Obama care

[ichi the killer]

I am very left leaning in my politics but I even I have to admit. The failure of “The
affordable Healthcare" website is pretty damn stupid. Obama and his campaign where very slick in their internet campaign of the 2012 elections vs. Twit Romney. Being that health care reform is the lynch pin of Obama's whole presidency I can't understand why the website has so many glitches? I mean porno sites and massage parlor sites are better run without as many problems. Maybe Obama's internet team should have consulted with MPR on how to do a website? Is this some kind of a joke? I don't get it. Mean while back to mongering and sending all my money overseas to the Philippines. I mean I don't really care to much but the sheer incompetence is confusing when contrasted to how slick the Democrats reelection campaign was on the internet.

[Hugh G. Rexion]

It is a mistake to focus on the website incompetence. People should be focusing on the lack of affordability and higher out of pocket costs and deductibles. I think the real feeling out there is that will be confirmed when the insurance starts is that it doesnt cover crap and is really just a catastrophic policy that isnt worth having in most peoples eyes..so why have it?

[wolfman2009]

Originally one of those right wingers slipped a sentence into the law that the people that passed the healthcare law and their employees would also have to live by the same laws of Obama care as everyone else. None of the politicians read the bill but when they found out they complained to Obama. Obama changed the law and made the people that pass the healthcare care are except from it. This makes sense because why should the law makers be expected to live by the laws they pass. The laws are for us not them.

[MPkid]

This sums it up about as good as it gets...

--The Affordable Boat Act..

The U.S. government has just passed a new law called: "The affordable boat act" declaring that every citizen MUST purchase a new boat, by April 2014. These "affordable" boats will cost an average of $54,000-$155,000 each. This does not include taxes, trailers, towing fees, licensing and registration fees, fuel, docking and storage fees, maintenance or repair costs.

This law has been passed, because until now, typically only wealthy and financially responsible people have been able to purchase boats. This new laws ensures that every American can now have a "affordable" boat of their own, because everyone is "entitled" to a new boat. If you purchase your boat before the end of the year, you will receive 4 "free" life jackets; not including monthly usage fees.

In order to make sure everyone purchases an affordable boat, the costs of owning a boat will increase on average of 250-400% per year. This way, wealthy people will pay more for something that other people don't want or can't afford to maintain. But to be fair, people who cant afford to maintain their boat will be regularly fined and children (under the age of 26) can use their parents boats to party on until they turn 27; then must purchase their own boat.

If you already have a boat, you can keep yours (just kidding; no you can't). If you don't want or don't need a boat, you are required to buy one anyhow. If you refuse to buy one or cant afford one, you will be regularly fined $800 until you purchase one or face imprisonment.

Failure to use the boat will also result in fines. People living in the desert; ghettos; inner cities or areas with no access to lakes are not exempt. Age, motion sickness, experience, knowledge nor lack of desire are acceptable excuses for not using your boat.

A government review board (that doesn't know the difference between the port, starboard or stern of a boat) will decide everything, including; when, where, how often and for what purposes you can use your boat along with how many people can ride your boat and determine if one is too old or healthy enough to be able to use their boat. They will also decide if your boat has out lived its usefulness or if you must purchase specific accessories,(like a $500 compass) or a newer and more expensive boat.
Those that can afford yachts will be required to do so...its only fair. The government will also decide the name for each boat. Failure to comply with these rules will result in fines and possible imprisonment.

Government officials are exempt from this new law. If they want a boat, they and their families can obtain boats free, at the expense of tax payers. Unions, bankers and mega companies with large political affiliations ($$$) are also exempt.

If the government can force you to buy health care,
they can force you to buy a boat....or ANYTHING else..
Yea...it's that stupid...

[Sore_Loin]

Funny ditty was widely circulated in conservative venues, but full of sly and stretchy distortions of course ("The costs of owning a boat will increase from 250-400% per year"?)
and conflations:
"...People living in the desert; ghettos; inner cities or areas with no access to lakes are not exempt. Age, motion sickness, experience, knowledge nor lack of desire are acceptable excuses for not using your boat".

It is not as simple as buying a boat. (The Supreme Court recognized this).

What people keep forgetting is that uninsured people get hurt, sick, and rack up billions in healthcare costs. WHO pays this?
Premiums have been soaring for a LONG time.

Where can we get affordable genital care these days?

[needasianspinner]

Insurance should be for major events. High deductible policies that should only be used sparingly. Pay cash the minor stuff.

think of auto insurance as an example.

