America - Health Care Reform
 

Ive not seen much on here about the Healthcare debate which has been the big political issue in the US for quite a whle now, and it seems like its going to pass tonight

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/0..._n_507490.html

I know what alot of you think about gun rights, Iraq etc. Where are you on this? Or do you not give a flying ashtray either way?

put a poll for americans to vote in

Its not an issue that reflects a yes/no poll from what ive been following. Besides the Americans on here havent expressed what they think of it at all so id rather hear what they have to say individually rather than a poll... If they can be arsed to reply.

don't let the word "reform" fool you.

it's the same old shit repackaged economy sized for lesser value.

Big Insurance predicts a 40% "cost increase" (ie: premium increase).

there is no public option. where do you think the money will go?

Yeah, absolutely. What a shitstorm.

Eh they are voting for it now.

Anything Mitch the Bitch and John Boner are against is a good thing

Passed 219 to 212.

watching the media coverage of the healthcare debate, im led to believe that this ruling is certain to lead to a Trotskyist state of some kind. How can I support my far left comrades now that they are in power?

Of course nobody believed the puerile sack of shit when he said it but the idea of Rush Limbaugh leaving the country is heartening.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8579322.stm

Welcome to Stalinism, America!

he said he was going to Costa Rica didnt he?

Yeah, poor Costa Ricans.

I don't understand exactly how this is going now. Mostly because I've been too sick in the past listening to certain americans go on about how health care not being a fundamental human right, and not wanting their taxes used to save "illegal aliens" lives. Of course it's not all of them, and I feel sorry for any person that has to live listening to bullshit like that being said with real conviction everyday.

I have no idea but I've heard yr healthcare sucks. One of my friends who is allergic to this country constantly moves from one place to another. She lived in the US for a year or two and said she visited the doctor once and never again because it was just too 'spensive. god bless my medicare.

My *private* health insurance premiums have gone up 100% in four years.. though that is only for hospital cover. I can still go and see a GP for free or close to it if I need to.

I do not have insurance right now because it is cheaper for me to pay the doctor outright for services and just buy generic prescriptions. WE have insurance at work, but if I purchased it for my entire family it wouls cost me nearly 2 weeks pay, plus the deductables you have to meet. So why would I pay for nothing? When you see a doctor here they charge "self pay" patients half of what they charge a person ho does have insurance. It works out in my benefit, but seems to be a little scammish. I can take my kids to the clinic 15 minutes from my house for $25.00. They can get free anti biotics at publix and at walmart they have a huge list of generic medications that are $4.00. I am lucky to have a small amount health issues to deal with otherwise I would have to fork out cash to insurance companies.

I hope the bill works out well. I am glad they finally decided on SOMETHING. It may not live up to all it's hype, but I believe it is a step in the right direction. If the government is resposible for our education, than I don't see why it should not take any resposibility for the health of it's citizens. We do have medicaid, but you have to be pregnant or literally sit on your ass with no type of income to be elligible.

In fact, when I became pregnant with my son, I had literally dropped my insurance 2 months before because i could no longer afford it. We had no plans to get pregnant and were taking the proper precautions and lo and behold I was pregnant. So I made an appointment with the OB, but they would not see me until I had $4000 to give them, which I did not have at that time of my life. With my husband's income we made to much to recieve medicaid. I had no other choice but to only state my income and not mt husband's so I could be elligible. I did not get to see a doctor until I was nearlt 4 months pregnant ( I spent the first 3 trying to come up with $4000 plus the other $12,000 minimum I would owe the doctor alone). The first question I get asked by the doctor when I finally get in is "Why did you wait so long to get prenatal care?" I have to say Medicaid has wonderfull care. My hospital room was like a hotel, and they automatically covered my child for the first year and myself for 3 months afterward.

If pursued and run correctly I think a government based health system would work well. Being a doctor is supposed to be about helping people not profits.

may not make a difference to you who works for a hospital and probably have coverage out the yinyang. but for me (i'm self-employed) the difference is fucking HUGE.

the options i had available to me before were worthless--now they aren't.

i just gave money to the DNC. this bill may not be all that it could be but it's a lot better than what we had, which was utter and complete shit unless you worked for corporate america and never got sick.

public option would be great if you didn't have a bunch of yahoos screaming "socialism"-- a public option would have de facto killed the bill-- so we get what we can which is better than nothing. that's life in a republic-- the little red-state yahoos in the senate have way too much power.

--
gail: the reason self-pay is cheaper is cuz they don't have to deal with an army of bureucrats to get paid, which requires extra staff just do deal w/ insurance claims. dr. gets the money the day you pay, in full, minus maybe a % for CC company, rather than 6 months from now after lots of back & forth.

my old shrink was able to give me very affordable rates when he dropped dealing with insurance, and paperwork, and all that crap. plus, the insurance no longer had the rights to the records that proved i was mad.

I do not work for a hospital. thanks.

really? i thought you worked around scary nurses (you said) as the billing king (or so girlgun said). I BLAME GIRLGUN.

no, i don't blame her, actually-- i may have jumped to conclusions-- but you have some sort of health-care related corporate gig, yes? ARE YOU THE ACCOUNTING MAINFRAME?

I, for one, think the passing of the health care bill was fucking awesome.

Don't ask me to expand on that, though. I gave up arguing on the internet over health care for Lent.

he does medical billing, but not at a hospital.

is a fundamental human right something that HAS to be provided by a third party?

fuck all insurance companies.

make those fucks earning BILLIONS in profit actually pay out their goddamn claims, fucking assholes.

oooh... so where does Nurse Ratchet came from? what kind of establishment is this where he labors? (no need to disclose particulars-- i'm just curious about his setup)


i can perform field surgery on myself as well as tooth extractions but these are a bitch without whiskey. i have also performed surgery on others, but only for sexual pleasure.

now, what are you asking about, exactly?

