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Old 05-31-2009, 07:57 AM
 
683 posts, read 824,536 times
Reputation: 408

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I'm not taking an R or D stance on this. The system is broke, period. Only the rich and the welfare poor get good health care while the middle class covers the cost for others while we do not "qualify" for good care ourselves. What good is health insurance and why does it exist? I pay in thousands per year so they can exclude or deny anything that I might need them for in the first place. I'm having to back off of my "it's socialism" views on this one. Health care should be a right not a priveledge. The left wants to nationalize and the right only wants to prove the left is wrong. What is the solution?
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Old 05-31-2009, 08:20 AM
 
Location: Missouri
3,645 posts, read 4,924,773 times
Reputation: 768
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blind Sniper View Post
I'm not taking an R or D stance on this. The system is broke, period. Only the rich and the welfare poor get good health care while the middle class covers the cost for others while we do not "qualify" for good care ourselves. What good is health insurance and why does it exist? I pay in thousands per year so they can exclude or deny anything that I might need them for in the first place. I'm having to back off of my "it's socialism" views on this one. Health care should be a right not a priveledge. The left wants to nationalize and the right only wants to prove the left is wrong. What is the solution?
Oh no...the illegals get better healthcare than any person on welfare that happens to be a citizen.
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Old 05-31-2009, 10:07 AM
 
Location: Florida
221 posts, read 219,177 times
Reputation: 55
My Aunt worked hard all her life and had company health care. She thought it would be forever.
She was laid off when her company closed. Soon after she was told she had diabetes. She cannot afford health insurance and because she is not classed as poor she gets no help with her diabetes. I have seen her cry with fear as to what will happen to her if she gets complications from her diabetes. This is a common story in Florida and i am sure in America. Why do the people with health cover not realise that a simple thing like losing your job can mean losing your health coverage. Dont go there with the public health care answer. it is for Emergency treatment and you still get charged.
the only people on here who want to keep the dictatorship health system in America are the ones with good health coverage. My Aunt was one of those but she has now changed her mind but too late.
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Old 06-01-2009, 09:34 AM
 
683 posts, read 824,536 times
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My wife's aunt has a similiar story. With severe arthritis that keeps her from working. The treatments were said to cost around $1,200.00 per month, as much as a house payment. No health insurance / no treatment. But if she sells everything she owns which was very little to begin with and goes on disability / becomes a ward of the state then she gets some treatment. How can drug companies charge these ridiculous amounts? This is one case where capatilism is not making any sense to me...
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Old 06-01-2009, 09:49 AM
 
8,629 posts, read 9,130,021 times
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The kicker, Tambintime and Blind Sniper, is if they become employed again they may face the "Pre-existing condition clause". In which their employee provided health insurance refuses to cover their illness because they may have a lapse in their coverage by not purchasing COBRA insurance which is very expensive on order to bridge the gap. Humans are treated like automobiles. This is a very complicated issue that will continue to get worse and I don't claim to know the answer. My wife and I paid low premiums for years until my wife became ill and our rates rose at least 1000% and her treatment became very bad and had to traverse many a doctor and fight the insurance company at the same time. Very scary situation.
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Old 06-01-2009, 12:02 PM
 
Location: Nassau, Long Island, NY
16,408 posts, read 33,292,576 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Blind Sniper View Post
I'm not taking an R or D stance on this. The system is broke, period. Only the rich and the welfare poor get good health care while the middle class covers the cost for others while we do not "qualify" for good care ourselves. What good is health insurance and why does it exist? I pay in thousands per year so they can exclude or deny anything that I might need them for in the first place. I'm having to back off of my "it's socialism" views on this one. Health care should be a right not a priveledge. The left wants to nationalize and the right only wants to prove the left is wrong. What is the solution?
I hope more people come to their senses like you did. However, it may take a personal tragedy involving loss of health insurance to do so while if they had been fighting to change the system all the while, they may have missed that particular bullet. I would only say that I think the left could advocate a national plan as a choice for individuals and employers instead of wanting to dismantle the existing system entirely.

