Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
AGAIN..you are missing my point or you choose to ignore it..
That "small percentage" has made a HUGE impact on the economy!! Im' not arguing how many or WHY they are in this mess.. I'm simply pointing out taht although it's a small percentage it has caused a crisis in this country PERIOD! It's a ripple effect and all it took was that small percentage.
Again, there is no crisis. The media has ran away with this.
How do you know you'd make less working for someone else? Have you even tried or you've just convinced yourself you can't? You pay a crap load for insurance sure, and if you got a job with a company it would be a hell of a lot less. Once again, you could improve your situation, you could figure out a way if you really wanted to. I'm sure your husband could find a new job or work another job if you guys really wanted to. It's all about choice.
First of all ..you know nothing about me or my situation. OF COURSE I'VE LOOKED.. DUH!!! I know what kind of work I can get and what it pays.. it's what i was doing BEFORE I went to work for myself!!
I'm not going to sit here and spill it all out for you. I'm a smart woman who knows what i'm talking about and has looked at MANY different options. I know what i"m talkign about when it comes to my ownlife and circumstances.. adn you don't knw squat about me or any of it. So YOU stop making your ignorant assumptions about my life, my situation.. you know nothing about me.
Again, there is no crisis. The media has ran away with this.
What are you smoking.. I"m not talking about a crisis in the MORTGAGE arena.. IM' TALKING ABOUT THE ECONOMIC CRISIS THE COUNTRY IS IN!! CAUSED By the MORTGAGE PROBLEM!!!
Man.. what planet are you on? NO CRISIS!! WHATEVER>>LOL Um.. have you SEEN The value of the dollar lately.. AND the state that the stock market has been in .. ALL CAUSED BY THE WOES IN THE HOUSING MARKET WHICH WERE CAUSED BY THE MORTGAGE PROBLEMS.
First.. where I live there is a LACK of safe legal rentals for a family with children to live.. by safe I mean renting an apartment that is NOT an illegal basement rental.. for one.
Secondly.. I was born and raised here.. so really there is no CHOICE.. now.. I can choose to move.. and I HAVE .. further south.. however, I"m not quite in the position to do that.. as we'd have to build up connections for our business in a new place , plus resources are NOT the same for the nature of our busienss either.. THAT requires a "nest egg" to live on while establishing ourselves.
Now.. Ironically I make MORE money self employed than I did with my husband. Mind you.. I would be making more if I didn't have to stay home and take care of my child at the same time.. because CHILD CARE can cost up to $400 /week here.
As for my income.. it's ABOVE what the national middle average is.. which I believe is either $35 or $45.. however my premium for me and my family costs me 16% of my income!! AND that DOES NOT include coverage for my husband..
As for renting there is a couple hunred dollar difference.. not much . and again.. NOT MANY Rentals available for families here.. AND if you get an apartment like a 2 bedroom in a complex here you might as well buy.. it will cost you about the same amount..
The national median income is closer to $24/hr so most families would be paying much a much larger percentage of their income. Many families have to pay 25%-30% if they have no employer help which is becoming the case more and more.
First of all ..you know nothing about me or my situation. OF COURSE I'VE LOOKED.. DUH!!! I know what kind of work I can get and what it pays.. it's what i was doing BEFORE I went to work for myself!!
I'm not going to sit here and spill it all out for you. I'm a smart woman who knows what i'm talking about and has looked at MANY different options. I know what i"m talkign about when it comes to my ownlife and circumstances.. adn you don't knw squat about me or any of it. So YOU stop making your ignorant assumptions about my life, my situation.. you know nothing about me.
I'm making no assumptions about you, I'm saying we're all in our situations by CHOICE. You are in whatever position you are in by CHOICE so stop trying to play the over dramatic victim. We don't need universal healthcare because YOU made the CHOICES you made. It's YOUR problem, not ours. Again, this clearly proves our point.
What are you smoking.. I"m not talking about a crisis in the MORTGAGE arena.. IM' TALKING ABOUT THE ECONOMIC CRISIS THE COUNTRY IS IN!! CAUSED By the MORTGAGE PROBLEM!!!
Man.. what planet are you on? NO CRISIS!! WHATEVER>>LOL Um.. have you SEEN The value of the dollar lately.. AND the state that the stock market has been in .. ALL CAUSED BY THE WOES IN THE HOUSING MARKET WHICH WERE CAUSED BY THE MORTGAGE PROBLEMS.
So you think all of our current economic problems are caused by the less than 1% of houses that have been foreclosed and have mortgage issues? You are kidding right? I'm going to assume there is some sarcasm going on, you can't possibly think this.
