WatchMy reply to a reader who called me an "Obama zombie" for supporting medical care reform that would save her ass along with the rest of us.
Hi Kerri,
it is off-topic, but I watched both my parents die last year, and I know for a fact that our insurance system sucks. My parents were bankrupted by the current system while they died, though Medicare did provide them good quality care. (They incurred big expenses before getting on Medicare, and even when on Medicare, drugs and other costs were beyond their ability to pay. Ultimately they had no money left, at which point Medicaid paid for my mother.)
I don't like excessive government, but Obama's plan is just to give the OPTION to carry government insurance to compete with the private bloated bureaucracy that is already worse than any government plan. Private insurers make more money if they deny you care and let you die. Talk to anyone who's been through a serious illness in the US, then compare that to anyone from the rest of the industrialized world. Hell, Americans fly to India to get treatment because that's better than dealing with our current system!
Obama's plan leaves all private doctors and hospitals private like before. Maybe it does partly socialize insurance, but police, firemen, elementary school teachers are all socialized and all work pretty well. Medical insurance could be like that. Right now, we pay more and get worse medical care per dollar than in any other industrialized country, because people protecting the insurance and drug companies poked the right nerve in your lizard brain.
Here's a perfectly true quote from some guy on my site:
"Asshole republicans don't even know what they're protesting against - a threat to their right to be anally raped by big insurance companies? Just puppets dancing around, with the good ole boys of the GOP pulling the strings, who are then off to pick up their big fat check from Blue Cross and Kaiser... You are being PLAYED, sucker."
Patrick
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Davis, CA
Must see this!
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/mon-august-10-2009/healther-skelter---obama-death-panel-debate
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http://trueslant.com/matttaibbi/2009/08/12/health-care-meets-goldman-sachs/
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46 male
Menlo Park, CA
Yes, I've descended to their level. :-( I'm a bit ashamed of the f-word, but otherwise at a loss for how to express just how stupid medical reform opponents are being. They seem perfectly willing to cut their own throats just to express their displeasure with:
1. Having lost the election.
2. Having lost the election to a black man.
3. Having lost the election to a black man who is ten times smarter than Bush.
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Sunnyvale, CA
Having lived under our US "For Profit" healthcare system, the US Governmental Healthcare system (US Army), and the Universal healthcare system in Japan, I believe a government option is a poor second choice to universal healthcare. The only time I had a problem with healthcare was a billing issue in the "For profit" system. Not only was I overcharged. I proved that I was overcharged. In addition, I took the disagreement to the CEO of the hospital and literally caught him in a lie (in writing). I testified before the CA Assembly regarding the entire incident. I maintain those all these letters just in case I ever have to dispute charges in the future.
Anyone who believes a for profit system is better than a universal healthcare system is sadly mistaken. Growing up, my father often distinguished between "book learning" and life experience. Often giving life experience more weight because it was practical. I have noticed many people who have talked with me about this issue lack the life experience of being in a universal healthcare system. So, they begin with no real experience. That leaves "book learning." I have noticed most of them do not actually read any books on the subject.
If it is not book learning or life experience that forms the basis of their opinion, then what is it? Unfortunately, the most likely source is the Boob Tube. My father had another saying when I was growing up: "Television rots your brain."
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chrisborden says
People like you are *exactly* why we need health care reform. When you get sick or injured (and you will, we all do), then the burden of your health care costs will fall upon us.
Please don't break your arm patting yourself on the back. The rest of us can't afford it.
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Saint George, UT
elliemae's website
Constitutionalist says
Take the fucking bus and get over yourself.
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Saint George, UT
elliemae's website
DT says:
"However, I am a bit puzzled about your comment that they were “bankrupted by the current system” when they had medicare. If they had Medicare, was it that it did not cover their medications because they did not have part D?"
