Healthcare

[LTSmash]

So, the US is in for some change. Anyone else following this?

[f6fhellcat13]

I am not a huge fan of the bill as it stands now, but I am very glad it got passed. Had it stayed in Congress getting diluted and dumbed down until is is nothing more than a worthless lump of shit, it would have been a massive burden on us. Some might say it currently is, but there is so much more potential to screw it up, especially when Congress is involved.
I personally plan on having insurance and generally being a boring bourgeois, so I will not be all that affected, or so I hope.

[Kitdy]

There is a distinct possibility this thread will turn ugly.

[csl177]

Glad it passed and hope for the best as it's cleaned up, but not a fan of the legislation as it is. As a small business owner fully 14% of my costs were related to providing employee insurance; when our rates were raised 30% we had to drop it as an employee benefit. Tough thing to decide, keeping good employees protected, or going out of business. A simple single-payer system, removing insurers gross profiteering would be fine by me. And it could be accomplished if we got corporate money out of politics.

[LTSmash]

There is a distinct possibility this thread will turn ugly.

G35COUPE is gone, so we can be civil. Plus, I just wanted some thoughts on the situation. I don't need to voice my stance; it should be known.

But, I will say that having followed this for such a long time I did want some healthcare reform. This just isn't what I had in mind.

A simple single-payer system, removing insurers gross profiteering would be fine by me.

I had a "utility-esque takeover" situation in mind.

[Dino Scuderia]

It's a lot to digest...even when all of it has not been divulged.

Just looking at Social Security and Medicare going broke I can't say I have confidence in this plan...or should I say the entity administrating it.

I'm all for fixing the system....it is not working as is but I don't agree that what was passed was the best route.

One major aspect that should have been done IMO is breaking down the walls between states allowing more competition in the given markets between the insurance companies. Some states have only one or two insurance companies....it's a joke.

[Kitdy]

G35COUPE is gone, so we can be civil.

There are others...

[Dino Scuderia]

G35COUPE told me to tell you guys his secret healthcare provider is cheaper and superior to all the rest.

j/k

[csl177]

There are others...

Make them show themselves! Treachery! Treachery!

Honestly, the debate has been anything but. 'Muricans are kinda slow. Not a peep outta the public for 30 years of treasury looting by corporate America, but shitstorms of protest against things in their own best interests. There are many examples, but the most telling disconnect is easily "Government Hands Off My Medicare/Medicaid" repeated at so many Tea Party rallies. Socialized medicine is apparently a good thing when it's called something else.

The undercurrent is actually the legacy of dismantling our social safety net, writ large by Reagan, and continued as political red meat by every administration since.

[cmcpokey]

as someone with government provided health care what was in this bill affects me very little. despite this i was really wanting it to pass, and glad it did. i wanted a strong public option, but with the abundance of paranoid state's rights republicans/teabaggers there was no way one would have passed. it's really a sad state when so many people have been tricked into believing that helping pad the already well padded wallets of insurance companies is more important that helping save lives throughout the country.

[clutch-monkey]

not sure if relevant
but amusing. applying some of the anti-healthcare arguments to other government services

[Niko_Fx]

All I know is that I have stock in a couple of pharmaceutical companies and they were all green today

[IBrake4Rainbows]

Forgive ignorance, but whats the gist of this bill?

My limited understanding it that it is more of an encouragement for people to get Private Health insurance, and that Insurance companies can't discriminate against those with preexisting conditions.

If thats the case, that's pretty much what we've had in Australia for a while now, and it seems to be working, Completely failing public health system nonwithstanding.

[Niko_Fx]

Easier access to government-funded health insurance for those that can't afford insurance. I'm insured by my employer, afaik I won't be affected much.

It's pretty complex though, if you watch CNN you wind up confused, if you watch Fox you hate the reform... lol.

[csl177]

not sure if relevant
but amusing. applying some of the anti-healthcare arguments to other government services

Loved that piece, really sad commentary but funny! Completely relevant, even sent around awhile back (got one in the mail) as comic rebuttal to wingnut arguments against government "intrusion".

But the same folks are all for eliminating habeus corpus in the name of protecting the "homeland". (very uncomfortable with that phrase... smacks of USA über alles) Genuine and anti-Constitutional intrusion.

BTW, insurance company stocks reacted positively, as expected, what with billions going to their coffers guaranteed with the additional millions of new policies. A government public option was what they lobbied against for that reason.