Obamacare hits home ~

Julie,

I know it's not just Obama and his cronies who are at fault, I know the insurance companies have their hand in it too. But the fact of the matter is that Obama and the Democrats shoved through and bought votes to get this mess passed not even knowing what the hell was in it. And it just made matters worse for those of us who pay the bills. The whole thing is about taking / stealing from productive people and giving to the people who will vote them into power.

There were plenty of things that could have been done easily to improve our health care system and none of those in power were the least bit interested in any of it. Why was it necessary to pass a bill no one had read or understood? The answer is that is wasn't necessary, it was expedient and they thought politically helpful to them keeping power. We shall see in November if they were right about that or not, but I think not.

If Obamacare were to solve our problems or even make them better, I would be all for it, but as far as I can see, it does neither, it makes things worse; much worse.

This is a difficult issue to tackle, there are many sides to consider, you touched on a few of them. One big one you didn't touch on is that many people don't associate having to pay real money with going to see the doctor or getting a prescription. Heath Insurance isn't really insurance these days, it's a clearing house for all medical costs. Real insurance is just that ~ insurance; like you get for your car. You insure your car in case you get in an accident so you don't have to cover the cost of repairing or replacing the car yourself, but you still pay for all the tires, oil changes and routine maintenance. This is not the case with Health Insurance these days; people want their Health Insurance to pay for every thing and that is a very big problem and one reason premiums keep going up, up, up. People get the mistaken idea that health care is free, which it is not, it costs a lot of money, but no one wants to pay for it. People want someone else to pay for their health care and that is the crux of that problem.

I've ranted too long, I'm just so frustrated because I've tried my best to help people my whole life, I've tried my best to build a solid company that pays it's employees well and provides good health care etc, And now the whole thing is going down the drain because we have such crooked politicians.

Kerry

I'm on Medicare and have BCBS through the state, I'm retired.  The BCBS is offering WLS for the first time ever....only for employees.  How do you like that?  Retirees are specifically excluded.  Lovely!

I agree with Cal, I don't think that the insurance companies know what to do except charge more...afterall, do you all realize how much money they are making?  Seriously, they are ranked as one of the top "earners" in this country.  Check out some of the CEOs salaries, you don't make that kind of money unless it's coming from the insured.

I'm for universal health insurance.  The costs are going up and up and nobody's insurance will be able to handle all of it.  If we would get out of wars, the countries we have been in since WWII and other incidentials, I think we could cover everybody.  It's a matter of priorities...it's that simple.  Believe me, you would be paying more and I mean a lot more in the future to remain insured.  I had a test the other day at the local hospital and it cost over $7,000 for 15 minutes of testing...what's wrong with this picture?  How many of us will it take at this rate to pay for the machine and the tech that did the test?  Come on, it didn't cost them over $7,000 to do the test...doesn't anybody understand what is going on?

Kerry, I'm sorry this is happening to you and your company.  I wish I knew the answer but I don't.  I think I would contact the place in CA that has a review borad and make sure the insurers can do what they are proposing.  Maybe they can't.  I don't know for sure of course.

 Democrat, Republican, Independent, Tea Partier, Communist, irregardless of your political affiliation or leanings this is a BAD idea for the majority, and thus from a purely utilitarianistic point of view it should be eliminated, Obamacare that is.

Is the current system broken? Surely. Is this a worthy replacement for it? Hardly... Yet this bill and soo many others that are in the works are not just eroding our liberties but in many cases purely and flagrantly violating them. Take for instance the proposed "internet kill switch" as a part of the Protecting Cyberspace as a National Asset Act, sponsored by independent Senator Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, Republican Susan Collins of Maine and Democrat Tom Carper of Delaware.

(Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2009758,00.ht ml?xid=rss-topstories#ixzz0wKDM2Otv )

Can anyone legitimately make a realistic argument for this that does NOT involve some sort of political pandering and or bogey man terrorist threat lie in it? And the trite illogical reasoning of "well if your not doing anything wrong then you have nothing to worry about" BS that so many spouted when they passed the PATRIOT Act also has been getting a lot of traction as well but really come on folks... When is enough going to be enough??? What, when or what if OH became a target due to the "divisive, medical and surgical, information disseminated there by non professionals" and they shut down this site??? Will we as Americans stand for these laws and pieces of legislation to be enacted in our names??? We all have choices to make come November and like I said at the start, regardless of party affiliation its time to vote the bums out and start fresh and let our elected officials know that this will not fly....

 

All of you who are applauding the Less Government Regulation In Our Lives tirade realize that the guy works for an oil company?  You know, those poor over-regualted oil companies...just doing their jobs and making a reasonable profit and not hurting anyone along the way?  Yeah...THOSE oil companies.