Medicare has co-pays; if one lacks supplemental insurance the copays can be astronomical. For hospitalization there are limitations, for rehab the copay is $133.50 per day for days 21-100. Under Part D - designed by "for-profit" drug companies, the co-pays & deductibles are such that many people still can't afford their meds. Especially in the "donut hole" where they'll have to pay thousands out of pocket before their meds are covered. Sure, labs are screwed up as you described and need to be fixed - but people are bankrupted by healthcare expenses and don't qualify for Medicaid until there is no money left.
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To the supporters of Obamacare:
Is it too much to ask that I be exempted from the benefits and payments for the Obamacare plan? If you want to be a part of it then how about a special social security type tax just for those who want it and let the rest of us keep what we got. That sounds fair to me, anything else is wealth redistribution (also known as theft).
The insurance companies are a big problem but our elected leaders have been living off of the campaign donations of these corporations since at least the Nixon years, this new plan is not going to change that, it is just going to change which companies make more money.
So how about it, at least give us all a choice not to be a part of it.
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2ndClassCitizen,
that's not a bad idea. Can I do that with other things like choosing not to have my taxes go towards paying for a statue of some obscure politician in Alabama, roads to nowhere, or bailing out AIG and Goldman Sachs? I'd be all for that.
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Austinhousingbubble,
I take it your answer is yes. It is too much to ask that I keep what I have.
Just send your money and mine to Washington and everything will be OK.
Sounds like a pinhole point of view to me.
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jessica said:
"Why don’t terrorists bomb Canada? "
Because there's nothing to bomb in Canada. Have you ever been there? There's nothing there. Just snow and ice.
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Saint George, UT
elliemae's website
DT:
In order for a single-payer system to work, they need to get all of us in the room. US, the ones on the front lines who are providing the care or helping people to navigate the system. Almost every MD I've ever met has expressed frustration at the system, as do pharmacists, nurses, social workers, etc. It's the bean counters and profiteers that screw the whole thing up.
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srla,
If health care costs are going up, they will reach a limit where no one can pay. At that point they will either level off or come down. Prices cannot go up indefinitely, that is what this housing bubble website is all about!!!!! See the connection??????????????? Should we subsidize housing to bring the cost down?
If you think that subsidizing housing is ridiculous, health care is even worse. Are you listening Patrick?
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Saint George, UT
elliemae's website
Constitutionalist says
Aww, don't go away mad. Just go away.
This is a serious issue that provokes serious thought. That you would gloat if our healthcare system overhaul fails is disturbing - the current system is a failure. That is, unless you're heavily invested in insurance companies (their profits continue to soar).
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DT,
I am not sure what you mean. If the public plan is not subsidized by taxpayers then who will pay for it? The federal reserve!!??
Let's make no mistake about it. The government has inflated (with plans like Medicare and tax exemptions for corporations who buy health insurance for employees) and is proposing we continue to inflate the health care bubble.
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In response to that last quote...
This assumes that normal market rules apply to healthcare, which they don't (quite a bit of research has been done that shows this is true). Subsidies themselves will not DIRECTLY bring down healthcare costs. But until everyone is insured, we will continue to pay massive costs, both financial and humanitarian, quite simply because we are not utter savages and do not turn away those in need of urgent medical care.
So we have 50 million people for whom we pay nothing until they are bankrupt and dying from a lack of preventative care and treatment. Then, once they are severely ill, we foot the bill. Is this really acceptable to you?
Healthcare costs are skyrocketing not because of free market forces but because of intensive lobbying efforts to keep competition OUT of the healthcare marketplace. Well qualified foreign doctors are prevented from entering the country. Pharmaceutical companies are granted 15 year monopolies on new drugs. Medicare is prohibited from using its buying power to negotiate lower drug prices. And it often costs upward of $300 just to sit down with a specialist, let alone to get a "price quote" or competitive diagnosis.
The only way to lower prices (short of your solution to simply wait until nobody can afford care, and presumably, millions die needlessly) is to forcibly inject competition into the marketplace (the hope of a public plan) or to simply convert to a single payer insurance plan like Canada's.
