Monday, March 22, 2010

Ain't That the Truth



“First of all, then we have to say the American public overwhelmingly voted for socialism when they elected President Obama. Let’s not act as though the president didn’t tell the American people – the president offered the American people health reform when he ran. He was overwhelmingly elected running on that and he has delivered what he promised.”

-Al Sharpton


Not to say I told you so, but I told you so.

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6 comments:

Anonymous said...

We were sitting with J. Bear Sat. and he was telling us about his rotator cup. He has no job, and therefor no insurance. He therefor cant get the operation he needs to fix the shoulder.
Will that change I wonder under this new bill? I mean, this is MA and everyone is supposed to be covered now here, but if you have no money at all, can you get insurance? It's people in this kind of situation that probably really want this bill, whatever it contains. And for more basic stuff, life threatening stuff. I have to try to find this bill on line somewhere. I have no idea what's in it, and probably not many others do either.

Gleno said...

How can it change? Who's going to pay for the operation? The government? ie, me and you? I love Bear and I love my fellow man, but I'm not working so I can pay for other people to have stuff. How is that fair?

Donzo said...

Bear should go to Haiti, and sit on a pile of rubble, until someone comes along, and asks him what the matter is. He can then say, "My shoulder hurts". Then they will fix it.
Or, an other idea, is, he should go to Boston, and sit on the steps of the State House, and, again, wait until someone asks him what the problem is. Then he can say: "I have no insurance. Can you give me a no-show job, as a curtain inspector, so I can get some, and then get my shoulder repaired?"
My brother has separated his shoulder 5 times, and had it surgically repaired 3 times. Each time, he had to take out a loan against his condo, because it was a "pre-existing" condition. He's always had a job, and he's always had insurance.

Anonymous said...

I'm just sitting here thinking, when you have insurance, you don't pay what it cost for the operation or whatever treatment you get. You pay a sum of money to the insurance company, (sometimes a big sum, sometimes a smaller sum, depending on the job, or the retirement plan) and you and the collective that is the insurance company (who has hopefully wisely invested your money in the stock market) pays for the operation. So in effect, someone else IS paying for your problems, even with insurance.
You and a bunch of people have decided to pool your resources to get health care, so that you don't bear the entire burden.
If you don't have insurance, and you get sick, you can go to an emergency room, get treatment, and the taxpapers, via the government, have all chipped in money and will pay your medical bills. If you have a job of any kind that's legal, or if you have any property, you likely are a contributing taxpayer into that system.
So while the benefits in the current tax payer funded health care system really suck, saying that you don't want to pay for Jim's health care is in a way kind of moot. While you won't probably pay for an operation that might help him work, if his health gets bad enough, you sure as hell are going to end up paying for his health care anyway, either from medicaid or emergency room visits.

That Donzo's brother's insurance wont pay for what insurance is supposed to pay for is one of the reasons we needed reform (and again, not sure this is the answer, just saying). It's getting to the point that Birth is a pre-existing condition. When stuff like that happens, isn't it time to get Tea Party on the Insurance Co.s ass?

Donzo said...

Except, the presumption is, is that the insurance company, is taking my money, and every other insured person's money and investing it, so they have enough, to both pay claims, and make a profit doing it. I am paying for their expertise, to make enough money, over the long haul, for all of us. They are betting, that they can make more money, by investing premiums, than it will cost them, to pay out in claims. And they are usually right.
They are better at investing it for me, than I am for myself.
How much have my employers and my wife and I paid into the system, over 30 years? I have no idea. I've gotten a lot out, but I bet I've still paid in more. But I'm satisfied. It's worked perfectly for me!
We'll see what happens, when I turn 50 this year, and start the last third of my life. (Anything over 75 is overtime.)

Gleno said...

Let's also forget that the whole point of pre-existing conditions is to prevent you from avoiding buying insurance until you need it.

I'm fully insured in a number of ways: home, health, employment, etc. I pay an ongoing premium for this. The insurance company is making a bet that my house won't burn down, that I won't get sick, that I won't be injured and unable to work. If any of those things happen, my premiums (and yours) translate into a payout to me.

If I live without insurance UNTIL the point my house burns, until I break my leg, and then I buy insurance... think about what happens to an insurance company that has to pay out for that. How long would they be in business?

The very notion of insurance being a "right" is beyond preposterous into the realm of the outright obnoxious. Having taken the state examinations to sell medical and life insurance, I'm well aware the the definition of "insurance" is the "assigning of risk." In other words, instead of you maintaining the various risks that face you in your life, you're paying the insurer to own that risk. That's not a RIGHT. If anything, it's a damn miracle that ANYONE would be willing to take on the risk of someone else's lifestyle.