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Short play on how the Dirigo tax originated, free health care, medical premiums, taxing doctor’s office visits, private health insurance companies, health insurance claims
The problem with Dirigo was that it didn't and couldn't work. Maine has 1.2 million people or so, and that is not a large enough economic base to enable a health insurance system to work. There is not enough MONEY flowing out of that number of people to properly fund a restrictive health insurance system.
We tried to use the Dirigo health insurance program when it first came out. Our intent was to place the employees in our small company under the Dirigo plan. The result of the rating process was that we simply could not afford it, and although the alternative was not pleasant for us, we would have used the "other guys". In the end, we could do neither.
I think Dirigo would have died a natural death at birth rather than stumble along for a couple of years of spending tax payers dollars had it been properly labled. This whole business is a politician's thimblerig. The operative term is "HEALTH CARE", that is easily perceived by the electorate as one of the great, "GOOD" things in life.
But it is a shadow game. It has nothing to do with "CARE". It has only to do with "INSURANCE" that PAYS for medical services. The general public views all insurance with the same jaundiced eye. Had Dirigo been called the "Dirigo Public Health Insurance Plan" it would have been destroyed before it was even rolled out.
Democrat, Republican, or other....if you do not like the way that the [state] administration is handling it's finances, then do not vote for incumbents. .
I am out numbered by people who benifit too much from a libral governement.
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Originally Posted by K-Luv
The reason why healthcare is so expensive is because of the HMO's; they are the one's who are making the real money, not the doctors. The AMA has been trying to nationalize healthcare in this country since the 1940's. HMO's are the one's who've been keeping them down.
yes........but if it wasn't for soo much regulation from our democratic libral government there would be choices of insurance companies to choose from which would bring down the cost of health insurance....case in point. Maine runs twice the average monthly cost for health insurance than New Hampshire! ........not to mention they are still private companies who employee private citizens and I still feel more comfortable giveing them my money then having the governement TAKE it!
Quote:
Originally Posted by K-Luv
Only pennies....are you that poor, or that much of a scrooge? I find it hard (well, actually I don't) to believe that so many people are so willing to do so little to help other people out. At some point in time, you or someone you know may find themselves sick and without health insurance; or the money to pay out of pocket.
Dirigo is not free, by the way, people do pay to be on it.
If people pay to be on it (which I know is true)...then why does dirago take money from people who are NOT on it....how would you feel if blue cross blue shield of maine sent you a bill because the money they were charging their REAL COSTUMERS wasnt enough?????
ITS THE PRINCIPAL of the matter...Do you think these libral democrats who are pushing national health care because they are compassionate????
I'll have to do some research but there was a study done recently which showed how conservatives give on average a much higher percentage of their income to charity......
I can't begin to tell you how much it turns my stomach to be called cheap because I don't want the government steeling my money and then spending it waistfully on programs I don't support.
I am out numbered by people who benifit too much from a libral governement.
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The term "liberal" and "conservative" are not particularly helpful terms. Maine has little to no functioning Republican party so by default, the Democratic party has controlled the legislature for several decades. But that is not really the issue.
The plain fact is that Maine state government is simply too large and too easily controlled by special interests that favor governmental spending on a broad base. Call it conservative or liberal as you will, it is spending money that keeps Maine in turmoil.
We continue to send people to Augusta and expect them to do whatever it is that we expect them to do. But do the people in the state continually put fire to the feet of those people in Augusta? Do we continue to send letters and emails to them telling them exactly what we want them to do? The simple answer is, "NO".
What the citizens of Maine need to do is to send letters, emails and make phone calls to Augusta and tell our legislators that they do or do NOT want this or that to be done. It is not sufficient to cry about the out of control bureaucracies of Maine government unless specific issues can be addressed. If a proposed bill or procedure is NOT desired, let the individual legislators know about it, and keep telling them.
If we merely elect people to go to Augusta or Washington and take a hands off attitude after the election is over, then we will get whatever they decide is good for us, regardless of our desires. The democratic process is only alive and well as long as we keep breathing life into it.
The term "liberal" and "conservative" are not particularly helpful terms. Maine has little to no functioning Republican party so by default, the Democratic party has controlled the legislature for several decades. But that is not really the issue.
The plain fact is that Maine state government is simply too large and too easily controlled by special interests that favor governmental spending on a broad base. Call it conservative or liberal as you will, it is spending money that keeps Maine in turmoil.
We continue to send people to Augusta and expect them to do whatever it is that we expect them to do. But do the people in the state continually put fire to the feet of those people in Augusta? Do we continue to send letters and emails to them telling them exactly what we want them to do? The simple answer is, "NO". What the citizens of Maine need to do is to send letters, emails and make phone calls to Augusta and tell our legislators that they do or do NOT want this or that to be done. It is not sufficient to cry about the out of control bureaucracies of Maine government unless specific issues can be addressed. If a proposed bill or procedure is NOT desired, let the individual legislators know about it, and keep telling them.
If we merely elect people to go to Augusta or Washington and take a hands off attitude after the election is over, then we will get whatever they decide is good for us, regardless of our desires. The democratic process is only alive and well as long as we keep breathing life into it.
I wrote to my Representative a number of times on several issues last year. I also wrote to my Senator and Congressman several times as well. I even posted some of the letters and the replies here on the forum. That's all I can do.