I have no doubt what you say is true, that there is collusion between the health care industry and the government to give you less and make you pay more... the ultimate collusion would be UHC... when those crooks become part of the government...crooks are NOT only in this country... its in EVERY country.. unfortunately those same crooks are now managing the UHC of other countries, I prefer they not manage this country...
If you accept that there is collusion and impropriaties because of undue influence on the gov't then making the system subject to voter recall or other oversite will be an improvement.
Sorry.. YOU sir are wrong.. Hm.. no crisis.. well.. given that credit is tight and curnched many companies, like my brothers and many others, are suddenly finding themselves without funding and closing their doors.. leaving many jobless... Sorry.. that 1% of the population is trickling down and affecting the other 99% of the population.. that was my point.. Evil wanted to dismiss the "small percentage" of uninsured on the larger scale.. my point was the less than 1% of those in the "mortgage crisis" are affecting the other 99% and pulling down the economy.. so even though the under 1% seems small.. because we are such a large population that 1% or less adds up to quite some impactfull numbers ......
And the economy is in a tailspin because of it.. and so it goes with the healthcare crisis.. small percentages on such a large scale can't be ignored..
Mortgage money is readily available.
A majority of those homes being foreclosed in the Western US were ones purchased by Investors - not owner occupants
I'm making no assumptions about you, I'm saying we're all in our situations by CHOICE. You are in whatever position you are in by CHOICE so stop trying to play the over dramatic victim. We don't need universal healthcare because YOU made the CHOICES you made. It's YOUR problem, not ours. Again, this clearly proves our point.
PaullySC; you CANNOT be serious with the stuff can you? NO WAY can you be suggesting that a family living within their means with an income above that of the average, should have to move and give up her career to work for someone else because of health costs?
You CANNOT possibly mean that people should have to choose to rent a disgusting apartment somewhere so that their priority can be to pay an obscene health insurance premium.
If this is REALLY what you are saying, then I am embarassed on your behalf - and TM, you don't have to justify your lifestyle to someone like this. He won't be happy until you are dumpster diving for food and living in a one bedroom apartment with your family, because it's all about CHOICES.
Last edited by Hobokenkitchen; 03-10-2008 at 06:00 AM..
Evilnewbie; I don't know where you got your 'statistics' from, but they are seriously flawed.
Here are some real life examples of what can happen, none of which are extreme cases - or scaremongering that you like to accuse people of. This is every day stuff.
1: Someone gets laid off from their job. COBRA insurance for the interim period until you can find another job is obscenely expensive to maintain the same level of coverage that you had with your old employer. Many people can't afford the thousands of dollars that COBRA costs for the average of 6 months that it takes most professional people to find a new job.
2: A friend of mine got laid off after 911 - she got an interim job (just for the health insurance), but was going to have a lapse in insurance of 3 days.
Her Father (who is a multi millionaire) told her not to leave the house for those 3 days because if something terrible happened and she had to go on a life support machine, even he couldn't afford to pay for much more than a week on it before having to sell his house, etc.
3: One of my neighbors got laid off. She tried to get health insurance but has a pre exisiting condition and can't get it. She is self employed making about $200,000 a year and lives in fear because she can't get health insurance coverage.
4: When my husband was laid off, we got a health insurance policy with a well known insurance company. There were so many exclusions it was ridiculous. Thank goodness we are healthy, because it seemed to me that if there is anything at all wrong with you before you apply for insurance, you are not going to get any.
None of us are lazy, uneducated or poor. I can be fairly certain (I hope), that as long as my husband has his job (I'm self employeed too so don't get insurance), that if something bad happens we should be covered.
It'll probably cost us thousands in copays and deductables, but we can afford that.
My fear is that if he gets laid off again, we will eat through savings very quickly paying the obscene health insurance premiums, and perhaps end up with a policy that doesn't cover whatever happens to be wrong with us.
It is scary for us and we have money.
We also have health insurance.
We are the lucky ones. How an average family with a quarter of our income is meant to cope in the event of a lay off is beyond me. I don't know how they can do it.
And those like TM who are struggling to afford their health insurance premiums, who have to live in fear that someone may get sick with an illness that their policy doesn't cover.
I don't know where you get your stats from, but you are so far off base it's not even funny.
Oh and btw, should the 911 volunteers who have no health insurance, be left with no care? They're a tiny % of the population, so doesn't matter about them, right?
Last edited by Hobokenkitchen; 03-10-2008 at 06:48 AM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
