Senate bill fines people refusing health coverage

[Big Daddy]

I'm for a single payer plan where everybody has to contribute through employer withholding. The employer would be required to match whatever percentage you are paying. Percentages would be based on income level and family size. That way everyone would be covered. This fine concept is stupid as is making your health care plan payment taxable. I'm hoping that's just oppositional fear mongering and is not really on the table. Cost would go down a lot if people had regular preventive check ups. Too many people have no coverage and wait till they are close to dead before going to the doctor. Then it's an emergency room trip vs a prescription. Our son was diagnosed with allergy triggered asthma last year. We have had a lot more rain this year than usual and the allergy triggers are way up. We were doing exactly as our pediatrician instructed. Last Friday he was complaining about having trouble breathing so we gave him a neb treatment and it helped. On Saturday he had trouble all day then came to our room around 10 pm having difficulty breathing. We gave him another treatment but he was still breathing hard. The choice was to go o the emergency room or wait till Monday. We went to the emergency room. They thought he was having a moderate attack but then after 8 hours they still couldn't get his blood oxygen over 87. They kept him all day Sunday and overnight to Monday. They said if we had waited an extra 4 hours his bronchial tubes would have been too closed to get the medicine in and he would have died. We have good insurance and making the emergency trip was not a real hard decision. If we had no coverage we may have tried to see it through and our son would be dead.

Not having universal coverage is wrong as wrong can be. agree this fine stuff is stupid though and as usual DC is doing things backwards and whatever they come up with will probably be ineffective and cost more than it should.

 

[Tallman]

agree this fine stuff is stupid though and as usual DC is doing things backwards and whatever they come up with will probably be ineffective and cost more than it should.

Exactly!!!!!!!!! Yet we have a minority of the public wanting them to take it over, and the current party in power wants to the government to run the whole thing.

 

[Big Daddy]

I think a majority of the public wants them to at least give a public option. If you had insurance that wasn't tied to your job you could change jobs without losing your coverage. Currently you can buy your own insurance. It tends to be very expensive with high deductibles. Unlike a group plan, they can drop you for any reason and deny coverage for pre-existing conditions. Unfortunately politicians are like children and disagree just to disagree. Plus money from the lobbyist is more important than their constituents, so nothing will ever get done. If it does it will be an inadequate bill with a bunch of pork added on to get different senators on both sides to sign off on it. I'm getting real fed up with the whole system.

 

[Tallman]

I think a majority of the public wants them to at least give a public option. If you had insurance that wasn't tied to your job you could change jobs without losing your coverage. Currently you can buy your own insurance. It tends to be very expensive with high deductibles. Unlike a group plan, they can drop you for any reason and deny coverage for pre-existing conditions. Unfortunately politicians are like children and disagree just to disagree. Plus money from the lobbyist is more important than their constituents, so nothing will ever get done. If it does it will be an inadequate bill with a bunch of pork added on to get different senators on both sides to sign off on it. I'm getting real fed up with the whole system.

Being self employed, I have owned my own plan for years. I know what you mean about being fed up. That's why I am all for less government, but we are in a mode where people feel that if a little bit is good, more is better. Our government creates problems and then manages them. They never fix anything. If they actually fixed a problem, they would loose it as a campaign issue.

 

[Big Daddy]

If they actually fixed a problem, they would loose it as a campaign issue.

Ain't that the truth?

 

[sylvie]

For those close by or willing to make the trip there is a special free program in Virginia on July 24, 25, 26 called RAM Ear and Medical (remote area medical) which offers free medical treatment. Anyone from any state can show up. First come first serve. The bottom of the article lists all the services and tests:
http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/news/archives09/ram09.cfm

This information came up during President Obama's health care town hall meeting on July 1.