All people must buy premium auto insurance. This must "by law" cover major accidents, minor accidents, dents and scratches, preventative maintenance like oil changes, brakes, tires & tune ups and well as major mechanical breakdowns like engine and transmission failure.

The non-drivers and safe drivers will pay a much higher rate than they would get in the free market. This will help cover the costs of insuring the drunk drivers, reckless drivers, and young speeders. It will also help to pay for free policies for the people who don't like to work.

The people who purchase new cars will pay a much higher rate for the maintenance portion. This will help ensure that the less fortunate people with old cars will have free maintenance and upkeep.

The beauty of this is that it is fair to everyone (except those that are paying twice the fair market value to help support those that can't afford it).

Yes, we were promised that the premiums would come down. But how can we get more coverage for less money? I guess they meant that premiums would go up, but at a rate slower than what they estimated they might have under different circumstances.

Yes, we were promised that we could keep our mechanic. That was based on the assumption that no mechanics would get turned off from the new negotiated payments and leave the insurance coverage. Maybe they forgot to mention that?

[ichi the killer]

We really have not seen how "Obama care" has played out. Some of the parties who are dead set against "Obama care" are rather dubious themselves and they have their own agenda "they want to make a bunch of money" The "golden era" for doctors was really in the late 80's and early nineties when they could do 25 procedures on a patient, bill for each one "fee for service" and get paid a grip by the insurance company. They could buy millions dollar houses, go on month long European vacations etc. etc. on the money they bled from the insurance companies. Then the insurance companies got wise and they started doing “per capita” where if the patient had a gallbladder surgery the insurance would pay the doctor x amount, say $6 k whether the patient was in the hospital for a day or a month for this gallbladder surgery. So the incentive was to do the surgery as cheaply as possible so the doctor and the hospital could make a profit from this gallbladder surgery. In a way that is a good thing as it cuts down on unnecessary procedures and it gets the patient out of the hospital quicker.

I don't know. I am no genius. I know the people who don't have insurance still are going to get treatment in emergency situation. Anti patient dumping laws mandate that the hospital the patient goes to must stabilize the patient before they transfer them to another facility.

America is becoming, or has become a nation where there are some rich people and many poor people. The middle class is shrinking. Its not like in the 1950s where a guy could get a blue collar job, buy a house and raise a family. Now in warehouses the forklift drivers are ran with brutal monitoring to enforce productivity on the drivers using modern technology gps tracking so they know exactly who is producing and how much. The non-productive are weeded out quick. You got to move quick constantly and don't slow down. In the mean time the company is raking in the profits. Brave New World stuff. It is here now.

Sorry Tea Party but you can’t just turn the clock back to the days of “Ozzie and Harriet’ Those days are gone and we have a new reality to face. It is not all bad. It is just different than it was back in the heyday. I have even read some stuff and I kind of witness it at my work among the young people who are just starting out. People are beginning to accept that the "good old days" are gone. They are becoming accustomed to being poor and living check to check with no savings. They accept that they probably are not going to make more money than their parents. Downward mobility. Computers, social media, smart phones and the like are becoming the new "opiate of the masses." Cheap easy ubiquitous entertainment to distract people from just how poor they are and the fact that they do not have enough money saved for retirement.

So what will happen to these people when they get too old to work and live from paycheck to paycheck? I read something where they will have poor communities like the “shanty towns" of the 1930’s great depression in Hell-holes like Texas where these people can live for cheap and subsist on a diet of beans and Rice. I read something that said "hey, don't put down beans and rice. They can be pretty tasty if you cook them right."

The new America. So there will be more poor people, there also will be more rich people. Good for them. I hope I am one of the rich ones. Many of the jobs of today will be outsourced or replaced by technology. Lucky for me they can't out source my job or get a robot to do it. Same thing with massage girls. You need a live person to do it "hands on" so to speak. So the way to go is either be a crooked investor or get a job they can't out source or replace with technology. Welcome to the new America and the global economy. The American dream is, if not dead, greatly been greatly depreciated over the last 30 years. It used to be these ups and downs where cyclical. This “recession” seems to be taking a long time to reverse its self. Kind of like it is the way things are going to be from now on. I guess we may as well get used to it.

