Why are we still debating health care?
Why are we still debating reform, especially with the public option? Why can’t people realize 2 FACTS? 1) Private insurance carriers can only insure about 50% of all Americans. The proof is in Fact 2) Over 40% of us are now covered by a “Public Option”. No one on Medicaid can afford private coverage, and the vast majority on Medicare cannot afford it due to pre-existing conditions or cost due to age. (These 2 classes make up 33% of us.) We have Veterans plan and, of course, active military cannot be covered privately. Now add the vast majority of the uninsured who have the same problem of low income or pre-existing condition. Private insurance is not the only answer. If you do not believe me, ask the families of the 45,000 who die annually because of lack of insurance.
But opponents of public option scream “Socialism”. But, are they really saying 50% of us should be kicked out of health care coverage? Do they really think private enterprise is the solution? Remember, it was corruption of private enterprise in Enron, Worldcom, etc., that cost us many thousands of dollars in investment income. Then private enterprise brought us the incompetence of GM and Chrysler, and the corruption of Wall Street, big banks, and AIG. But do not mention federal regulation to opponents of health care, even though it destroyed our economy much more than any “Public Option”. They want to destroy government and let private enterprise rule? They want to put our life and health (and economic future) in the hands of those who cannot insure 50% of us and have stolen billions from us? Are they serious?
Martin Walsh
Glendale
If we dropped Medicare, Medicaid, Tricare, VA and all government employee health benefits…
and removed the laws that protect people with employer insurance from being rejected or canceled…
I’ll bet 250 million people would be uninsured due to rejection or inability to afford insurance. That is over 80% of the country.
The lucky ducks who *only* have insurance thanks to the intervention of the “big, bad government” are clueless as to how fragile their safety net is.
Stop lying Martin!!
It is a lie to say that 45000 Amreicans die every year from lack of health care. That false number comes from a horribly flawed study. Two of the doctors who authored the study are advocates for total government control over health care. They concocted the 45000 deaths/year number by asking 9000 people between 1988 and 1994 if they had health insurance and how they rated their health. The respondents were followed until the year 2000, and if they died anytime for any reason then the “researchers” assumed that they died from lack of health insurance!!! The “researchers” never checked to see if the respondents were insured at time of death or even if insurance could have prevented death, they merely assumed that if you were uninsured between 1988 and 1994 you would remain uninsured forever and that your actual cause of death would be lack of health insurance!! These fools could not have been more sloppy and illogical if they tried!!!
Even Obama says Medicare is nearly bankrupt and ripe with fraud and waste. But people like you want to destroy private enterprise, the free market and capitalism and give the government total control. When Medicare was passed in 1966, we were promised that it would cost 12 billion in 1990. The actual cost of Medicare in 1990 was 107 billion. Oops, just a tiny error. If any corporation was this bad at controlling costs they would be bankrupt. But that’s not an issue for the government, they just raise taxes and increase the deficit without accountability, which is exactly what Obamacare will do. Is anybody so stupid and naive to believe Obama when he says Obamacare will be “deficit-neutral” and cost under 1 trillion?
You promised facts Martin, but gave us lies and lyperbole.
Socialism is a vortex that sucks everybody in, then collapses upon itself. It’s pretty much to that point now, which is probably the up-side of the down-side - we’re so broke / buried in debt, none of these government expansions have any real staying power. Just keep on pretending that $100 trillion in debt / unfunded obligations won’t kill everyone in its path (grandma, grandpa, mom, dad…) and continue going for your even more costly goodies. I’m sure whatever country holding our debt that wises up 1st and comes a-collecting will be all-to sypathetic to your continued GiMe GiMes!
No Martin - We are not saying you should be kicked out of health care coverage - we are just saying that we (the insured) should not have to pay for your insurance as well as our own. Once the public option is started, it will grow due to private insurers having less clients and having to raise their rates. This will spiral out of control until more than 50 percent of American’s will be on the public option, and at this point, the scales will tip quickly and the government will be in charge of a nationalized health care program with 100% of the people on it’s plan. That’s when the rationing, waiting lists and red tape become rampant.
Ask yourself a question…if this public option is so great for the American people, why aren’t members of Congress willing to drop their current health care coverage and sign up for the public option to “lead” the way? Republican members of Congress have been trying to force this issue and are being met with massive resistance from the likes of the biggest proponents of the public option - Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer and many others do not want to give up their current government health care for the public option that is supposed to be so great for the American public. This should make the masses very suspicious, but instead we get people like Martin who toe the line and wait patiently to be slaughtered with the rest of the sheep in the meat factory.
Get informed and get your information from multiple sources to get the truth - http://www.news-addict.com
The yappers could give a rat’s heine if people died because of lack of health care or health insurance.
People who die deserve to die under their credo which says that all that matters is unfettered freedom to take what you will from those less powerful and blame the consequences upon their victims for not being strong enough to stop them. Not Ayn Rand, it’s Hobbesian, where life is nasty brutal and short for the weak.
believe it,
Do you have a link to support your allegations about the study regarding 45,000 deaths per year? I would love to see it.
Open Medicare to any age, for an appropriate premium.
Come on Martin. Where did you get your facts? If you want throw bombs around at least have the decency to cite your facts. As usual we have another lib trying to play hardball with softball facts. What we end up with is tee-ball game and they don’t have a bat. If you really want the government to run healthcare go have a look at any of the VA Hospitals. Did you read the 2000 page healthcare bill? There are several smaller more reasonable steps that when put together could help a great deal. The unintended consequences of this bill will place an unprecedented burden on our economy through the taxes that will be forced to create and increase. The money has to come from somewhere. They’ll have to take more from each of us. That leaves less money in the economy making it smaller. Shrinking the economy is never a good idea, especially when we just hurdled the 10% unemployment barrier.
Step back for a minute and try to examine our healthcare system without Medicare, Medicaid, Tricare and VA benefits…..
Ask yourself what the free market would offer the uninsurable…..
And how much better the private sector performs.
Even conservative teabaggers and devout members of hate radio would be screwed.
The ones that bitch the most are often the ones who benefit the most… despite their insistence bitching.