Health Care Reform Passes

We've heard teh truth now. Bills passed through congress are unconstitutional guyz.

were is my game time fkrs lol

My 2 cents:

Our healthcare system is F'ED UP! lol. Seriously it is. For thos who do not live in America let me tell you a story about my recent hospital trip.

I started having trouble breathing and bad chest pains, seeing as that I am only 26 and not overweight I became concerned one day when I woke up and I could not catch my breath or sit up without it hurting. So I went to the emergency room; which is the only place you can go for urgent care in my city w/o an appt.

I do not have health insurance, premiums through my work (I work at home depot, largest home improvement chain the nation)are over 300 dollars a month for the cheapest plan. I can't afford that.

When I go into the hospital I'm stopped by this weird looking dude who says "wait, everyone who enters has to be tested for swine flu. oh by the way yes this will go on your bill". I do the test and after checking in I wait for over 2 hours with horrible chest pains until I am finally taken back to the actual hospital area.

To make a long story shorter, they ran 3 tests: EKG, xray and blood tests. I talked to the doctor for less than 5 minutes and they sent me away to follow up with another doctor, they were not able to determine the cause or effect any sort of solution.

2 weeks later, my bill that comes in the mail (after being adjusted for my low income) is OVER 4,000 dollars! 4,377 dollars to be exact.

700 of those are strictly for the time I spent with the doctor (all of 5 minutes), his bill came seperate.

Of course I can't pay and these are currently in collections jacking up my credit and making my life even worse than it already is. And no they did not cure me I had to see another doctor who diagnosed and gave me medication for this.

So in my opinion; anything that makes health care more affordable and at least ATTEMPTS to change this system for the better is fine with me.

Would a water treatment plant or air-quality testing agency be providing any "defensive" services to citizens of the United States?

governments nothing but gangsters wanting cash for there beliefs

ill protect you lmao

Davsa, Glenn Beck is pretty cool, despite what all the haters say. I started following him when he was on CNN. Its really hard to describe exactly what he is (i'm sure some colorful adjectives will be posted, if not do a google search) but for now i'll call him a political pundit. He's definitely a conservative, leaning anarachist/libertarian. He has a widely syndicated radio program for us sick twisted freaks, as well as a program on foxnews that is wildly popular. He's written a few books and has gotten into making mini documentaries lately which have been interesting. I've met the guy before and he comes off as a genuine and down to earth guy. I'm obviously a fan, but theres a fair share who think he's a complete idiot. His opposite side of the political spectrum counterparts on tv are Rachel Maddow and Keith Oberman, with recent addition of Ed Schultz.

I personally think he's the easiest pundit to listen to. He's actually entertaining to watch/listen to. Rush is an aquired taste, even being conservative you need to listen to him for a long time before you enjoy his show, his big head personality is another thing people have a tough time getting. Sean Hannity pounds the same wall all the time so hard to see anything fresh from him. Other than that maybe comparable to Mark Levin or Neil Boortz. If you want to go into far right coo coo land you have Michael Savage or G Gordon Liddy (dude did time taking the fall for all the Nixon thugs, think he stabbed a dude while there.). Michael Savage is normally on the radio late and I hardly ever catch him. But he's so crazy far right his insaneness keeps me awake while driving through the night.

But yeah just wiki Glenn.

when it all folds tho your on your own hehe oh

Probably a gall bladder attack Jobe. Severe one where a stone was actaully lodged in the bile duct. Sucks becuase the only way a doctor will fix it, by removing your gall bladder, is by actually doing an ultrasound and seeing it. By that time it usually has dislodged and you'll be back and forth till they catch it. This is a really good example of one of the major contibuters to the cost of healthcare. An experienced physician can do a blood test for elevation in protien levels and liver function. Very cheap and simple, but the risk of being sued for removeing a gall bladder that may not ahve been nessecary causes them to keep bringing you back and forth until they cna physically see it. Simple problem with an outpatient fix but the risk causes a huge amount of money on tests and visits to be performed. In short thsi and many other problems with simple fixes are drawn out because of a fear of malpractice suits. Fixing the court system would be a step in the right direction, even if it just adjusted the level of compensation of the attorney versus that of the plaintiff.

Kiowa, stfu... Jesus...

Glenn Beck: Became an alcoholic at age 18, destroyed his marriage in 1994 due to his alcohol and substance abuse, In 1996, while working for a New Haven-area radio station, Beck was admitted to Yale University through a special program for non-traditional students. Beck took one theology class, "Early Christology," and then dropped out. He does not hold a college degree of any kind.

Next time that blow hard soap-boxes, think of where the information is coming from. As Radio historian Marc Fisher has posited: "Beck is first and foremost an entertainer, who happens to have stumbled into a position of political prominence."

"My 2 cents:

Our healthcare system is F'ED UP! lol. Seriously it is. For thos who do not live in America let me tell you a story about my recent hospital trip.

I started having trouble breathing and bad chest pains, seeing as that I am only 26 and not overweight I became concerned one day when I woke up and I could not catch my breath or sit up without it hurting. So I went to the emergency room; which is the only place you can go for urgent care in my city w/o an appt.

I do not have health insurance, premiums through my work (I work at home depot, largest home improvement chain the nation)are over 300 dollars a month for the cheapest plan. I can't afford that.