[MPkid]

Originally Posted by ichi the killer

We really have not seen how "Obama care" has played out. Some of the parties who are dead set against "Obama care" are rather dubious themselves and they have their own agenda "they want to make a bunch of money" The "golden era" for doctors was really in the late 80's and early nineties when they could do 25 procedures on a patient, bill for each one "fee for service" and get paid a grip by the insurance company. They could buy millions dollar houses, go on month long European vacations etc. etc. on the money they bled from the insurance companies. Then the insurance companies got wise and they started doing “per capita” where if the patient had a gallbladder surgery the insurance would pay the doctor x amount, say $6 k whether the patient was in the hospital for a day or a month for this gallbladder surgery. So the incentive was to do the surgery as cheaply as possible so the doctor and the hospital could make a profit from this gallbladder surgery. In a way that is a good thing as it cuts down on unnecessary procedures and it gets the patient out of the hospital quicker.

I don't know. I am no genius. I know the people who don't have insurance still are going to get treatment in emergency situation. Anti patient dumping laws mandate that the hospital the patient goes to must stabilize the patient before they transfer them to another facility.

America is becoming, or has become a nation where there are some rich people and many poor people. The middle class is shrinking. Its not like in the 1950s where a guy could get a blue collar job, buy a house and raise a family. Sorry Tea Party but you can’t just turn the clock back to the days of “Ozzie and Harriet’ Those days are gone and we have a new reality to face. It is not all bad. It is just different than it was back in the heyday. I have even read some stuff and I kind of witness it at my work among the young people who are just starting out. People are beginning to accept that the "good old days" are gone. They are becoming accustomed to being poor and living check to check with no savings. Computers, social media, smart phones and the like are becoming the new "opiate of the masses." Cheap easy ubiquitous entertainment to distract people from just how poor they are and the fact that they do not have enough money saved for retirement.

So what will happen to these people when they get too old to work and live from paycheck to paycheck? I read something where they will have poor communities like the “shanty towns" of the 1930’s great depression in Hell-holes like Texas where these people can live for cheap and subsist on a diet of beans and Rice. I read something that said "hey, don't put down beans and rice. They can be pretty tasty if you cook them right."

The new America. So there will be more poor people, there also will be more rich people. Good for them. I hope I am one of the rich ones. Many of the jobs of today will be outsourced or replaced by technology. Lucky for me they can't out source my job or get a robot to do it. Same thing with massage girls. You need a live person to do it "hands on" so to speak. So the way to go is either be a crooked investor or get a job they can't out source or replace with technology. Welcome to the new America and the global economy. The American dream is, if not dead, greatly been greatly depreciated over the last 30 years. It used to be these ups and downs where cyclical. This “recession” seems to be taking a long time to reverse its self. Kind of like it is the way things are going to be from now on. I guess we may as well get used to it.

For the conspiracy people out there this could be another part of the master plan. The more people rely on the Govt. the more control the Govt. has over their lives. We already have over 40% of the country getting some sort of Govt. assistance (the most in history). Tell people they will not get their welfare checks and there will be riots....but tell them to show up to the FEMA camp for free meals and a blanket and they will line up outside. Our economy will eventually implode. It cannot sustain trillions of new debt every year. I read that from when this country started over 200 years ago until the Reagan era we only accumulated about 4 trillion in debt including funding 2 world wars and many other wars etc. In the last 20-30 years we have added over 10 trillion more to that. It's hard to even imagine what a trillion dollars is. If you have a pile with 1 million dollars in it you need 1000 piles to be a billion...then 1000 piles of a billion to be 1 trillion. WTF Our national debt is like 15,000 semi trucks full of $100 dollar bills. How long can this go on? What is going to happen when it collapses? I just hope they can keep the house of cards standing for about 40+ more years so I'm dead by the time it goes to shit!

[Hugh G. Rexion]

What is going on right now is really just a tug of war between the two sides. If we can reduce the deficit and keep tax rates reasonable then the rich wont care how much free shit to poor get. Borrowing money to give people free shit and also to spend 1/2 trillion a year on military is crazy stuff. I just wish that the budget would be in balance. The other scary thing is how are all these people getting free or partially subsidized health care? The thing with private insurance is that the bill has to be paid every 30 days or you get cancelled. Where is the money coming from? I dont believe the revenue provisions of the ACA are sufficient to cover the cost and they have also repealed some of them already. I'd love to see an actual accounting with the revenues and expenses of this thing after its in place for a few years.

I'd be curious to see how many people dodge the provisions and opt to not pay the penalty...I believe it has come to light that you can not participate and be penalized and there is no way for them to collect the penalty and after 10 years the penalty gets forgiven....I believe this will be common knowledge in the next year or so and the numbers that opt to go this method could be millions.

[chanceforester]

I just have one question: If the government was supposed to be in charge of monitoring the health care system for fraud and what not, how could anyone trust them to monitor themselves?