Finally! After Decades of Trying, We have Sanity in Our Health Care System

So, in the case of the insurance industry, the solution is to turn that power over to the government? Wasn't it BO himself who claimed UPS & Fedex where shining examples of what the private sector can achieve as compared to the US Postal Service?
You radical libs love to frame the argument as Middle Class vs Corporate America when in fact is is trully the middle class that you have in your sights. You need the power & support of the elites and you already have the poor under your thumb & addicted to the government teet but the middle class is where the majority lives & are the engine that powers the nation. If you can control the middle class, suck the best out of us, then you'll have the best of both worlds. As a member of the middle class I can assure you that I do not feel squeezed when individual achievement & responsibility are celebrated, in fact what more could you ask for? If I have a medical bill, I'll pay it myself. If the kid's tuition is due, I'll pay it myself. If I lose my job, I'll find another one. If someone has taken the risk & done well, I'll applaud them for it. If someone has something they earned, I think they should be able to enjoy it. I don't want anything I didn't ear and I sure don't want anything that belongs to somepone else. moen or tomc, can either of you say the same thing?

 

There is no government insurance offered so it is bogus to frame it as turning over power to the government. There is however, government regulation of the insurance industry which is exactly what the government is supposed to do for the people of this country. The big smoke screen here is that the government has taken over the health insurance in this country when all they have done is rein in the insurance industries abusive practices.
You once again bring this down to the individual when this isn't about the individual. You just can't seem to help yourself when I say very directly that this isn't about the individual but the mega corporations that regularly buy and sell out legislators to buy favorable laws that benefit them specifically. That is not capitalism, that is an oligarchy.
I can say that I have never taken anything from anyone. I have never even inherited something from a dead relative nor has my wife. I paid my children's tuition, I have never signed bankruptcy, I have never defaulted a on any type of loan, and my credit is perfect. I can still sympathize with people that are working two jobs and doing their best to make ends meet and still being crushed by skyrocketing health care costs generated by one the most inefficient health care systems in the world and the inefficiency is primarily due to the for-profit aspect of the system. Seeing beyond your own situation is apparently a skill you don't seem to have.

 

Bill Gates

 

It absolutely is about the individual & all the things that affect us on a daily basis...and you would know that if you ventured outside the vacuum in which you exist. When gov't interference makes a business less competitive who pays the price? Say it with me- the people, the individual. When costs increase, who pays for it? When business suffers, what happens to jobs & wages? IIt always comes down to the people.
Furthermore, it is a myth of the left that prosperity can't be shared. Let me clue you in, we can all succeed and success doesn't have to be mutually exclusive. Your success doesn't preclude me from being successful and the prosperity of a business doesn't come at the expense of the workers.

And to address your last statement, it isn't necessarily about the money. It's more about the freedom to pursue my goals and make me and the family happy.....sometimes it takes money, somtimes it doesn't. But anyway, if money is someone's motivation who are you to pass judgement on them? Who cares? I know people who chase the money and just as many who do not, I don't believe either type is more or less happy than the other.

 

I do agree that this is not a socialization of the entire US healthcare industry. However, putting 15 million more people on Medicaid and requiring everyone to buy insurance or pay a fine and fining (errr taxing) people who choose premium healthcare plans - those are just the obvious ones I can think of from the news - is a bit more than just reigning in the insurance industry, I think. In other words, I don't think it is fair to say that all they have done is reign in the insurance industries abusive practices. That seems like a bit of an understatement to counter the Republican overstatements.

 

It is ABSOLUTEY NOT about the individual on a daily basis. That's the Thurston sickness that "incorporates" us all in our coporate world. Pretty sick actually.

 

So.....? It's about the gov't vs business? Banks? Check! Auto Industry? Check! Insurance? Check!

What's next?

 

Hey Meow...you may feel all warm and fuzzy since the government is going to redistributr MORE and MORE of others people's money. But have you considered that in 2014, people with high-cost employee-sponsored health care plans will see a freakin 40% excise tax placed on their health care plans...because you socialists deem that it is not 'fair' for one to have better coverage than another?

You see...stupid socialists don't understand (or work in the private sector) that these new taxes will change how employers do business. Businesses who want and can afford to provide their employees with better health care plans will be punished for doing so, meaning that most job providers (they are called EMPLOYERS BTW) will probably switch for a less expensive health care plan that will not see Meow's tax of 40%!! Yes Meow...taxing and punishing achievement does effect behavior and business practices.

What else is Meow's friends going to tax? Well...as silly as it sounds, there will be a new 10% tax on indoor tanning services.

Individuals making more than $200,000 (or families more than $250,000) will see a 0.9 percent increase in their Medicare taxes. Now Meow doesn't think .9% is not a big deal but when you consider that they are already paying over 60 to 70% in taxes a year!!, it does ADD up!...and Meow still WANTS MORE!!

Invested in the stock market or 401-K's??? Meow's socialist friends want a 3.8% tax increase placed on capital gains, a move that could hurt an already unstable stock market...but does Meow and B.O. care?? Hell no!

Typical for a socialists that depend on government (that means our tax money) for his living, but yets to lecture us how the government needs to take care of all while redistributing somebody else's hard earned money.

