Wambli,
It's proven that the best health care is prevention. Regular checkups.
The only socialized health care is Medicaid and Medicare.
Most doctors refuse Medicaid patients and send them to the local emergency room.
Medicare patients get health care paid for by the federal government and by their contributions to the system.
I'm retired and my wife and I pay $208./month for Medicare.
We recieve Social Security increases yearly, but the increases are eaten up by increased costs of medicare.
You working folks are paying for Medicaid in your federal taxes.
So you're already paying for uninsured patients at the most expensive place.
The hospital emergency room paid by insurance companies.
If the money grubbing insurance companies were taken out of the equasion, the costs have to be lower.
If you have any assets at all, you will pay it. They'll send it to collection and they'll take you to court and hound you forever. In Wyoming they can attach a lein on your house I'm told.
Currently, I am paying for someone else's Medicare/ Medicaid.
I'll likely never see a dime of it. Just like social security. And you want me to pay more? I think not.
I would be more sympathetic for you, except for one thing - I've been doing it for over 45 years. Assume that a retiree lives 10 years after he retires - that means I've paid for about 4 generations of retirees, with the governments promise that I will get the same deal. Fortunately, I haven't believed for at least twenty years that the system would be there for me, and have made other preparations for my old age. Of course, all indications are that even those preparations will fail on our present economic course.
when i had a decayed wisdom tooth out last year i went to the NHS it was free of charge and i had been suffering with it for around 2 years or so was knocked out cold (i have anxiety issues with dentists and tooth extractions) if i had to pay for it, it would have cost me around £300, i didnt have that amount floating about, and i got a hell of a bollocking from the nurse as i drove home when i shouldnt have
I've got a feeling you pay far more in the form of insurance (both out of pocket and in the form of employer contributions) than your taxes do. I know I do. That's my point: the taxpayers aren't paying a large portion, it's the insurance companies. Heck, when I was in grad school and living on a stipend, getting 100% of my IRS withholdings back, I was paying for someone else's healthcare because I had my own insurance policy with I didn't use. And for a lot of younger, healthy people they're subsidizing medical care for other folks through their insurance plans which go unused. Fine, I understand that, that's the way that insurance works. I'd wager most folks have paid more into homeowner's or auto policies than they get back.
That being said, to say that the burden on taxpayers is too much under the current plan is incorrect. Most of the "slack" in payment comes through non-tax means.
I have read that insurance company profit margin is around 3%.
That is the problem with most of those "evil" corporations. The profit margins that they live on are small, but, by the shear volume of business that they do, they make a boatload of money. I still have not found one person that can explain to me how turning my healthcare experience into a trip to the DMV to renew my license is going to make it better. I work in local government, it is messed up. I have seen state government, it is messed up. I have seen the federal government, it is messed up. Involving the same people who make me fill out forms before I can throw away a light bulb in my healthcare can do nothing EXCEPT make it messed up. Where is the OP? Did he give up the ghost? I want to see how this is going to work and make everything better, not just a bunch of platitudes on how we are depriving people of their basic needs. I want concrete arguments about how this is going to work so much better than the system that we had.
The fire service needs a "culture of extinguishment not safety" Ray McCormack FDNY
Wait a minute!
I paid for my Medicade health care for 40 years of working a 40 or more hour week job. Just like for my social security pension.
I'm still paying for it!
Would I contribute more to insure for health care for folks who don't have any?
A big Yes.
Who's the douche?
Considering most who collect Medicare/Medicade and Social Security benefits get more than they paid in in the first place, and expect to get more than their investment (plus interest)...
Wait a minute!
I paid for my Medicade health care for 40 years of working a 40 or more hour week job. Just like for my social security pension.
I'm still paying for it!
Would I contribute more to insure for health care for folks who don't have any?
A big Yes.
Who's the douche?
I'm not sure who the douche is, I just figured you're misinformed. I guess you can be both if you want.
Seriously, I'm glad (not really, but you catch my drift) that you appreciate the current setup. I don't. I think it's bad not just for me, but for my kids, their kids to be and for the country in general. Will some benefit? Sure, if all you're concerned with is the short term. Take a long view and the picture is very different. Our entitlements are going broke. There is no other way to put it. Yes, you 'worked for 40 years'. Good for you. So does/will most of the rest of the ~ one third of a billion of us here in the U.S. You're entitled to your opinion and that along with some cash will get you coffee somewhere. I'll likely have to work until I keel over, so it's a moot point to me. However, instead of jpending at a rate that puts a whole fleet of drunken sailors to shame, I think the better course for the country you and I will leave to our kids is for us to curtail LOTS right now. It's probably going to sting a little. Heck it might hurt a bunch, but it won't be fatal.
