Affordable are Act aka Obamacare: Chance of Repeal

[Oniya]

Heh.  About half the people on my friends list, I met through political debate online.  Another third are fiber-arts people.  The other sixth (give or take - there's some overlap) is made up of people I've actually met.

[Trieste]

I suspect that if that were the case for me, I'd probably debate more. But almost everyone on my friends list is family or family friends, or contacts made via student senate, or via my theatre troupe, etc. I'd say that there are probably only a handful I don't know in real life on my friends list, and the vast majority of people I keep touch with on FB are people with whom I really prefer to debate in person anyway.

[gaggedLouise]

That bugs the hell out of me too.  People twist words and whatnot so much it's hard to know which way is up.  Also, if you see/hear the same ad over and over again it tends to stick in your mind.  They don't even have to tell us who paid for the ad anymore, so who the hell knows where the money is coming from, and who the politicians will owe favors to.  So many people just sit in front of the TV and believe what they're told.  Five minutes on Facebook will prove that.  I saw this one thing; you know you are a Liberal if...  It was beyond offensive.  Apparently I'm pro- job killing, pro-death panel, and pro-murder.  Whoever posted that garbage believes it.

These days you basically have to do your own fact-checking for much of what the media offers (and never mind consistency!). It used to be the job of the reporters and editing rooms I believe. Well, it makes it more interesting in a way - but more frustrating, too. I've totally lost count of factoids that should have been easy to spot for the media henchmen.

[Pumpkin Seeds]

The interesting thing to me is how many people do not realize they are paying for uninsured healthcare even now.  People do not seem to understand that a hospital must care for all sorts of problems from a population of patients unable to pay or unable to fully pay for their hospital stay.  Many of these problems, which become emergencies and so must be handled by a hospital, could have been caught early and prevented if the patient was allowed to see a clinical physician or nurse practitioner.  Funny how people are denied cheap healthcare in the form of doctor’s appointments, but mandated to have expensive medical care in the form of emergency room visits and hospital stays.

When a hospital has a patient that cannot afford their bill, the cost does not go down and is not absorbed into a magical fund.  The hospital has to pay for the services.  Nurses and doctors have to get paid, medications have to be bought and equipment paid for by the hospital budget.  None of these get cheaper if a patient cannot pay.  Often times the government subsidizes hospitals from their budget through taxes.  Such money could easily go to pay for schools, road improvements, criminal justice, etc.  Since people do not want to pay for “freeloaders,” the tax money meant for other projects is diverted.  Cities cannot function without emergency services and so cannot function without hospitals, so a hospital has to keep its doors open and so the city has to pay.

The other way people pay for this population is through their own insurance company.  A hospital does not get all the funds needed from the government and getting those funds is often a fight.  Insurance companies end up paying the full amount they will cover when that full amount is not required.  Essentially the insurance companies says “We will cover this much” and the hospital says, “What a coincidence that is how much it costs.”  So the insurance company loses money paying the maximum amount for a broken toe and so raises premiums.  Then every month insurance payers have to shell out more money.  Costs go up, premiums go up and the cycle continues.  The middle class, which opponents of the bill say will be crushed by Obamacare, are already crushed because their premiums are high and their coverage is low. 

People are already paying for the uninsured and underinsured.  They just don’t know it and the government is setup to pay in the least cost-effective manner possible.

[Serephino]

I don't debate on facebook either.  With the exception of like three people, I met them all through games.  I add them for the sole purpose of getting free game stuff.  Still, when they post stuff to their walls, I see it.  It makes me not have much faith in humanity.

People don't usually like to bother checking facts.  It was said in the internet or TV, so it must be true.  That's the scary part.  What Pumpkin said is true; everyone is already paying for this.  I have Medicare, which not every doctor accepts.  In fact, the list of doctors who take it is supposedly getting smaller.  The reason for this is their system.  How much they'll pay is set by the government.  There is no negotiation.  They will pay a set amount, and they are allowed to charge the patient a set amount.  I see this on my bills.  It has the amount the doctor/hospital wanted to charge.  Then it has what Medicare paid.  Under that is a deduction called Medicare allowance.  On the very bottom is what they are allowed to charge me.  Sometimes the difference is pretty significant.

I believe someone said somewhere that private insurance companies do the same thing, they just tend to pay a little more.  And of course, since the private company's main goal is profit, they have to charge enough in premiums to make as much profit as possible.  Trying to find a private insurance policy was a nightmare.  Some had limits on many times a year you could go to the doctor.  Some had yearly limits, most had lifetime limits.  Of course, they wouldn't take me anyway.  One honest salesman told us that their system shows I have Medicare Part A, which is mandatory, which means there's something wrong with me.  They don't feel they'd be able to profit off me, so they won't take me, even though I was trying to find better coverage than Medicrap. 

[MasterMischief]

The popularity of Fox News scares the crap out of me.  Those millions of viewers either believe it or want to believe it.  I can not believe that a large enough percentage just watch for amusement.

[Callie Del Noire]

The popularity of Fox News scares the crap out of me.  Those millions of viewers either believe it or want to believe it.  I can not believe that a large enough percentage just watch for amusement.

I realized Fox News was moral conservative cool aide a long time ago.

[Quiksilver]

health insurance just like almost all other insurances is a product usually provided by a private company.  like any product it should be our right weather we chose to buy or not buy. with obama care we get penalized if we say no.  thats 500 dollars that alot of people dont have. 

[Oniya]

If you are below a certain income level, your cost to buy health insurance under ACA is either waived or put on a sliding scale.  Having health insurance can and does make the difference between people getting treatable conditions treated in a timely manner or waiting until they become even more devastating - either in monetary costs or in paying the ultimate price. 

Are you telling me you would rather pay for an amputation instead of insurance that would cover prescription insulin doses?  Or pay for an angioplasty instead of insurance that covers prescription blood pressure/cholesterol medications?