Please read the truth....

[Red Dawn]

My girlfriend has Crohn's disease. She has days when she is extraordinary pain. Unable to eat. Unable to sleep. She can't work a regular job. All her family is dead. She has no money. She is not eligible for disability. What happens to someone like her in our current system?

some republican on the board said everyone can get affordable healthcare if they just stop being lazy, and get two or three jobs to pay for it.

In fact, I think that's the GOP's healthcare platform.

Most normal people however, realize, that insurance companies are virtually never going to insure someone with pre-existing health conditions.

 

[chopcrazy]

When I went to school in the 90's, you could go to a state university for $5K a year. What is it now? $10K a year? So you can't save up over the summer to pay for school anymore, so kids are graduating with $40K bills. Talk about starting off on the wrong foot. When I graduated i owed $3K. It was great!

Using your example, tuition went from 5k to 10k. Lets say over 15 years (1993 to 2008), that is a 100% increase. That equates to roughly 4.7% per year increase. Is 4.7% increase a lot? Factor in faculty wage increases, inflation, etc. and it may not be too unreasonable. If a student worked 20 hours a week at $10/hour; they could pay for most of their tuition.

 

[Avatar4321]

You.

I have no reason to lie. The truth is so much juicier.

So prove it or shut up.

 

[Avatar4321]

some republican on the board said everyone can get affordable healthcare if they just stop being lazy, and get two or three jobs to pay for it.

In fact, I think that's the GOP's healthcare platform.

Most normal people however, realize, that insurance companies are virtually never going to insure someone with pre-existing health conditions.

Most reasonable people understand that you cant give people a right to someone else's labor. That is wrong with the entire idea. You are trying to claim that somehow that just by existing we have a right to someone else to work to better our health. That's not freedom. And as long as you continue to suggest that we should be entitled to someone elses labor, your system will fall.

 

[DiamondDave]

Please read the truth

I am reading Obama Nation... you should as well

 

[jreeves]

I have no reason to lie. The truth is so much juicier.

So prove it or shut up.

Oh come on now, Kirk is a Troll, he stated that American for profit healthcare companies wouldn't develop preventable medicine.....When showed American for profit healthcare companies do develop vaccines and other preventable medication he simply changed the subject...see here...

http://www.usmessageboard.com/healt...whats-wrong-with-for-profit-healthcare-5.html

The thing is if Kirk gets owned in one thread he just reposts the same shit in another thread hoping that others have forgotten.

 

[Gunny]

His priorities are getting out of Iraq, American energy independence, and universal healthcare.

Those are my exact priorities as well.

Don't give in to hate. That leads to the Dark Side.

But enough about Dick Cheney....

Well, there you have it.

We'll leave Iraq when we can. Obama or no.

Obama has proven he has no freakin' clue about energy, much less how to become energy independent.

We already have universal health care. You cannot be denied medical treatment. The peoplw who actually pay taxes and for healthcare foot the bill for it.

What exactly is going to change about THAT? What we call it?

 

[Gunny]

some republican on the board said everyone can get affordable healthcare if they just stop being lazy, and get two or three jobs to pay for it.

In fact, I think that's the GOP's healthcare platform.

Most normal people however, realize, that insurance companies are virtually never going to insure someone with pre-existing health conditions.

What's YOUR platform? Boost some more out of my wallet to support your socialist programs?

I already work one day a week for free. What do you think is fair? Two? Three? Those 4 days a month/52 days a year/1 year out of 7 I earn only to have it summarily removed from my wallet without so much as a reach around could make a REAL difference in MY life.

Good thing I have people like you who know what's best for my money to be doing otherwise I might actually want to use it on me and mine.

 

[Denny Crane]

Obama's plan appears to reallocate who pays the premiums. If you have no insurance now, his plan sounds like you will have to start paying. If you are paying now; then your premiums would go down. I do not understand how you will get people who cannot afford insurance now to start paying. The only way is to subsidize those who can't pay with those who can. Who pays the subsidy if that be the case?

This to me is the crux of the whole health care costs have skyrocketed mantra. To me premiums do not equate to health care costs. Has there been a study that discusses the trend of hospital health care expenditures? For instance are wage increases driven by the shortage of medical staff? What impact does this have on hospital expenditures? What is the impact of living longer doing to medical costs? Medical technology has helped people live longer due to procedures that once were impossible are now possible or rare but have become routine; there is an associated cost.

Obama says the premiums have risen 87% over 10 years. But if you look at an annual basis, this equates to roughly 6.5% per year increase. This is not that much for an industry that has a labor shortage.

IMO, the premiums collected will not decrease unless the underlying costs decrease.

First let me say that I don't take at face value what any politician says about solutions to our heathcare crisis, even Obama's. These are the facts as I know them that give an indication of the problems, and some of the problem areas we are dealing with in trying to provide universal healthcare.

Most Americans have health insurance through their employers. But, employment is no longer a guarantee of health insurance coverage.

As America continues to move from a manufacturing-based economy to a service economy, and employee working patterns continue to evolve, health insurance coverage has become less stable. The service sector offers less access to health insurance than its manufacturing counterparts. Further, an increasing reliance on part-time and contract workers who are not eligible for coverage means fewer workers have access to employer-sponsored health insurance.

Due to rising health insurance premiums, many small employers cannot afford to offer health benefits. Companies that do offer health insurance, often require employees to contribute a larger share toward their coverage. As a result, an increasing number of Americans have opted not to take advantage of job-based health insurance because they cannot afford it.

Who are the uninsured?