When I go into the hospital I'm stopped by this weird looking dude who says "wait, everyone who enters has to be tested for swine flu. oh by the way yes this will go on your bill". I do the test and after checking in I wait for over 2 hours with horrible chest pains until I am finally taken back to the actual hospital area.

To make a long story shorter, they ran 3 tests: EKG, xray and blood tests. I talked to the doctor for less than 5 minutes and they sent me away to follow up with another doctor, they were not able to determine the cause or effect any sort of solution.

2 weeks later, my bill that comes in the mail (after being adjusted for my low income) is OVER 4,000 dollars! 4,377 dollars to be exact.

700 of those are strictly for the time I spent with the doctor (all of 5 minutes), his bill came seperate.

Of course I can't pay and these are currently in collections jacking up my credit and making my life even worse than it already is. And no they did not cure me I had to see another doctor who diagnosed and gave me medication for this.

So in my opinion; anything that makes health care more affordable and at least ATTEMPTS to change this system for the better is fine with me."

You know there were other ways to fix the costs of all this. Instead you choose any fix, no matter what the cost to others to be ok. This is where some people disconnect. Instead of addressing better why these costs are so high, we just decide to tax people more and/or provide healthcare for them and pay the high amounts.

"Would a water treatment plant or air-quality testing agency be providing any "defensive" services to citizens of the United States?"

Water no, this can be done on a local level. If a community feels theres a chance canadians are going to come and poison their water supply with their strangely awesome bacon, they can add security.

Air quality testing. Yes and no. If say Californians decided to burn mad coal and all drive diesel hummers, and Nevada was having problems, the fed would have to step in and settle the dispute the states had amongst each other, if anyone in Nevada cared.

So I'll take that as a no.

The point I was trying to make, was that there is very little difference between a person that doesn't contribute or can't contribute to health care having their right to life fulfilled by the government to the best of it's abilities, and a person who doesn't contribute or can't contribute to the defense of this nation having their right to liberty fulfilled by the government to the best of it's abilities.

Glenn Beck isn't even in the same league as Rachel Maddow.

Rachel Maddow: A graduate of Castro Valley High School in Castro Valley, Maddow earned a degree in public policy from Stanford University in 1994. At graduation she was awarded the John Gardner Fellowship. She was also the recipient of a Rhodes Scholarship and began her postgraduate study in 1995 at Lincoln College, Oxford. In 2001, she completed her Doctor of Philosophy degree (DPhil) in politics from Oxford University. Her doctoral thesis is titled HIV/AIDS and Health Care Reform in British and American Prisons. She was the first openly gay American to win a Rhodes scholarship.

@harpunnik - pool coverage to reduce health insurance costs - yes, please :)

if you ask people; most will say their car insurance is reasonable, ask about health insurance and they ALWAYS say it is through the roof. wonder why that is....

oh, because you are required by law to have car insurance hmmm.

What ideas were not put into this bill that you think should have been to solve Jobe's problem?

But you do admit that it would be a measure of "security" right? I wasn't asking if it could be done by people, groups, or institutions besides the government. I was asking if the act of running a water treatment plant is one that can be classified as providing "defensive" services.


And because that's something you could foresee the state intervening with, I assume you consider it to be a "defensive" service to operate an air-quality testing facility?

Blind, you know 9 of our presidents didn't attend college. Including Lincoln. You also know there are plenty of dip shits out there with degrees...

In light of your last post Skiutah, I say no to it being defensive.

And Blind, you solve one problem and cause problems for others.

Jobe may as well put everything on his credit card. Solved the problem huh? Oh wait debt...doh!

Or it's because you actually have competition amongst the car insurers thus driving down costs.

"It's the law to have insurance therefore the price will be lower", how in any way, shape, or form does this make a lick of sense?

curious harpunnik do you know the major points or have read any of this bill? or are you siding strictly on political/party lines here?

Easy, allow competition amongst insurers, and remove the insurance company's exemptions from anti-trust laws.

TADA

frobeus, because it spreads the risk around. think of it this way:

i can afford insure people who are likely to get in wrecks only if i also insure 100 people who i know will most likely never get in a wreck. does that help?

If I had to higher someone to provide me with knowledge about current events I sure wouldn't pick an alcoholic with ADHD and no college education over the Stanford/Oxford Dr.
So when I ask "What ideas were not put into this bill that you think should have been to solve Jobe's problem?"

You don't really have any examples of the do you?

the premiums from year after year of insurance that people who never get in wrecks pay, allows the insurers to operate and pay claims for those people who get in wrecks consistantly. sure the higher premiums on those people help, but not even close to the pool coverage/assigned risk factor.

You wrongly assume that insurance companies are going to lower premiums just because they incur less risk.

Why lower prices when everyone has to insure with you by law, when you can just keep the prices just as high and make that much more?

Insurance works by having a lot of people pay into a large pool so that when someone totals their car it isn't a financial hardship. Forcing people to buy health insurance or car insurance provides that large pool.

I didn't think it was that hard of a concept.

that is a good point frobeus and its hard to say because nobody who isnt a claims adjuster really has access to how and why they bill how they do, but it is considered fairly common knowledge that pool converage/assigned risk is a factor in lowering prices and making insurance systems stable.

Competition between companies maybe?