I'm not going to drive to Augusta everyday to hear first hand what the weasels in the Legislature are planning this week. I depend on the press to inform me. The Dirigo tax was passed without anyone even knowing about it. The legislature had the same mindset a previous poster had....it's only a few pennies....well a few pennies here and a few dollars there add up! Reasonable people understand the government needs funds to run the state. They also understand there are a lot of welfare related programs benefiting the needy. The problem is there are too many people getting a handout from the state and as was pointed out there are too few people in Maine to keep supporting the welfare state.
People are just tired of tax after tax after tax especially when it is used to benefit a small minority of citizens. We all use the roads,we need to fix and build bridges we all see the need for good schools,parks and recreation facilities benefit everyone, we need State and local police, game wardens, fire departmets etc.. No reasonable person is going to complain about supporting something that benefits the populace as a whole. Dirigo does not and should not be funded by the people of the State.
The Legislature should spend 85% of it's time reviewing programs it funds and 15% of it's time on new business.They should pay an independent group of consultants to look into the viability of funded programs to see if the cost/benefit ratio justifies contunued funding.This State and the country as a whole should take a deep look at the programs we already fund and shut down about 2/3 of them.
Unfortunately under the current administration this was not done...it seems even less likely these problems will be addressed by the next administration.
Infact they are very likely to increase significantly.
I am out numbered by people who benifit too much from a libral governement.
If this was aimed at me, the only benefit that I have received form the government is the occaisional unemployment check.
Quote:
Originally Posted by flycessna
yes........but if it wasn't for soo much regulation from our democratic libral government there would be choices of insurance companies to choose from which would bring down the cost of health insurance....case in point. Maine runs twice the average monthly cost for health insurance than New Hampshire! ........not to mention they are still private companies who employee private citizens and I still feel more comfortable giveing them my money then having the governement TAKE it!
The idea of the free market, well in the sense of less government regulation, is that it would 1) create more choices for the consumer, and 2) more choices means more competition which means lower prices. This generally works for aspects of consumerism, except for HMO's. HMO's do not competively price themselves because they know that you need and want it and in some cases litterally cannot live without it.
Oh, and if you have lupus, then good luck trying to find an HMO what will cover you; and if you do find one they will charge you duoble, tripple. Being sick should not be a crime. HMO's do not exist for your health, They exist to make a profit for themselves.
I am not sure if any administration regulated health care. I could be wrong, though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by flycessna
If people pay to be on it (which I know is true)...then why does dirago take money from people who are NOT on it....how would you feel if blue cross blue shield of maine sent you a bill because the money they were charging their REAL COSTUMERS wasnt enough?????
ITS THE PRINCIPAL of the matter...Do you think these libral democrats who are pushing national health care because they are compassionate????
Well, Dirigo 'takes' money from those who are not on it because Augusta does not know how to manage money. I can understand the principle argument, I would not want to give BCBS my money if I was not insured by them. Dirigo levies taxes against other health care providers throughout the state, which is why I am assuming health care is so expensive in this state, or why there are not more choices.
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Originally Posted by Acadianlion
We continue to send people to Augusta and expect them to do whatever it is that we expect them to do. But do the people in the state continually put fire to the feet of those people in Augusta? Do we continue to send letters and emails to them telling them exactly what we want them to do? The simple answer is, "NO".
This is what I meant, do not vote for the incumbent. Baldachi was sent to Augusta two times. He created the Dirigo program. He firmly believes that Dirigo can be fixed simply by adding more tax revenue to it, which could be possible if tax revenue is properly handled.
If this was aimed at me, the only benefit that I have received form the government is the occaisional unemployment check.
OH NO...NOT AT ALL!
....I didn't mean it that Way at. I meant basically there are so many people who depend on government....not only through welfare aid but mostly just from being employed. In my own family half of everyone is employed by governement......come to think of it...most of them work for the governemnt
Only pennies....are you that poor, or that much of a scrooge? I find it hard (well, actually I don't) to believe that so many people are so willing to do so little to help other people out. At some point in time, you or someone you know may find themselves sick and without health insurance; or the money to pay out of pocket.
I doubt that I would be classed as "poor", though funds are rather tight at the moment. Scrooge? Maybe a little, but I'm not above charity and there are some organizations to which I donate. The point, however, is "forced" giving, and forced support of a boondogle of a program, a program which is abused on more than one level.
I'm really not in the mood to go on a long rant about personal responsibility and abuses of "public" programs, so I won't. Suffice to say that this was wrong, and a majority of people agree, the democratic process in action.
Dirigo levies taxes against other health care providers throughout the state, which is why I am assuming health care is so expensive in this state, or why there are not more choices.
One reason we don't have more choices are (and I'm not saying democrats to be a jerk, they are the party that pushed for it) democrats feel we cannot pick good health care providers without their aid. They only allow certain ones to come to Maine. That is why New Hampshire has less expensive health care. Many of them don't have the coverage we do. Apparently our democrats believe no coverage is better than limited coverage. That is why our choices are limited.
David Webster is a huge proponent of another tax to give more money to Dirigo. I have written him several times and he has only sent me one reply saying, I will get back to you. Thanks David. How you have such a big following is beyond me. ps. did you know he gets health care paid for by us? I was told it is for the rest of his life since he served in the house at age 60. Life time health???? All of them? On our dime? wow. No wonder they wanted this to pass.
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........not to mention they are still private companies who employee private citizens and I still feel more comfortable giveing them my money then having the governement TAKE it!
