In favor of a public option for Health Care?

[jimmythescumbag]

Well of course, having a gym membership and going are two different things. I'm just saying something like at least one physical a year should be free of charge.

Agreed.

If the public option really takes off, I fully anticipate the government imposing sin taxes on things like cigarettes and alcohol that are obvious health risks.

I would be down for that something like this, but that could cause all kinds of rabble rabble trouble. All in all, I am for the public option...let's see where it goes.

[motorbike]

Agreed.

If the public option really takes off, I fully anticipate the government imposing sin taxes on things like cigarettes and alcohol that are obvious health risks.

Fucking A they should. Inelastic demand baby. Hell, if we have the infrastructure legalize marijuana and pay for it all and then some baby.

i concur!

[jimmythescumbag]

Agreed.

If the public option really takes off, I fully anticipate the government imposing sin taxes on things like cigarettes and alcohol that are obvious health risks.

Fucking A they should. Inelastic demand baby. Hell, if we have the infrastructure legalize marijuana and pay for it all and then some baby.

LOL! Could you imagine how much revenue that would bring in?

[drabley]

Fucking A they should. Inelastic demand baby. Hell, if we have the infrastructure legalize marijuana and pay for it all and then some baby.

LOL! Could you imagine how much revenue that would bring in?

Also imagine the savings the criminal justice system would reap as well.

[jimmythescumbag]

LOL! Could you imagine how much revenue that would bring in?

Also imagine the savings the criminal justice system would reap as well.

Boo-yah!

[Guest afsdan]

If the public option really takes off, I fully anticipate the government imposing sin taxes on things like cigarettes and alcohol that are obvious health risks.

you know they already do that, right? alchohol taxes are expensive. good thing I don't smoke.

you dudes wishing for the taxes to be raised should just donate more of your own hard earned cash to a giant entity that can't run anything effectively. higher taxes doesn't equal effective outcome.

[sgoodcore]

If the public option really takes off, I fully anticipate the government imposing sin taxes on things like cigarettes and alcohol that are obvious health risks.

you know they already do that, right? alchohol taxes are expensive. good thing I don't smoke.

you dudes wishing for the taxes to be raised should just donate more of your own hard earned cash to a giant entity that can't run anything effectively. higher taxes doesn't equal effective outcome.

Last time I checked health insurance in this country sucks. I'm more than willing to try something new. And NO one wishes for taxes to be raised but its factually based if you give people money or a job they spend that money and every benefits.

[drabley]

If the public option really takes off, I fully anticipate the government imposing sin taxes on things like cigarettes and alcohol that are obvious health risks.

you know they already do that, right? alchohol taxes are expensive. good thing I don't smoke.

you dudes wishing for the taxes to be raised should just donate more of your own hard earned cash to a giant entity that can't run anything effectively. higher taxes doesn't equal effective outcome.

Are you serious?

I bought 2 packs of smokes this morning on my way to work. I gave the clerk a $10 and got change.

Last time I was in Toronto, I bought smokes -- only one pack -- and a pack of double mint gum. Gave the clerk a $10 and stood there waiting for my change. I owed him 43 cents.

My parents were here in Florida visiting me last October and wanted to buy some booze to bring back. They got 2 handles of Kettel and paid less than what they would have paid for 1 in Ontario.

Right -- taxes are off the charts here.

And high tax doesn't equal effective outcome. Sin taxes are a penalty for people whose actions are of detriment to themselves, and ultimately of detriment financially to others in a socialized or quasi-socialized health system. It's the equivalent of a pay as you go plan.

[mcm1610]

This has gone pretty far since I last posted, but I want to make it clear I know what insurance is. I have an econ degree and we had entire classes towards insurance and risk and all that.

I think "gamble" is the wrong word completely, but if insurance companies just calculated risk and charged the right deductibles, rates, and everything else, they wouldn't be coming out with millions of dollars in profits and nickle-and-diming the customer. Yes, they have a right to profit, but they are ALL so quick to hike up rates for legitimate claims on insurance. That's what they're there for, but if you try to use them, they fuck you.

Ex) You're a long time purchaser of home-owner's insurance. Never miss a payment, never make a claim for years until one day you decide to talk to them about getting money to fix water damage. Next bill comes, and the rate is jacked. They've already made thousands of dollars off you because you never make a claim, and one minor thing and you're going to pay for it anyway.

If you're at all able to pay, it ALWAYS makes more sense to have a higher deductible, and if you can even afford it, self insure. If you pay yourself the same monthly rate into your own savings, you'll have the money to pay for things like that anyway. You legitimately pay these companies and they get pissed off that you actually use them for what they're there for. It's a scam.

[tanukichu]

^ I honestly think that's the reason my parents never bothered with health insurance.

I am pretty much for any sort of help I can get at this point. I have cavities, knee problems, a pair of glasses I've been super gluing every other day that aren't completely effective since my eyes have gotten just a tad worse, mental health problems. I'm kind of really very fucked and glad I don't have anything severely wrong with me and that I'm able to at least function. There's no way I can afford insurance so I'm better off just paying for shit without it...that I can't afford either.

And I just fucking love when other people ask me "aren't you on your parents' plan?" and then they seem baffled when I tell them my family has NEVER been insured. Silly spoiled rich kids at my school just assume things.

[mattstrike]

What I want is a single-payer plan.

What I'll settle for is a decent public "option".

What will piss me off to no limit is if Obama and the rest of these spineless fucks in Congress give up on that option. Why they feel that they need to include the right in the discussion baffles me cos if it was the other way around, the right would be shutting the left out 100%. From a political point of view, this country needs as much reform as possible.

