As you don't have insurance TBT I will not think too bad that this is how you think.
But Doctors are constantly having their care undermined by the insurance companies. Everytime they turn around the insurance companies are telling them they cannot do what they think is necessary. I really don't think that there is a single doctor in the nation that is not hamstrung by the insurance companies, unless they are dealing with medicaid/care since that is the only insurance plan that doesn't make a practice to deny services.
I can think of many doctors that have been hamstrung by Federal Regulation as well. So your argument that it is just the insurance companies forcing doctors to abandon some medical procedures is half an argument. Government, bureaucrats and politicians, are no better.
They want people to get coverage, but are not making it mandatory. But if you chose not to get coverage you will be taxed, since eventually you will need medical care and they want it so that people don't get bankrupted.
Let's see, if the government deprives me of the ability to save for my own medical care and then when I actually need medical care I'm not able to afford it because of the taxes and end up going bankrupt how does that accomplish the goals you are purporting them to have?
They allow the insurance companies to work under the 'free market' and have very little regulations on them aside from how they can invest the money people pay into them. So this bill is about putting those regulations on the companies that should have been there all along.
The insurance companies are coated in so much red tape that it's not even funny. This just adds more to the pile, but it is likely going to be the straw that broke the camel's back, but nevermind, as long as that last 10% get coverage who cares what happens to the other 90% that rely upon private insurance for their coverage, or if the 10% that are uninsured even want coverage in the first place.
Stupidity, Tyranny and down right imbecility, of course that is the coin of the realm in D.C.
While at the same time providing insurance to every American so that they can be responsible and get the care they need. Purplekitty even put a part of the bill up that she didn't understand (thought it was a direct look into the checking accounts at the hospital) but I am glad she asked because I learned that it was going to be set up so that you know exactley what you are going to pay before you see the doctor. That way there is no hidden costs.
I know exactly what I'm going to pay for before I see a doctor, medical care. I don't know WTF I'm paying for when I surrender money to the government or an insurance company for that matter.
Nor do I wish to have to waste my time attempting to decipher the all but encrypted legalese that is so prevalent in government and private contracts between individuals and corporations.
If it worked for the 1/8th of americans we would not need this bill for sure. But it doesn't, and it didn't for your aunt who got screwed by the system in place.
Directing that at the wrong person, but based on the kind of person she is, I think it'd serve my aunt right if she got screwed by the system in place.
It is not that it will be cheaper for everyone.
No, just for the lazy, stupid, incompetent and the free riders, because they must be given access to medical care at the expense of the middle class (and make no mistake that is exactly who is going to be stuck paying for this junk legislation.)
But if people cannot afford it they will have access to federal grants to help pay for it.
Yes, more of my stolen money at work providing goods and services to others and thus depriving me of the ability to get ahead through my own actions. But we must not let those whining insignificant cowards that are incapable of standing on their own two feet go with out, that would be cruel and inhumane. Never mind that because of all this feel good legislation millions of Americans are forced to finance purchases that they would otherwise be able to afford and thus the entire economy suffers at a rate exceeding 2 - 3% for every 1% collected in taxes.
Pyrrhic Victory, the costs outweight the fucking benefits.
Where's the Brits that I met when I went camping, they were saying something about the Queen rescinding our independence, at this rate that'd be an improvement.
So that way just because you have a low paying job you can still benefit from it.
If you aspire to remain in a low paying job your entire life, you are either
A. An Imbecile
B. An idiot with no ambition
C. A coward afraid to strive for better
But not suffering to continue to insult those poor bastards who are stuck slaving for stupid fucks like you at fastfood joints, I personally think a better solution, and one that wouldn't so egregariously violate the rights of the citizenry, would be just to cut payroll taxes. $2,000 a year in the pocket of the average fastfood worker. Plenty to pay for their medical needs, and if they don't spend it on medical care, who gives a fuck, because it's their money to do what they want with anyway.
Oh, wait, that would go against your great socialist tyranny where big brother must ensure that everyone does what is good for them. Give me a break...
Right now that care is still given, but in emergancy rooms.
Funny thing is that there was this study done and most people in emergency rooms actually have insurance... oops, your argument fails. No bearing on reality.
This means that the costs are still there (people still seak treatment, they just don't pay), but they are passed onto the government write-offs, spread over everyones insurance through higher costs, and paid for directly by the people that pay their bills in cash.