As for the welfare poor, actually I don't think they get better care and nowhere near like that of the rich because of the simple fact that many health care providers will not accept Medicaid because the reimbursements are too low. I think that 99% of dentists, for example, will not take Medicaid. So you may have "free health insurance" while on welfare, but if almost nobody wants to take your plan, what can you do?
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Old 06-01-2009, 12:15 PM
 
4,176 posts, read 6,332,598 times
Reputation: 1874
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blind Sniper View Post
I'm not taking an R or D stance on this. The system is broke, period. Only the rich and the welfare poor get good health care while the middle class covers the cost for others while we do not "qualify" for good care ourselves. What good is health insurance and why does it exist? I pay in thousands per year so they can exclude or deny anything that I might need them for in the first place. I'm having to back off of my "it's socialism" views on this one. Health care should be a right not a priveledge. The left wants to nationalize and the right only wants to prove the left is wrong. What is the solution?
I hope you realize that there will be plenty of rationing of care and denying treatments, services, etc even IF Universal Healthcare is implemented. It happens all the time in much smaller countries who don't have the poverty levels we have here, so imagine what we would do under UHC.

It sounds great to give Healthcare to everyone, but it hasn't worked in countries nowhere near the size of ours. It's probably going to be an even bigger disaster here than in the UK, Canada, etc.

I have no problem with more people having access to Health insurance, but do not (by any means) think it should be an absolute right given by the Government. We need people to rely on themselves, not the Government.

The GOP had an alternative plan focusing on the private sector.


http://coburn.senate.gov/public/inde...7-8b479a10affc
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Old 06-01-2009, 12:19 PM
 
Location: Dallas, TX
31,767 posts, read 28,806,382 times
Reputation: 12341
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blind Sniper View Post
I'm not taking an R or D stance on this. The system is broke, period. Only the rich and the welfare poor get good health care while the middle class covers the cost for others while we do not "qualify" for good care ourselves. What good is health insurance and why does it exist? I pay in thousands per year so they can exclude or deny anything that I might need them for in the first place. I'm having to back off of my "it's socialism" views on this one. Health care should be a right not a priveledge. The left wants to nationalize and the right only wants to prove the left is wrong. What is the solution?
Your forgot the Gitmo prisoners. They get it too. Its just not a thing for an average American, even if they would be willing to pay for it (just not for profit).

Calling a single payer system "socialism" is simply a political propaganda. It doesn't do Americans any justice. People are expected to pay for it via taxes, except this time they are not contributing to the profits of corporations, instead just cutting the middle men. Another plus side... we could always use fewer lobbyists that tend to control the government.
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Old 06-01-2009, 12:45 PM
 
683 posts, read 824,536 times
Reputation: 408
Which brings up another question: Why do health insurance companies even exist? An industry that profits from fleecing those who can afford it only to deny any real treatment when needed. Also, why do we need pharma reps pushing their new wonder drugs on the doctors who then push them on us. If something works, why does it need a sales rep.?
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Old 06-01-2009, 12:59 PM
 
Location: Foot of the Rockies
90,297 posts, read 120,694,120 times
Reputation: 35920
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blind Sniper View Post
Which brings up another question: Why do health insurance companies even exist? An industry that profits from fleecing those who can afford it only to deny any real treatment when needed. Also, why do we need pharma reps pushing their new wonder drugs on the doctors who then push them on us. If something works, why does it need a sales rep.?
I had an epiphany about this the other day. Insurance companies are a sort of private tax-collection system with a profit motive built in, for the most part. (Kaiser and I think some of the Blues are still non-profit.) I have no illusions that any kind of UHC system would be any cheaper than what we have now. I think one reason we spend more on health care in this country is that we simply are buying more health care. A few years back, I read an article where the Brits compared themselves to us, arguing that they should be spending more on health care. So these comparisons work both ways. What I dislike about the present system is the profit motive of the insurance companies, the uneveness of the system, and the job dependency of it. My 2c.
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