So the Unconstitutional rules for minorities are ok with you because they provide opportunity where it wouldn't otherwise exist.. also realizing that the same opportunity was possibly taken from someone who deserved it more? Let me ask you this, would you support this same type of policy in say, the NFL or NBA? Blacks occupy probably 80-90% of the slots in pro bball and probably 60-70% in the NFL. i mean since whites are the majority of the pop shouldn't we demand that these leagues maintain a majority % of white players?
I can see it now... paid viewers bitching, "white guys can't jump", and "white guys can't run" (Wes Welcher, excepted)... "I'm PAYING for THIS??" And the NFL/NBA coming back with, "Hey, Equal Opportunity, you know".
Good post. I actually like certain parts of Obamacare but object mostly to the arrogant way it was rammed down our throats. I will never accept government in that form even if the legislation was beneficial to most citizens. The Pelosi-Reid-Obama triumvirate used methods that are unacceptable and delivered dialog that I cannot stomach, i.e., "we've got to pass the bill to know what is in it". I like the "no denial of coverage for preexisting conditions. I suppose that I even like that many people who cannot obtain health insurance would receive it. I also like certain provisions that might prevent people from facing bankruptcy and ruin due to their medical treatment. I object to the mandate though I understand the math of the left that claims it is needed to distribute risk sufficiently to lower premiums its just that I don't believe premiums will be reduced. Frankly I think Obamacare is a windfall for the insurance companies and big pharma. RCG's first post was visible since you quoted it and I basically agree with him. Might be the first honest and factual post he has ever made here lol. I think the answer to his question regarding the patient being discharged from the hospital and so facing likely death is yes, Obamacare would likely prevent that if the procedures or medication required to sustain that person's life was among those that are covered.
Actually it worked/works GREAT. AA simply denies those that are qualified to make room for those that are not. Nothing more.
Tsingy, I haven't read the law, but believe it or not, I intend to. From what I understand, employers with 50-199 employees will be required to offer "reasonable" healthcare coverage for their employees starting 2014, or pay $2,000 per employee as a fine.$2,000 is a lot cheaper than most health insurance yearly premiums but it is lost more expensive if you don't offer healthcare at all. Over 200, employees, I am not sure what the bill says but I know waivers are being granted by the feds to large companies. So your construction acquaintance might both be better off not trimming his payroll, or not trimming it until 2014. Again, there has been more propaganda and confusion over this bill than anything I have ever seen so i want to read it before announcing support or opposition to it. Just an observation, but it would seem prudent to maintain good employee health and offer coverage for employees in a trade such as construction. It sounds like the construction company owner offers minimal or no coverage to certain workers if the additional cost of keeping them on at $2,000 a head renders them a liability. Clearly, the law limits (or forces) choices by certain employers. The question is how the country as a whole, both private and public, can reduce health care costs, improve healthcare with a minimum of interference in the private market. If Obamacare can't do that, junk it and start over. The real elephant is Medicare and Medicaid. 700 billion and growing, far beyond thier funding. Private health care is paid for by the fruit of the labor by working people. But pretty soon Medicare and Medicare will be also and that's simply unsustainable. And perhaps immoral. Is it right to to severely tax a small productive part of the population to provide expensive and often wasteful healthcare for people in their last few years, or for people chronically unproductive? The far right oddly lambasted Obamacare as "rationing" healthcare, but we already do that. Insurance companies act as a brake on hospitals and doctors, whose interest is too often to spend more. In late 2007 my mother was diagnosed with lung cancer. She had been a heavy smoker. She died in January 2009. I helped her with her medical appointments and her insurance and Medicare claims. In 2008 alone, Medicare paid out about $300,000 in claims on her behalf. Cat scans, biopsies, chemo, pain meds,oncologists, pulmonologists, hospital stays, etc. She ate about $7,500 out of pocket. However, she was just shy of 74 and had been eligible for Medicare I suppose since she was 65? Or is 68? It's safe to say Medicare paid at least 400k for her in her lifetime, as she had been treated for other matters prior to cancer. She probably paid into Medicare less than $50,000 and she had worked full time for 30 years at least. That math won't keep working.
To add each of those changes to health care there is a substantial cost that has to be added to the cost of insurance, be it paid by the policy holder or the government through more taxes. OHMS, your last sentence is also going to be very expensive. However, a very large number of retired couples have experienced this situation. One of them gets sick with the illness that eventually kills them. That family member exhausts the insurance and the costs of life ending care bankrupt the couple. The survivor is then left broke and bankrupt. This happens quite often and something needs to be done about it. ObamaCare isn't the solution. ObamaCare is a monstrosity that needs to be killed. Then a new, reasonable solution needs to be found that will cover the short comings we have with current health care. ObamaCare will also lead to this situation that is happening in Britain. Just today a story came out that some hospital patients in Britain are quietly put on a deliberate path to death to save money. Hospitals receive bonuses based on the number of patients who are put on this path to die. It's scary.
Oh, I agree. Don't get me wrong, I despise Obamacare and hope it can be killed. It is just a couple of the component features that I like but the whole integrated package sucks as badly as anything I've ever heard of. I think that the quality of medical care overall is going to greatly diminish. I think it will become difficult to obtain services and that we'll end up on waiting lists like they do in the UK and in Canada. Just because I like one or two features doesn't mean I'm an Obamacare fan. I feel as though if Obama gets reelected next week that he'll start to implement some of the more radical parts of Obamacare and it will trigger an economic disaster.
I didn't mean to say you support Obamacare. I know you don't. Here's another thought. Medical costs are rising exponentially because of new technology and drugs. New life saving technology and drugs get invented because those who need it will pay for it. So. to stop medical costs from rising so fast we need to quit inventing and using new lifesaving tecnology and drugs. Or at least start making the rest of the world that uses them pay full price.