me&thegals
A Major Squash & Pumpkin Lover
"Signing the contract" is called voting. If we don't like what they're doing, we don't vote for them again. If we REALLY don't like what they're doing, we call them, write them, protest, etc.
Letter to Obama from 4th Grade Teacher
- Thread starter Quail_Antwerp
- Start date
noobiechickenlady
Almost Self-Reliant
I was very leery to enter this after discussions got started, but it has been surprisingly civil for a political discussion. 
Here's my 2 cents: I pay for my own health care costs. Out of my pocket. I have supplemental insurance for drastic issues like cancer or disability, but I pay for no basic health insurance, its way more expensive than the occassional doctor's visit. We stay healthy by eating right, we're quitting smoking and we don't go to the doctor for a small gash on the knee. Heck, I'm prepared to stitch wounds as well. We've done *ahem* surgery with friends as we call it, as I see no need to go in to someone's office to remove a small bit of shrapnel embedded in DH's arm from grinding metal. Not when I can remove it as quickly and cleanly without leaving my home.
Right now though, every single person who has their feet on the soil of this nation has access to health care maybe not to insurance coverage, but the care is there. Free if they can't afford it. What we need (IMHO!!) is to revamp the insurance industry so that pre-existing conditions don't knock you out of the loop, allow neighborhoods, frats, business owners, union workers, (whatever the group may be) to buy in quantity among themselves, instead of restricting groups to employees or religious groups. I'm also for HSAs.
The government hasn't done so well with the programs that are already there for the poor, Medicaid is broke, medicare is broke, social security is broke, heck, the government would be broke if not for fiat money.
Don't get me wrong, I am thankful that these programs are there. DS would NOT be alive today if it weren't for Medicaid (or someone else) paying for his heart surgery at 3 months of age, but I do believe they need to be... refined? I suppose thats a good enough word.
Here's my 2 cents: I pay for my own health care costs. Out of my pocket. I have supplemental insurance for drastic issues like cancer or disability, but I pay for no basic health insurance, its way more expensive than the occassional doctor's visit. We stay healthy by eating right, we're quitting smoking and we don't go to the doctor for a small gash on the knee. Heck, I'm prepared to stitch wounds as well. We've done *ahem* surgery with friends as we call it, as I see no need to go in to someone's office to remove a small bit of shrapnel embedded in DH's arm from grinding metal. Not when I can remove it as quickly and cleanly without leaving my home.
Right now though, every single person who has their feet on the soil of this nation has access to health care maybe not to insurance coverage, but the care is there. Free if they can't afford it. What we need (IMHO!!) is to revamp the insurance industry so that pre-existing conditions don't knock you out of the loop, allow neighborhoods, frats, business owners, union workers, (whatever the group may be) to buy in quantity among themselves, instead of restricting groups to employees or religious groups. I'm also for HSAs.
The government hasn't done so well with the programs that are already there for the poor, Medicaid is broke, medicare is broke, social security is broke, heck, the government would be broke if not for fiat money.
Don't get me wrong, I am thankful that these programs are there. DS would NOT be alive today if it weren't for Medicaid (or someone else) paying for his heart surgery at 3 months of age, but I do believe they need to be... refined? I suppose thats a good enough word.
big brown horse
Hoof In Mouth
Here is my story about private insurance and the health care system.
My daughter was born with two holes in her heart. Seven years ago she needed heart surgery. The private insurance (b/c my job as a private school teacher didn't offer insurance) I had didn't cover "pre existing" conditions...SHE WAS BORN WITH THE DEFECT. By the way, that crappy insurance ate up more than1/4 of my crappy salary. And that was before I had to pay the enormous difference for her medication. I was barely scraping by. This is where being more ss than most helped.
Long story waay short, it took me two years to finally figure out a way to get it done. Doors were shut in my face, letters went unanswered, people turned a blind eye. At my wits end, I drove down close to the TX border to a hospital I knew could preform the surgery. On the advice of a friend, I used my married name, (I was divorced by then) which was hispanic, to fill out the "charity" paperwork at the hospital. She was scheduled within two weeks for surgery.
What irked me the most was that I was never on welfare, I carried my own private insurance, my child had a pre existing condition which was life threatening....AND I PAID MY TAXES!!!!!