I watched the vote last night. It was interesting the degree to which opposition to the reform seemed to transcend simple party political partisanship. It seems to have really divided America on a quite fundamental level, with some quite deeply felt objections being expressed that weren't, from what I could gather, just about sticking one on Obama. I don't know the real details of what the reform will mean but it's fascinating watching the whole issue unfold and how divisive it seems to be amongst so many Americans.

the reform is limited and went from "health care reform" to "health insurance reform" when hysterical yahoos began to cry "socialism!!" at the possibility of a government-sponsored option-- option! not mandatory for all! but hysteria is hysteria.

so a compromise had to be forged where health insurance is kept in private hands BUT it is regulated in new and stricter ways-- they used to conveniently drop you when you needed them the most, for example.

case in point: the wife of one of my professors got breast cancer. she had a fucking good policy, shared by all state employees. but she had a nasty form of cancer, which required very intense treatment. when the cost of her treatment reached a certain monetary limit, the insurance company said "sorry but we've covered enough and you pay for your future chemos now". she had to go to court (while ill) and make them pay. she survived-- the disease, and the insurance company.

the likes of rush limbaugh say that these are "sob stories" to fool people into "adopting socialism", but fuckit, the fuckers have been running rampant taking money from people and then fucking them (against their will, not in a sexy way) in the ass.

this adds protection also against "preexisting conditions"--e.g-- "oh, you had your appendix taken when you were 12, sorry, you are not eligible" or worse-- "sure, you have epilepsy, you can get insurance with us and we will pay for everything except your epilepsy". shit like that! outrageous!

finally, self-employed people like yours truly can now buy into large insurance pools and get themselves a good deal instead of the crud i'd been dealing with.

there are other things. but the insurance co.s are going to get their nuts in a fucking vise so that when they try to rape you it's going to hurt them.

Big Insurance & Big Hospitals will be the ones that benefit; not patients and not doctors (which is what healthcare should be about).

congrats America, you fell right into the pockets of the three or four megacorps that operate under the names of 100's of different insurance plans.

I suspect that it's steak and lobster dinners for Aetna tonite.

Obama had no intention of any serious healthcare reform. That's why he started with the compromise position which never included single payer as a serious option.

It's no surprise. He never had any balls as a senator so why should he as president? Barely heard a word from him in opposition to Bush when he was in power.

if you think he could pass any more than it's been passed you have no comprehension of the american public-- we can't have a national health system like england, not in this generation at least.

balls- what was the phrase-- "gonads are useful for their purpose, but they are no substitute for brains".

obama is too smart to embark on a futile suicide mission. this health care reform effort alone has cost the democrats a senate seat and a couple of house seats as well, and maybe also the governorship of virginia. it's taken him 14 fucking months to pass this. he plays a long game and wins-- sure, it's not paradise, but it's a huge step forward for here yahooland. seriously. that's why kucinich fell in line-- the perfect is the enemy of the ... barely sufficient.

i'm very fucking happy about this.

No I don't think he could have passed a great deal more. I do understand something about the American people (the success story that is Sarah Palin gives you a clue).

But because Obama started from such a position of weakness his right wing opponents (Republicans and the media in particular) capitalised on this and not only trampled all over him but reinvigorated the GOP (who were on their knees after the election) in the process.

And I don't believe for one second that Obama is playing the 'long game' and being smart. He hasn't the balls (he's president of the fucking US for crissakes!) or the political nouse to have done any better.

(Go on...why the link to Amazon.com homepage?)

i don't think you get the guy-- his primary campaign against hillary had very long odds, he stuck to his game and won in the end.

health care / health insurance reform has been attempted here FOR 100 YEARS. clinton started from a strong position and broke his teeth. obama learned this and started from the center-- proposing some shit that even nixon (republican "not a crook" dead president) had attempted. the teabaggers polarized the game because a lot of reasons but basically because they fear that the negro socialist will take away their freedom.

balls, no balls, opinions, assholes, etc.-- results is what counts and we got them

On this subject, I very much enjoyed this short video this morning:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8200844.stm

Back in Oct-Nov '08, I was saying that if McCain won, I was leaving the country. Now, after all the divisive bullshit that is american politics, even after a 'win' on health care, I'm considering that again.

Most of the ideas in this bill were originally proposed by republicans! And now, they consider the same ideas socialist. The blatant lies that were told and repeated and not denied are what passes for civil discourse in this country.

Glen Beck thinks progressives are destroying the country and wants to go back to the US before Teddy Roosevelt. That is not the country I want to live in.

Yeah, this law is better than nothing. I doubt it will be a handout to Ins co's and hospitals--always depending on how lawyers can twist the text of the law.

Yeah, I would have prefered outright socialized medicine but that wasn't goin to happen. A public option would have been nice--old people seem to like their medicare.

But if I can get health and prescription coverage at a reasonable price, I won't mind at all.

I think I get him as well as anybodyI don't think everybody will agree with this.

i know, but my cause won, and i'm celebrating while the teabaggers cry-- ha!


exactly! with imbeciles like that casting votes (and in maryland, which is pretty well educated by comparison), trust me, what we have is the best we can have right now. these people voted for bush TWICE if you recall.

anyway-- gotta get out of here & finish work early so i can go DESTROY MY LIVER in celebration of health "insurance" reform-- ha ha ha

so what changes?

you mean like education, security, fire fighting etc? yes!

^^^ what if all of the above was mandated to be provided to you by Wal•Mart?

that's close to what we're dealing with.

fuk insurance companies