Obama Care raising insurance rates in California- Thank's Barry (Los Angeles: to buy, school)

[CA4Now]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

So the advantage of ObamaCare is what? To me it sounds like his redistribution scheme which is soak the haves to give to the have nots regardless of merit. I'm happy with the healthcare I have and don't want to pay for someone else's when they haven't "contributed" to the extent I have UNLESS they have been physically or mentally unable to do so. I damn sure don't want to continue paying for those who shouldn't be here in the first place.

But right now you're already paying for everyone else's medical care, whether you want to or not. WE ALL ARE. Every uninsured person who seeks medical care at an emergency room is costing all of us.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by CA4Now

But right now you're already paying for everyone else's medical care, whether you want to or not. WE ALL ARE. Every uninsured person who seeks medical care at an emergency room is costing all of us.

I'm aware of that but my best guess is that insuring all of them is going to ultimately cost more than treating them in the emergency rooms. Perhaps I'm wrong. Time will tell and I'll be watching my already increasing out-of-pocket costs closely.

[CA4Now]

Just one trip to the emergency room by an uninsured person costs the rest of us an enormous amount. (And this article in the San Francisco Chronicle is from 2007.) Read where the poor guy was charged for meds he never took, etc.
For the uninsured, an emergency room visit can tip the balance » Standard-Times

[nullgeo]

Poor health and accidental catastrophe isn’t ever going to get any cheaper. The health care industry and health insurance industry have zero interest in your “Good” health. They are part of our culture of consumer-capitalism that is all about accumulation of financial wealth at any ‘cost’, and by whatever means necessary. They need you to be sick. Listen to them, support them, and follow their advice at your peril. I have nursed and attended to numerous loved ones, and several persons I did not know well, injured and ill, who have passed – including my loving first wife of 27 years, teenage sweetheart, who literally died in my arms leaving me to finish raising our 4 children alone. Misdiagnosed lung cancer. My brother died of the same six months later -- also misdiagnosed until too late. Poor choices generally catch up with a person at some point.

‘Money can’t buy good health’, goes an old saying … but what it takes to be healthy is a lifestyle commitment of personal discipline that only very few will ever adhere to – no matter the consequences of not doing so. And much of the information to map good health has been available for well over a thousand years – some of it two and three thousand years. The basics are not technological, or modern pharmaceutical wonders, either. Much is simple common-sense – a tool humans posses latently, but which tool they call upon rarely. My dogs have it, at their level of thinking, and it rarely fails them … they live by it … Humans? Meh, -- not so much.

I am an extremist in matters of personal health. But I have been both smashed to smithereens and stricken with illness and, frankly, I didn’t care for either one even a little bit. I had been told twice in my distant past that I was looking like it was over. Injury to vital organ, hundreds of stitches to reassemble my face, multiple operations and dental work for the same, permanently limited use of my right arm, severe hearing loss and other less dramatic permanent damage, conspired to turned me neurotic, I’ll admit. At this point, my friends rib me and call me “Johnny Appleseed” (for my habit of bringing organic apples to any rare social event I attend, rather than eat the standard fare). They also marvel at my restored health and conditioning – as they know my past. I am in my mid-60’s and hike 5 – 10 miles daily, do yoga, tai chi, follow an Ayurvedic / organic diet (no, not vegetarian), cut my own firewood, go sailing and kayaking (pedal-drive), and still perform all the chores associated with living in the woods without most modern conveniences. I haven’t so much as had a common cold in well over 15 years, despite being around sick people at times to help out.

For my age I am considered very strong and even nimble. 5’11”, 164 pounds, still quite flexible, and a VA doctor recently told me I am "built like a steel cable". My blood pressure is absolutely excellent, and cholesterol is perfect, etc. I take zero medications – ever. When I go to the VA for my check ups, the nurses ask me if I am a runner because my BP and heart rate are so low – I hate running, so no. It’s possible to live this way in good health. But it has to be your whole focus. Pay with your money and your well-being, and your very life – or pay by living common sense and ancient traditions.

Enjoy your choices. And best wishes to all in this matter – (regardless of your political position ). There is nothing uglier than ill health – except those who profit from it.

[Lovehound]

I couldn't agree with you more Nullgeo. Much of human sickness and much of the failure to live to our potential lifespan is caused by "lifestyle choices," like smoking, excessive drinking, poor exercise and dietary habits. You've inspired me to go offline and walk a few miles around my neighborhood (my usual exercise habit that I haven't been following lately). It's such a nice day and no time like the present! I hope I can get back to my regular walking habit.

[TT6.3]

Who the hell is Barry?

[drshang]

Obamacare does get a few things right. For one, the ability for insurance companies to "discover" reasons to not cover their paying customers was nonsensical. Health insurance was severely lacking in some key consumer protection areas that was totally ridiculous.

But the overall problem with healthcare in the US is structural. Businesses should not be responsible for the burden of healthcare. Tying insurance to employment is just stupid, to put it lightly. How many people, especially older people, can't/won't start a business for this reason? It is a deterrent to entrepreneurship and small business creation. It creates too many players with no motivation to keep costs under control.

It is absolutely true that a lot about healthcare is lifestyle choices. People in the US need to improve in that area, drastically. It is also absolutely true that uninsured people spike up the cost of healthcare for everyone. Even poor people without health insurance get sick. These people aren't sitting in a street corner and dying. They are going to the hospital. Because they use expensive ER services instead of cheaper regular doctors, they are paying more...oh wait, WE are paying more after they inevitably default on the bill. Most normal doctors won't see them because they have no insurance. So they wait until it gets so bad it requires an ER visit.

Obamacare fixed a couple of key things with healthcare. But until you fix the underlying structure of the system, healthcare and healthcare costs will continue to spiral out of control.

[Bulldogdad]

For your reading pleasure. Better start a separate savings account for the Obama care tax hikes.

http://www.atr.org/files/files/01111...%20List(1).pdf

[drshang]

I think it's also important to understand that Obamacare did not BREAK the healthcare system, it was already broken before the law. Obamacare is largely not a great law because it does not actually fix the system, but it did not break it, either.

[Obi_Wan_Kenobi]

Originally Posted by bulldogdad

Really? as if we didnt know it would happen.

Barry Barry he's our man if he can't do it no one can. YEAHHHHHHHHHHH! BARRY!!!

Yeah ... on cable tv, I was watching a democrat congresswoman dodging a question about why so many voters are shown by polls to be against most of Obamacare.

She was ranting first about the "good" points like covering people with "preexisting conditions".

But the democrats never publicized or articulated that if preexisting conditions were not being charged for, that the populace in general would have to cough-up the money if the bill passed.

Initial support by a few of their drones implies that some folks expected the money for the huge added expence to just materialize as if Mr. Scott from Star Trek could transport it.

Can you imagine what just the 17,000 or so new IRS agents will cost? Salaries, benefits and pension? Who in their right mind would believe that getting the government's tentacles on 1/6 of the US economy would help the populace in the long-run?