Of course, we ignore that Canadians overwhelmingly support their system, pay 60% of what we do per person, and have a longer lifespan, and instead we concentrate on decade-old rumors of long waits for hip replacements and a single story about a woman who claims she couldn't get proper treatment for a brain tumor. Why rely on actual surveys and statistics when we have lies, exaggerations, and one single story?
By the way, Canada set those "benchmarks" for wait times during the mid-'90s, when a recession led to steep cuts in healthcare. Due to public outcry (and a Supreme Court decision), they poured hundreds of billions into the system and cut the wait times way down. And still, they pay more than 1/3 less than we do. If you want to know their wait times, they publish them on provincial government sites. Unlike here, they are transparent about their healthcare system, honest about its shortcomings, and dedicated to making improvements that impact all their citizens. Too bad the richest country on Earth can't do the same.
More facts and less fearmongering would go a long way towards improving the level of dialogue.
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Patrick,
Love your site and have contributed many articles in the past... but the biggest issue with this "health care reform" lies in the fact that they are trying to push a 1,000+ page bill through that is LOADED with side items that are NOT for the betterment of all and in fact, is downright unsettling.
Personally, I voted for Ron Paul (a wasted vote, right?) but I sleep good at night. I also "wasted" my vote in 92' & 96' on Ross Perot, Ralph Nader in 2000 and Dennis Kucinich in 2004. To me, I was still excercising my right to vote and not complicit or having to take a side and stand divided against somone because of the candidate they voted for. I would like to look forward to a day when we act as one, Americans all, but that day shall never come.
Thing is, health care reform, bailouts, housing bubbles, job losses and homelessness, food stamps, etc., they are all manufactured crisises of control. They are all byproducts of the what is worse in man... greed and the energy that drives it, fear. And sadly, the people who are running the show from the top down, know that the majority of people in this world are truly like sheep (sheople). They will bow down and do whatever they are told to do to hold on to what they perceive as being valuable (their homes, their cars, their big screen tv's, etc.). In fact, most people work so damn hard because they have to pay down a mortgage (along with their out of control credit cards, loans and lifestyle full of amenities, cell phone, cable, high speed internet, eating out and entertainment spending). When you can learn how to walk away from all of these things (I did, twice) it is SO liberating and when you have yourself, NOBODY can control you.
What we are witnessing right now in this country is the end of America as we knew it (I say knew as most people don't know their history so who even knows it). This has been in the works since America was founded. An extension of the British empire and more (always wondered with all the colors available why they chose Red, White and Blue? I never bought the supposed version). Follow the money trail and those who share similar names, lineage and political and religious circles and you'll understand more of what it's about. Doing things on behalf of MANY foreign interests and ask why the CFR (look up what Hillary admitted just 2 weeks ago about who runs the government) has so much control?
NAFTA and the NAU have been in the works for decades now (I first heard of the North American Union in a fictional book written like a Tom Clancy novel back in 1991). This housing bubble was by design!!! The collapse of the banking and monetary system is by design! The reason they are spending like crazy and loaning out money is the same reason why a person who finds out they have a week to live might decide to run up their credit cards and go out in style (even if they lack a bit of integrity). This is an END GAME RUN by the powers that be and in collapsing the economy, worldwide, they are bringing EVERYONE under one monetary system.
They have everyone use to using their zip cards (I say zip for ATM, debit and other convenient fast transaction devices), buying everything from centralized distribution points (look at Sam's Club, Costco, BJ's and the likes. They are independant standing buildings, warehouses, that aren't attached by way of sheetrock to another store and can be easily fortified or defended if need be. Perfect locations for distributing vaccinations and other mandated services as well as protecting rationed goods).
EZ-Pass devices which are owned by foreign interests (look it up) and prices they can raise because the sheeple (by that time) will just keep driving for convenience and not even think of the price (out of site, out of mind). And money that is beginning to look more and more funny and like Monopoly money. Why? The same reason you can plop down chips at a casino and not think of it as REAL money. It's not gold, or silver or something backed by anything (like our fiat currency). The system is a ponzy scheme and we are being shammed.