Nearly 47 million Americans, or 16 percent of the population, were without health insurance in 2005, the latest government data available.1
The number of uninsured rose 2.2 million between 2005 and 2006 and has increased by almost 9 million people since 2000.1
The large majority of the uninsured (80 percent) are native or naturalized citizens.2
The increase in the number of uninsured in 2006 was focused among working age adults. The percentage of working adults (18 to 64) who had no health coverage climbed from 19.7 percent in 2005 to 20.2 percent in 2006.1 Nearly 1.3 million full-time workers lost their health insurance in 2006.
Nearly 90 million people - about one-third of the population below the age of 65 spent a portion of either 2006 or 2007 without health coverage.3
Over 8 in 10 uninsured people come from working families - almost 70 percent from families with one or more full-time workers and 11 percent from families with part-time workers.2
The percentage of people (workers and dependents) with employment-based health insurance has dropped from 70 percent in 1987 to 59 percent in 2006. This is the lowest level of employment-based insurance coverage in more than a decade.4, 5
In 2005, nearly 15 percent of employees had no employer-sponsored health coverage available to them, either through their own job or through a family member.6
In 2006, 37.7 million workers were uninsured because not all businesses offer health benefits, not all workers qualify for coverage and many employees cannot afford their share of the health insurance premium even when coverage is at their fingertips.1
The number of uninsured children in 2006 was 8.7 million - or 11.7 percent of all children in the U.S.1 The number of children who are uninsured increased by nearly 610,000 in 2006, the second year that the number of uninsured children increased.
Young adults (18-to-24 years old) remained the least likely of any age group to have health insurance in 2005 - 29.3 percent of this group did not have health insurance.1
The percentage and the number of uninsured Hispanics increased to 34.1 percent and 15.3 million in 2006.1
Nearly 40 percent of the uninsured population reside in households that earn $50,000 or more.1 A growing number of middle-income families cannot afford health insurance payments even when coverage is offered by their employers.
Why is the number of uninsured people increasing?


Millions of workers don’t have the opportunity to get health coverage. A third of firms in the U.S. did not offer coverage in 2006.4
Nearly two-fifths (38 percent) of all workers are employed in smaller businesses, where less than two-thirds of firms now offer health benefits to their employees.7 It is estimated that 266,000 companies dropped their health coverage between 2000-2005 and 90 percent of those firms have less than 25 employees.
Rapidly rising health insurance premiums are the main reason cited by all small firms for not offering coverage. Health insurance premiums are rising at extraordinary rates. The average annual increase in inflation has been 2.5 percent while health insurance premiums for small firms have escalated an average of 12 percent annually.4
Even if employees are offered coverage on the job, they can’t always afford their portion of the premium. Employee spending for health insurance coverage (employee’s share of family coverage) has increased 143 percent between 2000 and 2006.8
Losing a job, or quitting voluntarily, can mean losing affordable coverage - not only for the worker but also for their entire family. Only seven (7) percent of the unemployed can afford to pay for COBRA health insurance - the continuation of group coverage offered by their former employers. Premiums for this coverage average almost $700 a month for family coverage and $250 for individual coverage, a very high price given the average $1,100 monthly unemployment check.9
Coverage is unstable during life’s transitions. A person’s link to employer-sponsored coverage can also be cut by a change from full-time to part-time work, or self-employment, retirement or divorce.10
How does being uninsured harm individuals and families?


Lack of insurance compromises the health of the uninsured because they receive less preventive care, are diagnosed at more advanced disease stages, and once diagnosed, tend to receive less therapeutic care and have higher mortality rates than insured individuals.11
Regardless of age, race, ethnicity, income or health status, uninsured children were much less likely to have received a well-child checkup within the past year. One study shows that nearly 50 percent of uninsured children did not receive a checkup in 2003, almost twice the rate (26 percent) for insured children.12
The uninsured are increasingly paying “up front” -- before services will be rendered. When they are unable to pay the full medical bill in cash at the time of service, they can be turned away except in life-threatening circumstances.7
About 20 percent of the uninsured (vs. three percent of those with coverage) say their usual source of care is the emergency room.2
Studies estimate that the number of excess deaths among uninsured adults age 25-64 is in the range of 18,000 a year. This mortality figure is more than the number of deaths from diabetes (17,500) within the same age group.10
According to one study, over a third of the uninsured have problems paying medical bills. The unpaid bills were substantial enough that many had been turned over to collection agencies - and nearly a quarter of the uninsured adults said they had changed their way of life significantly to pay medical bills.13
What additional costs are created by the uninsured population?

The United States spends nearly $100 billion per year to provide uninsured residents with health services, often for preventable diseases or diseases that physicians could treat more efficiently with earlier diagnosis.14
Hospitals provide about $34 billion worth of uncompensated care a year.14
Another $37 billion is paid by private and public payers for health services for the uninsured and $26 billion is paid out-of-pocket by those who lack coverage.14
The uninsured are 30 to 50 percent more likely to be hospitalized for an avoidable condition, with the average cost of an avoidable hospital stayed estimated to be about $3,300.14
The increasing reliance of the uninsured on the emergency department has serious economic implications, since the cost of treating patients is higher in the emergency department than in other outpatient clinics and medical practices.11
A new study found that 29 percent of people who had health insurance were “underinsured” with coverage so meager they often postponed medical care because of costs.15 Nearly 50 percent overall, and 43 percent of people with health coverage, said they were “somewhat” to “completely” unprepared to cope with a costly medical emergency over the coming year.15

NCHC | Facts About Healthcare - Health Insurance Coverage

I'll be the first to admit I don't have all the answers but being one of the uninsured I've done a fair amout of research on the subject and had a lot of conversations with folks who are stuck in the same boat I am. There is a lot of finger pointing going on who is to blame and a lot of people saying go get a job and pay your way but it's a lot more complicated than that.