makes very little difference if we pay for it now, or if we pay for it later. Either way, we end up paying for it.

As I said before, there are things about the Affordable Care Act that I do not particularly like, but I do think it is a step in the right direction. I am quite certain some areas of the Affordable Care Act will need to be modified and in some cases perhaps a total change will need to be implemented. But I don’t want to throw out the baby with the bath water. As I have said, I think it is a start in the right direction. If changes need to be made, OK, no problem, let’s make those changes and let’s get it right.

Personally, I would rather see a single payer system. Why do we insist on paying insurance companies to run the health care system? I was reading where the insurance companies are actually charging around 20 percent to handle the system. In other words, as a country, we are paying insurance companies billions of dollars every year to run the system and yet these same insurance companies provide no medical care whatsoever. Why do we continue to do this idiotic practice? If we go to a single payer system, that craps comes to an end and we save billions of dollars.

Since when are countries like Germany, France, Canada, Great Britain, etc, monarchies? Great Britain does have royalty, but only as a figurehead. The British Parliament runs the country.

Look, I think the problem is that you are equating welfare to health care, and to do that is just wrong. Welfare and health care are two completely different issues and should not be thought of in the same way. As do most people, I don’t care to subsidize someone who is sitting on their fat behind so they can eat chips and dips all day and watch a big screen high definition television set. That irritates me more than a little and I don’t saying so either. But health care is different. Health care is something that everybody currently needs, or at least they WILL need, at some point in their life. If nothing else, they need to get regular checkups so that any potential problems can be diagnosed before they become a serious problem. Early diagnosis greatly reduces the cost for treatment and it also keeps the citizens more healthy which reduces health care cost over the long term.

Besides all that, I firmly believe that every citizen deserves to have access to medical care, regardless of their wealth, their race, their color, their sexual orientation, or whatever else they may be. For someone to not be able to seek medical help because they don’t happen to have a lot of money, is, in my opinion at least, a serious statement of the mentality of our society as a whole. To say that not one Republican voted for the Affordable Care Act goes a long way to show how the Party feels about their fellow citizens. When I see someone who needs help, I help them. I don’t check to see what their bank balance is before I help them, I just help them.

I believe if this country is going to survive we need to, as a society, get rid of this ME - ME – ME attitude and start thinking in terms of WE – WE – WE. Every one of us needs to become part of the team and work toward the common good of everybody. I am not saying we can’t do things on our own, like coming up with a better mousetrap and starting a business and make a lot of money. By all means, do that if you can, after all, it is the American way and I am all for that. But in our quest for personal wealth and fame, let’s not forget about our fellow citizens who may be a bit less fortunate than we are.