You better believe we need a solution and we need it fast. There are lots of ME's out there still waiting.
In the mean time I am still dealing with a sickly child, but I've learned how to grow healthier, chemical-free foods, raise chickens, and live in the clean air of the country etc. all of this helps. My financial situation has improved and now she has health care through her father's job. But there are still people out there going through what I went through trying to take care of their sick children without adequate insurance...waiting for a solution. A solution to come now!!
I'm not sure what that solution is, but anything is better than what we've got!
My daughter was born with two holes in her heart. Seven years ago she needed heart surgery. The private insurance (b/c my job as a private school teacher didn't offer insurance) I had didn't cover "pre existing" conditions...SHE WAS BORN WITH THE DEFECT. By the way, that crappy insurance ate up more than1/4 of my crappy salary. And that was before I had to pay the enormous difference for her medication. I was barely scraping by. This is where being more ss than most helped.
Long story waay short, it took me two years to finally figure out a way to get it done. Doors were shut in my face, letters went unanswered, people turned a blind eye. At my wits end, I drove down close to the TX border to a hospital I knew could preform the surgery. On the advice of a friend, I used my married name, (I was divorced by then) which was hispanic, to fill out the "charity" paperwork at the hospital. She was scheduled within two weeks for surgery.
What irked me the most was that I was never on welfare, I carried my own private insurance, my child had a pre existing condition which was life threatening....AND I PAID MY TAXES!!!!!
You better believe we need a solution and we need it fast. There are lots of ME's out there still waiting.
In the mean time I am still dealing with a sickly child, but I've learned how to grow healthier, chemical-free foods, raise chickens, and live in the clean air of the country etc. all of this helps. My financial situation has improved and now she has health care through her father's job. But there are still people out there going through what I went through trying to take care of their sick children without adequate insurance...waiting for a solution. A solution to come now!!
I'm not sure what that solution is, but anything is better than what we've got!
davaroo
Lovin' The Homestead
Of course my contention is, Ann, that the government has no business offering you contracts to care for you.reinbeau said:Dave, I never signed that contract
They have other things they are supposed to being doing on our behalf.
Bottom line, is there is no such thing as a level playing field, least of all when the government is attempting to make it so.
Government always finds a need for whatever money it gets.
The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help. - Ronald Reagan
DrakeMaiden
Sourdough Slave
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davaroo said:
They have . . . what?
noobiechickenlady
Almost Self-Reliant
Figners moving to fsat there davaroo?patandchickens
Crazy Cat Lady
Indeedy the government always has lots of ****ngs goin' on...davaroo said:
I think that one's perspective on welfare and universal healthcare and so forth depends quite a lot, like hugely, on whether you're feeling grumpy about high taxes and thinking mainly about lazy-ass able-bodied freeloaders who could perfectly well take care of all their problems on their own if they would just get off their tushies... or whether you are thinking mainly about the people who simply need a legitimate temporary tide-me-over or have problems going on that are not their fault (like genuine disability, or a very serious medical problem in selves or children) and just really canNOT be solved by hard work.
It also depends on which you think is worse, supporting some parasites on the system for the sake of all those who legitimately need help, or leaving those who legitimately need help in the lurch for the sake of making sure that nobody can be a freeloader.
Sort of a Rorschach (sp?) test, and not everyone is going to see things the same way, nor do I expect they ever will or even *should*.
It is worth everybody TRYING to see the legitimacy of the other side of the argument, though. Stretching is good exercise
Pat, personally in favor of making sure those in need are taken care of, even if the system is unable to fully filter out the freeloaders (though the system could be trying harder, IMO)
big brown horse
Hoof In Mouth
They have otehr ****ngs they are supposed to being doing on our behalf.
Well, that is the problem then!! Sit or get off the pot!! 
Well, that is the problem then!!
Sit or get off the pot!!
DrakeMaiden
Sourdough Slave
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Great. Now I have a serious case of the giggles.big brown horse said:Well, that is the problem then!!
reinbeau
Moderator Extraordinaire
Before Obama fixes health care, how about fixing the things that make us less healthy - like the deplorable state of our food in this country. What people have been advised to eat (that has more to do with what big-ag wants us to eat than what is good for us).