[kirbypuckett]

[dutchrudder]

What I want is a single-payer plan.

What I'll settle for is a decent public "option".

What will piss me off to no limit is if Obama and the rest of these spineless fucks in Congress give up on that option. Why they feel that they need to include the right in the discussion baffles me cos if it was the other way around, the right would be shutting the left out 100%. From a political point of view, this country needs as much reform as possible.

you know what would make this a lot more simple? just make medicare available for anyone who wants to pay into it, the system is already there so you dont have to fuck with coming up with something new.

[mattstrike]

Hell, I'm on Medicaid right now, and it's awesome.

It was really easy to apply for as well.

[casey]

P.S.--God Hates Fags...and AIDS is his retribution.

[drabley]

This has gone pretty far since I last posted, but I want to make it clear I know what insurance is. I have an econ degree and we had entire classes towards insurance and risk and all that.

I think "gamble" is the wrong word completely, but if insurance companies just calculated risk and charged the right deductibles, rates, and everything else, they wouldn't be coming out with millions of dollars in profits and nickle-and-diming the customer. Yes, they have a right to profit, but they are ALL so quick to hike up rates for legitimate claims on insurance. That's what they're there for, but if you try to use them, they fuck you.

Ex) You're a long time purchaser of home-owner's insurance. Never miss a payment, never make a claim for years until one day you decide to talk to them about getting money to fix water damage. Next bill comes, and the rate is jacked. They've already made thousands of dollars off you because you never make a claim, and one minor thing and you're going to pay for it anyway.

If you're at all able to pay, it ALWAYS makes more sense to have a higher deductible, and if you can even afford it, self insure. If you pay yourself the same monthly rate into your own savings, you'll have the money to pay for things like that anyway. You legitimately pay these companies and they get pissed off that you actually use them for what they're there for. It's a scam.

It's not a scam.

You paid thousands of dollars for coverage that would have been honored had you filed a claim during that period. Just because you didn't doesn't entitle you to anything special. It's not a cumulative arrangement. You paid x to receive y benefit during z period of time. It's an annually renewable contract. If after z period of time, if benefit y is not paid, premium x is pooled together to pay the losses of others, bills, overhead, wages, reserves, profit.

People don't make this distinction and get mad about things that they paid for that didn't happen. But if it did, they'd be right there with hands out waiting for a check.

Back to health -- I would much rather pay more for health coverage that is comprehensive than my home or auto insurance. I see people all the time that have a $500 or $1000 deductible on their home insurance, or want a $100 collision deductible on their auto, but carry a $4000 deductible or a 20% co-pay on their health. This doesn't make any sense at all. Statistically, 1 in 400 policy holders ever file a claim on their home. 1 in 40 file on their auto. 1 in 4 file on their health. Using those figures, what would you want to prioritize? But nobody does. It's all about cheap, cheap, cheap all around. I don't feel sorry for these folks at all, to be honest.

That said, I educate. I went through a catastrophe at a young age (Hurricane Katrina) before I knew all of this. My insurance guy didn't sell me what I needed -- he just sold me what he thought I could afford. When I got into the industry, I swore that I would never do that to my clients. I inform my clients of their options and explain the benefits. All insurance is is a simple formula -- pay me now or pay me later. Things like auto and home you can afford to take the gamble on paying later. But health -- with all of the immense intricacies of the human body and the astronomical expenses associated with caring for it -- I'd rather pay more now than later.

[mikeian]

And also -- insurance isn't the problem. It's the health care system that's fucked up. I personally don't see what a public option will do to correct it -- it just means someone else will pay the same bill.

Poor service, inefficiency, duplicate and unnecessary procedures, complete lack of preventitive care: these are the hallmarks of our health care system. And they cost a fucking fortune.

I went to the hospital last month. I was in there for approximately an hour and a half. I had a very painful stomach virus and was concerned that there might be an actual problem -- appendicitis, gall bladder, spleen -- there's too much shit in your stomach that can go wrong so I wanted to err on the side of caution. I received one barf bag, one IV, one dose of pain/numbing medication, one "bed" for an hour, one blood test. I saw two nurses and one doctor for about 15 minutes cumulatively. The doctor told me I had a virus, wrote me a prescription, patted me on the head and said it'll be okay, son.

My bill was over $2100. The provider discount lowered my bill to roughly $1200. My deductible is $2000. They wouldn't let me leave until I paid $250.

$2100 for that. You've got to be fucking kidding. And you wonder why health insurance is so high. Maybe if they weren't being charged $2100 for an aspirin and a pep talk, the prices would go down a little.

i was under the impression that emergency room costs are so high because they cannot turn away people without health insurance, so to balance out the uninsured people not paying, the costs are high and are eaten by the insurance companies / people that could pay.

if only they'd disclose to you how much it'd cost before treating you, i'd say that'd be a lot better. if i cut my finger open or something like that and had to get stitches and someone told me that it'd cost $1500, i'd say screw that and i'd ask nurses i know personally to do it for me. of course that'd depend on the severity of the injury, but i know i definitely would think twice before ever showing up in an ER if it's something i could take care of at home or in urgent care.

[brentoage]

I'm in favor of yelling yellaisdf;alkdjsf'pa sdf;lk ":LKJ :LJAHHHHHH SOCIALISM

We, up here in Canada, love our socialist system that came as an inevitable by-product of the government-funded healthcare system. Right now, I'm standing in line for bread and pork rations and texting on my government-issued (and monitored) cell phone! Later, we are going to plough the community fields! After that, we are going to kneel before our hybrid leader Stephen Harper-Lenin and thank him for the blessings bestowed upon us by the single payer healthcare system!