Now, if that makes me a douche, then I will be forced to consider the source and wear that badge with honor.
"Bipartisan" usually means that a bigger than normal deception is happening.
George Carlin
You know, calling the ambulance to take you to the emergency room, which (conveniently) is right next door to wherever it is you really wanted to go, or getting something removed because you're trapped in another person's body or having something attached for the same reason, Plantar's warts, gas, leadless pencils, urine that smells funny or any one of the thousand different and very diverse ailments that make up malaise.
In other words, basically everything.
"Bipartisan" usually means that a bigger than normal deception is happening.
George Carlin
Airedale I just re-read the whole thread and I must have missed where someone called you a douche. I did however read a lot of well though out counter points and questions you continue to fail to address. This debate will ONLY continue as long as it stays civil. If it does not it goes poof. First and ONLY warning!
He may have seen cpj's sigline quote from Zee. That's all I can think of.
"Bipartisan" usually means that a bigger than normal deception is happening.
George Carlin
Replies
It's proven that the best health care is prevention. Regular checkups.
The only socialized health care is Medicaid and Medicare.
Most doctors refuse Medicaid patients and send them to the local emergency room.
Medicare patients get health care paid for by the federal government and by their contributions to the system.
I'm retired and my wife and I pay $208./month for Medicare.
We recieve Social Security increases yearly, but the increases are eaten up by increased costs of medicare.
You working folks are paying for Medicaid in your federal taxes.
So you're already paying for uninsured patients at the most expensive place.
The hospital emergency room paid by insurance companies.
If the money grubbing insurance companies were taken out of the equasion, the costs have to be lower.
If you have any assets at all, you will pay it. They'll send it to collection and they'll take you to court and hound you forever. In Wyoming they can attach a lein on your house I'm told.
Wait, you think the hospital is actually able to go to Uncle to get money when deadbeats don't pay? Really?!?
George Carlin
I would be more sympathetic for you, except for one thing - I've been doing it for over 45 years. Assume that a retiree lives 10 years after he retires - that means I've paid for about 4 generations of retirees, with the governments promise that I will get the same deal. Fortunately, I haven't believed for at least twenty years that the system would be there for me, and have made other preparations for my old age. Of course, all indications are that even those preparations will fail on our present economic course.
That being said, to say that the burden on taxpayers is too much under the current plan is incorrect. Most of the "slack" in payment comes through non-tax means.
That is the problem with most of those "evil" corporations. The profit margins that they live on are small, but, by the shear volume of business that they do, they make a boatload of money. I still have not found one person that can explain to me how turning my healthcare experience into a trip to the DMV to renew my license is going to make it better. I work in local government, it is messed up. I have seen state government, it is messed up. I have seen the federal government, it is messed up. Involving the same people who make me fill out forms before I can throw away a light bulb in my healthcare can do nothing EXCEPT make it messed up. Where is the OP? Did he give up the ghost? I want to see how this is going to work and make everything better, not just a bunch of platitudes on how we are depriving people of their basic needs. I want concrete arguments about how this is going to work so much better than the system that we had.
I paid for my Medicade health care for 40 years of working a 40 or more hour week job. Just like for my social security pension.
I'm still paying for it!
Would I contribute more to insure for health care for folks who don't have any?
A big Yes.
Who's the douche?
I'm not sure who the douche is, I just figured you're misinformed. I guess you can be both if you want.
Seriously, I'm glad (not really, but you catch my drift) that you appreciate the current setup. I don't. I think it's bad not just for me, but for my kids, their kids to be and for the country in general. Will some benefit? Sure, if all you're concerned with is the short term. Take a long view and the picture is very different. Our entitlements are going broke. There is no other way to put it. Yes, you 'worked for 40 years'. Good for you. So does/will most of the rest of the ~ one third of a billion of us here in the U.S. You're entitled to your opinion and that along with some cash will get you coffee somewhere. I'll likely have to work until I keel over, so it's a moot point to me. However, instead of jpending at a rate that puts a whole fleet of drunken sailors to shame, I think the better course for the country you and I will leave to our kids is for us to curtail LOTS right now. It's probably going to sting a little. Heck it might hurt a bunch, but it won't be fatal.
Now, if that makes me a douche, then I will be forced to consider the source and wear that badge with honor.
George Carlin
You know, calling the ambulance to take you to the emergency room, which (conveniently) is right next door to wherever it is you really wanted to go, or getting something removed because you're trapped in another person's body or having something attached for the same reason, Plantar's warts, gas, leadless pencils, urine that smells funny or any one of the thousand different and very diverse ailments that make up malaise.
In other words, basically everything.
George Carlin
He may have seen cpj's sigline quote from Zee. That's all I can think of.
George Carlin