Not that this purported solution is really going to resolve that because everyone is still stuck paying for those freeloaders, and what if those freeloaders (fucking bums) don't have any income and thus can't afford insurance anyway. No benefit there, everyone is still stuck paying, only now they get it up the ass everytime one of thus fucking bums gets the sniffles and goes into the ER (which they aren't actually doing to begin with.)
So it will essentially be the same costs, but with access to a regular doctor they can hopefully catch issues before they are so big they costs thousands of dollars.
There was another study (I think I even linked to it in another post) that concluded that preventative care would actually end up being more expensive. Oops, 0 - 2, or maybe you've already struck out.
Like dental. If you go to the dentist every few months because you have insurance (a couple hundred a visit) they can keep you mostly from needing all the extra work if you only go when you need some serious care (Few thousand or more). It keeps you healthier and the total costs lower.
Big difference between Dental (fillings) and a MRI, PET, EKG or any other kind of preventitive tests. Not to mention the fact that some of the radiological tests require shipment to an outside lab, which adds onto the costs instead of decreasing costs.
Not to mention the money saved through bankruptcy. The horrible ordeal that your aunt had to go through was not wiped off the books. We paid for it through taxes. That money lost was paid by the government.
Actually it was probably swallowed by the doctor, but I suppose since that wasn't income the doctor got then the government indirectly paid some of that in lost tax revenues.
OMFG, that's what it's all about, tax revenues, oh utterly un-fucking-surprising. Can't let the doctors just write off treatments they aren't going to get payment for, that might reduce their tax bracket and take money away from the bureaucrats...
They Tried Hillary Clinton pushed very hard to pass this while Bill was president, but she kept getting shot down.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clinton_health_care_plan_of_1993 The republicans pulled the same bullcrap they are pulling now.
Thank God, and hopefully we'll defeat this junk-legislation this time around. It is a violation of a various assortment of the Bill of Rights (4th, 5th, 8th, 9th and 10th Amendments) and an imbecilic attempt to monopolize 16% of the economy under the control of a few major government-backed corporations. (Because those major (government-backed) corporations are going to be the one's that get the government contracts to administer this horribly flawed system.)
You are still on point (I swear that I did not get a new account and post this). This is a restructuring. Obama is trying to change the places that we place the money that the government is spending.
He has had a mess on his hands. And everything will not be perfect, but things like most the stimulus package going to education and tax cuts, Healthcare reform that has been directed towards denying care, $90 billion in small business loans, and a lot of money going towards developing new technologies that can become our new industries, is all ways that will help america in the long run, as well as the short run.
Lots of Junk Legislation...
None of it is going to help, because the medical care is going to end up costing more (just the costs are now going to be hidden instead of out in the open, except in the event that some how some one gets out of the system and needs care, which they'll end up paying infinitely more for.)
Then there's the fact that doctors don't want this junk legislation (more paperwork, and their doctors to practice medicine, not doctors to push paperwork.) Though on the bright side (for fucking retarded socialists) just imagine how many fucking bean-counters they are going to have to hire to push around paperwork for Uncle Sam.
Let's not forget that Solar and Wind are less efficient (by a factor of 400 - 600%) than Nuclear, Coal, Oil, Gas and Natural Gas.
Nevermind that despite the billions that continuously get thrown at education there has yet to be any meaningful increase in the quality of the public education system (which continues to slide further and further into failing to achieve its goals.)
Waste of Money
Waste of Effort
Waste of Emotion
Waste of Time
Let us not ignore the fact that the United States has more liabilities (unfunded) than it actually has assets.
And is rapidly approaching a point where the national debt exceeds the GDP (which is a fictional number due to the inclusion of government services, and thus a mask used to hide the fact that the United States probably hasn't emerged from the Great Depression.) Which would certainly explain the less than stellar growth rate and the less than profitable efforts in the imbecilic war on poverty.
Where's the Obama Exit Strategy for that epic failure. One would think that after 40 + years the Government would finally be sick of fighting a losing battle...
Oh, wait, it's not about getting people out of poverty, it's about forcing everyone into poverty, because that's the only way to achieve the absurd egalitarian dream of absolute equality.
Like I said before, NEW DARK AGE.
I wish I could teleport into the future and see how far this insanity lasts before humanity recovers its senses, drops this imbecilic pretense of equality of outcomes and unnatural rights, and realizes again that the only rights there are are those to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness and that the highest distinction a nation can have is the true equality of all before the law, instead of this imbecilic drive to reduce everyone to equal poverty through use of the law.
Democracy truly is a God that failed. How the hell do you dispose of a failed God?