When Health Law Isn’t Enough, the Desperate Line Up at Tents (wisdom, Obama)
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How can this be? Obamacare was supposed to fix all our health care issues. Bamma is the messiah and his plan brings everything to everyone.
To rational people...the OPs story is one more example of the utter failure of Obamacare, and demonstrates exactly why we need to replace it with a better plan. But to hard core libbies...I guess this is how they like to see things.
If the state had expanded Medicare more of these people would have had health care.
If more of these people took more responsibility for themselves, they likely would not need as much healthcare as they do.
Trump ran on the promise to "replace Obamacare with something wonderful that would take care of everybody and the government is going to pay for it".
Shirley Akers, 58, clutched a list of 20 medications she takes, before settling down to a sleepless night in the cab of a pickup truck."
How did she get the 20 medications if there is no available health care?
^ good point. That healthcare probably does not include her teeth.
" The bodies of the visitors told the story. They came in wheelchairs pushed by overweight children. Some carried portable oxygen."
As above, how did they obtain portable oxygen and wheelchairs if there's no healthcare?
Another good point.
“We’re sicker here than in Central America,” said Dr. Smiddy, who has volunteered on charity health trips there. “In Central America, they’re eating beans and rice and walking everywhere. They’re not drinking Mountain Dew and eating candy. They’re not having an epidemic of obesity and diabetes and lung cancer.”"
Don't forget the cigs, tats and lotto tickets.
Well heck, please tell the illegals we are deporting to Central America from whence they came that they are fortunate to be returning to a healthier land of beans, rice and walking everywhere.
It's obvious that many of these people take no responsibility for their own health. It's learned behavior.
The average American in the average condition could not survive the migration from Central America to the US.
However, the biggest hurdle comes from the fact that medical care in this country is exorbitantly more expansive than it should be. Which, coincidentally, you pointed out in yer kvetching about budget problems as Medicaid was expanded. As long as chargemasters are still a thing and are kept from public view, it's going to be difficult to bring those prices down. Having money being put into the pockets of lawmakers is also keeping those prices private and exorbitant.
There was a little more involved in the budget problems of this state and its Medicaid expansion. This particular state is de-populating as businesses and individuals flee its high cost of living and lousy business climate. I won't deny medical care is costly, but the state is at fault for committing to something it could not afford. I don't know much about the state of Virginia's budget issues, but could cost have been part of the problem?
If the state had expanded Medicare more of these people would have had health care.
If more of these people took more responsibility for themselves, they likely would not need as much healthcare as they do.
Trump ran on the promise to "replace Obamacare with something wonderful that would take care of everybody and the government is going to pay for it".
Well, I'm glad we can agree that Obamacare has failed these people (like most Americans) and that we need Trump and congress to come up with something better.
Oh, and "Medicare" expansion was never part of the ACA. Medicaid was. Offer welfare via Medicaid and then claim that the Obamacare actually got more people on insurance (not welfare) was one of the lies about how "successful" O-care was.
Virginia rejected the Medicaid expansion. State's rights and all that.
So if their situation is an example of the "utter failure of Obamacare" it's because Obamacare had the audaaacity to allow states like Virginia to slap a big, red LOLNOPE to the Medicaid expansion clauses.
A failure in that ACA actually gave states the right to choose between expanding Medicaid or not?
Hmm...
And here I thought y'all were for local/state government rights.
Also, ACA has nothing to do with their situation. These are people who would have been able to get Medicaid... but Virginia rejected the expansion. Virginia's General Assembly is (and was) Republican-controlled.
Virginia did not expand Medicaid in any semblance. Ergo, even disabled adults on Medicaid have very limited services that doesn't include full dental or mental health services.
ACA contemplated a mandate that all states expand Medicaid.
SCOTUS restored state rights to expand Medicaid or not.
The Legislature in this state chose not to expand.
tl;dr - We need a proper overhaul to reign in prices back to reasonable levels and be able to offer basic coverage to everyone. If we wanna "make America great again", I'd say part of that means having a system where diabetics aren't skipping doses because they can't afford their insulin.
I am sure there are some who can't afford their insulin. I am also sure that some of the folks portrayed in this story might be able to afford at least some of their meds if they'd cut the Mountain Dew and cigarettes.
Nice try, but no. They are still forced to BUY an Obamacare compliant plan regardless. Yet O-Care doesn't allow those people to get any subsidies.
The real question-If O-Care works and provides coverage for everyone that wants it....why can't we get rid of Medicaid?
The ACA most certainly enabled plenty of the people living in Appalachia to receive subsidized insurance, premium tax credits, and Medicaid.
It has been left to the state to expand Medicaid to insure more people. This state chose not to do so.
While the ACA mandates pediatric dental care, that benefit excludes adults. Nor does it provide vision care for adults.
One of the patients interviewed for this story was chronically unemployed and was looking for an MD to validate his physical condition qualified him for disability. I am sure the patient was disappointed to learn the MD found nothing that would prevent him from working or qualify for SDI/SSDI.
ACA contemplated a mandate that all states expand Medicaid.
SCOTUS restored state rights to expand Medicaid or not.
The Legislature in this state chose not to expand.
Trump promised to take care of these people.
Virginia was given the choice.
The Republican-controlled assembly rejected the expansion.
Yet the individuals in question were told and fully believe that it was Democrats and ACA that gave them the finger. So they overwhelmingly voted for the very same delegates that rejected the expansion in the first place.
If Trump's administration is able to fix the problems of ACA to where everyone, regardless of their paygrade, is able to access basic medical care? That would be awesome.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Minethatbird
There was a little more involved in the budget problems of this state and its Medicaid expansion. This particular state is de-populating as businesses and individuals flee its high cost of living and lousy business climate. I won't deny medical care is costly, but the state is at fault for committing to something it could not afford.
Local and state governments are shelling out big bucks to bribe companies like Walmart to expand and create jobs. These companies pay pittance for wages... forcing their employees to rely on publicly-funded welfare programs. So we're spending money to create jobs to spend more money to support these people?
What a weird cycle, ne?
Then again, I'm a proponent of UBI 'cause my job literally involves typing lines of relative-gibberish on a computer to automate people out of jobs. With every new module and calculation I make, it becomes more and more apparent that eventually there won't be a need for most people to even have jobs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Minethatbird
I don't know much about the state of Virginia's budget issues, but could cost have been part of the problem?
Meh. Virginia's budget is chocked full of unnecessary expenditures... like paying the Redskins to use a training facility in Richmond that is also paid for with tax dollars. And other really bad, wasteful projects. In the end, there's about 400K people that could have insurance... but the state legislation chooses not to accept it. Even with the massive grant that the federal government would pay on it.
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