Lastly, as for black presidents. How black is he? Nobody mentions his white mom (like Marriah Carrey's or Alicia Keys or anyone else of mixed race). And isn't "The President" the highest position in the country? Does it need further definition by way of color or if they can wear a skirt? It's THE PRESIDENT, that's it. Remember all of those silly classmates of yours who when asked, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" would excitedly yell out, "I want to be the President!" Guess what... not happening. It's a chosen position with many strings attached. NOBODY gets there without making many deals, concessions and being groomed to do so.
There might be racism left in this country but there has always been CLASSISM and that is what we are fighting the world over. The haves have always sold out the havenots. People have always sold out their own kind.
I for one, I am not "an American" nor limited by my sex, sexual orientation. ethnicity or social status. I just happen to be a 2nd generation, heterosexual, white male living in America (for the census poll), but most of what I do in the 168 hours that constitutes a week (eat, sleep, s**t, shower and shave, commute, work, watch movies, play video games with my son, etc.) doesn't require that I be any of these things or otherwise. 99% of life is that way... we just complicate things.
Patrick, I've been aware of the housing bubble since 2000 when I owned. I bought a condo in 99' at $134,500 and sold at $299,000 at the peak in Sept. 2005.. Walked away from buying a new home at that time which cost me a marriage but she was very happy with my investment in bullion in at $8 and a portion sold when Buffet unloaded at $21. I had my own business and then NO JOB for some time through October of 2008 and then, by God's grace, a six figure job out of nowhere and a 5BR, 3Bath, 2 car garage house on an acre, furnished with water, sewer, security and landscaping and for a mere... drum roll... $1,200 a month in the best neighborhood in town. Point is... You know that "Secret" they were advertising for some time... I know what it is and it's nothing the majority is doing, in fact, it's the contary.
Guard your emotions, bring your energy back to your center (like you did with your singular focus on this site's focus) and don't give away your power to negativity (as Benjamin Frankin said, "It brings it's own").
Condolences to you for the loss of your parents... and keep up the good work...
Jack
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Beverly Hills, CA
WillyWanker's website
Patrick says
Patrick, it didn't take you long to call anyone who opposes 0bamaCare, 'racists'. How trite and how expected. Thanks for clearing up any doubt any of us had about YOUR own level of discourse.
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ChrisM says
I think you just agreed with me.
People know we need health care reform, but they cannot accept any idea that comes from Obama. And I think I explained why.
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I have to say, one of the things that truly makes me laugh when I see these town hall meeting idiots, is their complete and utter inability to draw a distinction between socialism and communism.
Anytime somebody even remotely brings up the notion of the government running something, people scream to blue heaven that we are on our way to fascism and communism. What that demonstrates is the complete inability of people to understand the definitions of the terms. It smacks of such unbelievable ignorance that I am just stunned sometimes by the sheer weight of the stupidity I see in my fellow countrymen.
And where were these same people during the Bush years when the government grew by HUGE amounts and basically started functioning as a shadow organization accountable to no one. The suspension of habeas corpus. The warrantless wiretapping. The removal of people in specific positions because they disagreed with the administration. (Attorney firings) The outing of a CIA agent. A war fought based on lies and false pretense. Cronyism. Et Cetera, Et Cetera.
Were the people at these town hall meetings vocalising the FASCISM that was occurring there? I wonder.
From a political standpoint, we ALL agree that we need health care reform. All the stats and polls agree with that assertion. My only issue with Obama right now is he is trying to move it along too quickly without thinking it through. As someone who lived in Canada but is now a US citizen, I will agree that the Canadian system is better than the US one. But it is NOT the best in the world. France holds the number one spot for health care in the world and their system is actually a hybrid. So yes, lets tackle health care reform. But lets think it through and discuss it in a CIVIL manner. Not act like a bunch of petulant children.