 

As usual, you don't have the slightest idea what you are ranting about. I've just come to expect that from you. Low information voters like you are easy marks for the Right wing lie machine. Rant and rave all you want, it just makes me smile thinking about that vein sticking out of your forehead. Pop!

 

Nah man! It's all about the elitists!! Plain and simple. Don't you know that??

Oh I get it....it's a Davey dream! Fox illness and all that.

 

It's simpler than that actually. Soon as you make it into the 200k plus pool, you're recruited to be a spokesman. All previous associations to humanity forgiven.

 

Meow fell for the "hope for change" or was it "change for hope" crap from fellow liberals, so it is easy to see how happy he is to raise taxes (again) and spend somebody else's hard earned dollars for goverment programs that under deliver, over spend, and drive our country toward bankruptcy. He believes you can tax and spend yourself into prosperity, I on the other hand do not.

So when is it enough Meow? How much more do you want? How much should we pay in taxes to fuel your entitlement programs? 50-60-70-80-90 or do you want it all at 100%?? Social Security is a failure...medicare and medicaid are busts too. Now idiots like you that believe in socialism and government takeover of all are taking over 18% of the U.S. Economy and you really believe that our medical system is going to run better, deliver a better service and SAVE money on the heels of medicare and medicaid???

I believe in the individual, you believe in the government to do what is best...fess up and be a man for once. Stop being Meow...

 

Recently B.O. derided his critics who said that the passage of this healthcare bill was "armageddon". Face the facts...It may not be a literal death, but it is a significant step toward insolvency of this once wealthy and prosperous nation.

What is more significant than the bill itself is the change in attitude the passage of health care represents. The 45% of the population that support healthcare (could not fiind any surverys more than 45%) justify it as the "right thing". That everyone has a basic "right" to healthcare. That the wealthy/producers/employers should pay for it because they can afford to. How sad that in a recent poll showed 30% of Americans, particularly the younger Americans support outright socialism.

This is truly what will bring about the death of America. No bill can do it, but the decay of our character of what built this country as Americans will.

When this country was founded it was with the revolutionary principle that you should be free to earn your place in the world and that government was there to protect you rights only, not run your life for you.

Since FDR's New Deal, America has been on a slow but steady decline in ethics, morals, and personal pride. Instant gratification and Meow's "if it feels good, do it" mentality and a what's in it for me attitude now prevail. What a shame.

People today unfortunately would rather ask for help than help themselves. My grandparents were proud people. They would rather go hungry than ask for charity. They never ran to the doctor or grocery store with food stamps or "treat me for free" attitudes. Today, people ask/demand for charity (from other taxpayers) before they bother to ask for work. Unless we have a dramatic shift in attitude, there is nothing anyone can do in Washington to help us and nothing they can do to hurt us worse than we are already hurting ourselves.

God Bless America . . . what's left of it! We are F--ked, hope people like Meow are happy now. You just drove another nail into this country's coffin as all good republics die off in history and you are making sure America is one of them!!

 

We can just raise taxes on the wealthy and redistribute that wealth you are always defending so adamantly. In fact, most people surveyed feel that this is a good way to reduce the deficit. I’ll chip in my portion happily. You can take your money and go crawl into a cave.

 

I have to wonder if that is sustainable. But I guess it really doesn't matter much because that is obviously not something Democrat or Republican politicians worry about with $12 ($13?) trillion worth of debt a the Federal level and another trillion or two at the state and local level.

And in related news, they just laid off 19 more teachers at my son's high school including both German teachers. I think there were about 200 layoffs this week around region. I have no idea what the state total is.

 

What is actually happening is called riffing. It is trick school districts use to prevent new teachers from putting in enough time to achieve tenure because the tenure clock restarts every fall if you've been riffed. Most are called back the following fall a week or two before the start of the school year. Some obviously are not. Riffing has been deep this year due to budget concerns but I'd be willing to bet most of those riffed teachers find jobs next fall.

 

Maybe you are right. But I don't ever remember hearing this much stuff going on in years past. In fact, I don't remember any talk, let alone action, of mass layoffs like this before and my wife is in education. I am sure there are some done each year for what you are taking about. But this seems much different.

Down here - rural Southern Illinois - the new talk is about a 4 day school week just to keep things running. They have apparently laid off as many as they can. I also heard just today that one of the smaller schools here has done away with their entire sports program.

Fortunately, if the 4 day week happens, it won't adversely affect us because of the age our our kids and our work schedules but I feel for the single parents and parents on the same shift with younger kids, etc. They don't need more daycare fees. I also know people who work at the Junior College up the road and they are laying people off, making non-teaching slots pick up classes, etc. News last night had a local school board meeting where parents were speaking to the board to try and get some teachers to be able to keep their jobs. Didn't help.

Maybe this is all normal tricks but, personally, I don't think what is happening right now has been anywhere near normal operations over the last decade or more that I have had kids in school.

 

20,000 or so is expected apparently.

http://www.suntimes.com/news/maxedo...esBudget (Stateline.org RSS - Taxes & Budget)

The article is Chicago based and, typically, through all of this, I believe downstate has fared worse in this economy, unemployment, etc.

 

You Wont Listen Will You

 

I thought Clem was the twit. Cle-e-e-e-e-e-e-em! I'm confused! Help me.