 If I am THE GUY to which you refer, I actually work for a Gas and Chemical company that supplies the Semiconductor industry in my business unit, but we as an organization DO supply refineries with Oxygen, Nitrogen, ETC as THOSE are the Gasses WE deal in. (For the record we also supply Oxygen and Nitrogen to Hospitals so those of us going under the knife can have life sustainment.. but i digress.)  I for one AM NOT ashamed to say that I work FOR a French Based Multinational company that does put profit first, yet does NOT do so to the detriment of the environment (a-la BP and the Gulf), its shareholders, or its employees... I for one HAVE to earn a living as my own PRIDE prevents me from riding the dole and expecting handouts, to each their own, I know that corporations in general have annihilated the middle class and are hell bent on effectively destroying us (and doing a bang up job, I might add...) yet I fail to see how my employer or my job industry would or SHOULD have any bearing over my own political ideologies. While I will and do concede that there are certain relations that can be strenuous, I don't let them obfuscate my own opinion, regardless what someone else may think...

Okay.  NOT an oil company...I was incorrect.  But you are a dad, right?

So are you upset that the new Health Care Plan will NOT allow an insurance company to cut one of your kids off if they have some catastrophic medical issue?  I have a $5 Million Lifetime Max on my coverage.  I'm okay with that.  I'm in my 60s and if I'm all THAT sick, then maybe dropping dead is better.

But I would NOT be okay with this for my adult child, so I have no idea how people with small innocent little people they are responsible for think this is a bad thing. 

The unfortunate reality is our current "private" insurance has the right or privilege of dropping one of my kids so they choose due to a preexisting condition, yet they also had the ability to approve my DS in light of a written policy exclusion that specifically addressed WLS's. This sword is double edged, no doubt, as previously mentioned the current system is broken, and the proposed Obama care does nothing really to repair those breaches. If govt health care in this country is going to be SO WONDERFUL, why then is it 90% of the Veterans I know outright refuse to partake in the free govt health care they undoubtedly EARNED and most elect to PAY for private insurance? Does one really think that the governments ability to manage care will improve with a dramatically larger pool of care recipients and a larger budget to squander and misappropriate? Really???

First, the differences...Single Payer is like Medicare....but for everyone.  The VA is socialized medicine.  Also, even though those of my generation were in fact promised lifetime medical care from the VA, a later government decision was that the military had no legal right to offer us that care and so the rules for "collecting" that care have changed.  DH and I can go because we have service connected disabilities.  If we did not have those, we couldn't go because our income is too high.

Then, I can tell you why my husband and I--both military vets--usually only go to the VA once a year...generally for our flu shots.  It's because these flag-waving "Support Our Troops" morons suport our troops ONLY by waving flags.  And there are so many of these kids are coming home ravaged by the wars and they have no other alternatives.  I cannot, in good faith, take an appointment that one of them--or some old WWII or Korean War vet who doesn't have much money--might need, since I *DO* have other choices.   (But I did have my panniculectomy at my local VA.)

And, truth be told, I DO get more individualized care with shorter waits from my outside doctors.  But I'm very spoiled right now.  My PCP NEEDS more patients.  He's "a kid" and has a family to support and has mortgaged his house to run his new business. There is almost no wait.  I think he'll be delighted to have a few more people in the waiting room.  And if he treats the strep throat kids in his office on subsidized insurance so they aren't clogging up our local ERs using total taxpayer support...good for him.

Except at the VA and at Indian Reservations and such, the government will not be managing health care...it will be managing a system that allows everyone to have access to medical care.  Big difference.

 The company I work for is self insured yet we contract United Health Care to "Manage and Run" the program. So by arguments sake and default, I have UHC. Now, IN the same light you are right in that there is a difference in the Single Payer/Medicare vs VA/Socialized medicine forms. Yet both at their root have the Govt involved and thus Both plans Medicare as currently constituted and VA/Socialized system are woefully disorganized and bankrupt. The Idea that this new Obama care is going to "fix" what's wrong with our medical system here in the US is a pipe dream at best. Will it cover those who don't currently have coverage, sure, or at least that is the plan on paper, but at what cost? My access or level of care? My exorbitant tax rate and the untold additional taxes that will have to  be levied to support such a system? The plan as designed is UNSUSTAINABLE. PERIOD! That is my biggest gripe. I do NOT want, nor to I advocate denying or withholding care to any and all who need it. Regardless of immigration status, sex, creed, social standing or what have you. Its just that once it becomes an entitlement, just like our welfare system is thought to be now days, it will be abused, misused and a slush fund for off budget pet projects and other misappropriations... Either way we, the people, are bound to loose...