Jeff Stahler for December 11, 2013

A new government bureaucracy with highly paid unelected officials is the answer.

Well then, the ACA is for you! No access due to a crappy website and high priced insurance you can never afford!

Right on. …and make it all non-profit.

The woman in the cartoon says, “I wish lack of access to health care was our problem.” I say, “No, you don’t, unless you have no imagination at all.” I’ll say it again, from personal experience. When I was young, my father contracted a disease which kept him in the hospital for nine months. The cost of the care he received would have bankrupted up many times over. But because he had a super-duper insurance plan, we didn’t pay a penny, and we came out okay. Everyone should have health insurance as a right of citizenship.

Dare I say it? The grammarian in me notes that the subjunctive should be used in contrary to fact conditions: “I wish lack of access to health care were our problem.” No, I’ll let it go.

Blame the Democrat supporting trial lawyers. If a doctor doesn’t run all these unnecessary tests, they will be sued for malpractice. Just watch daytime tv for a moment on your next day off. Nothing but slimy lawyers looking to sue everybody.We need tort reform now, but the lawyers own the Democrats, so it won’t happen unless there’s a BIG win for the Republicans next year. Let’s hope so.

In Canada it’s paid for through taxes. And it’s cheaper than the US system. But I forgot, you once met someone who claimed his nephew’s brother’s mother-in-law complained about the Canadian system. If only there were Canadians on this list we could ask what they think of it.

Been doing the “testing thing” since February, part of the “problem” (esophagitis) may come from the prophylactic drug they had me on to reduce cholesterol, when mine was within margins, but “family history” made statins standard practice to PREVENT heart problems in the future!

My group policy largely replicates what a “single payer” system would provide, lower cost than individual policies, still not “cheap”, but DOES pay the bills when they start to mount up.

Insurance, and the ACA (yes, it needs improvement, not repeal) IS a prophylactic measure so people will not be wiped out by medical bills, or die, when the future doesn’t go quite as the “no problems for me” attitude accepts as fact, rather than statistically proven, MYTH!

Yes, there are often TOO MANY TESTS, but it is the insurance industry, and the “medical providers”- like for profit hospitals, and many that CLAIM to be “non-profit” (with CEOs being paid $4 MILLION A YEAR) jacking up the costs, not lawyers. Though “malpractice” DOES need to be changed so that actual medical professionals decide what is malpractice, not plumbers, housewives, or dog walkers, sitting on juries to make those judgements.

Tort reform, although welcome, has actually quietly arrived. In many states there is a maximum amount per occurrence that can be awarded. The days of tens of millions being awarded is mostly a thing of the past.

The woman in the cartoon brings up an important point. There are two aspects to the problems of providing health care. One is the cost of care given. The other one is our significant need as a society for health care. Our demand is way too high, primarily because people will not eat properly, nor will they exercise. To be fair, a lot of the food available at the local grocery—most everything that does not line the perimeter of most stores—is bad for you: loaded with sodium and sugars under a variety of names, and five-syllable chemicals.

One problem with reducing demand is the fact that Americans feel entitled to do, eat, and not do, just because we’re Americans. Granted, the idea to limit soft drink sizes in New York was a stupid approach, but the goal was laudable. If people won’t take care of themselves, why are we surprised that it costs so much to keep us healthy? And why don’t we, as a society, realize that the easiest way to avoid costly medical intervention is to just watch what we choose to swallow? Who wants a nanny state? Where is personal responsibility?

I think facts like this are much more relevant to who has influence over congress………..

Contributions to federal candidates and political committees by lawyers have increased during the past 10 years, and collectively, they are consistently larger during presidential election years. Each cycle, the contributions significantly favor Democrats. In the 2008 election cycle, the industry contributed a massive $234 million to federal political candidates and interests , 76 percent of which went to Democratic candidates and committees.

And this…….The top contributor of these substantial funds is “heavy hitter” American Association for Justice, a group of plaintiff’s attorneys formerly known as the Association of Trial Lawyers of America whose main political priority is fighting tort reform. In the past 20 years, the AAJ has donated $31.6 million, 91 percent of which has gone to Democrats, who also generally oppose tort reform.

http://www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2013/10/oregon_has_cut_tally_of_those.html

“Why waste money on old, retired people who are no longer contributing to society and are better off dead?”

That is exactly the situation. The insurers take the money, deny the coverage (even in the face of more than one doctor requesting the treatment), and laugh all the way to the bank.

In fact, the tape on the voice system for the drug plan I just signed up for ($12/mo for them to refuse to pay for my prescriptions is a better deal than $50/mo for the same service) featured a giggling woman pointing out that ‘you must establish your policy before the 7th, or pay penalties …’ .. heh heh heh. A little extortion there, for good measure.

Hard to figure out what to do. They have stripped our budget, so I have no hope for buying the medication out of pocket for $500. Actually, we no longer have a food budget; we are dependent mostly on friends and relatives for most of our food these days.

Medicare now looks like the new population reduction policy. Government and insurers both delighted.

They are nothing but genocidal sociopaths.They’re keeping the birth rate as high as they can manage, though – gotta keep those young slav … uh .. workers coming up the pipeline.

Their denial of my meds will accomplish two things. It will put me on the list of ‘breast cancer survivors’, making my oncologist’s stats look good. It will do the same for BigPharma. That will be great, and they can use my OSA conditions to kill me off.

I am thinking ATTORNEY thoughts, but then I remember that we have the ACA courtesy of the attorneys, not to mention the SC, and I’m discouraged.

I just doubt I can live long confined to a wheelchair, fully incontinent (yes, completely), though I might be wrong about that.

It does seem to me to be an egregious cruelty, but I guess I’m just a wimp. Looks like my only recourse, though, is to be disobliging enough to refuse to die. My anger may be enough to keep me going long enough to make them look bad, but it’s also hard on my system.

What to do, what to do ..?

“Save up and pay cash for your doctor and any medical needs.”

Just don’t make it an official ‘health savings account’. My brother did that a few years ago (under duress), and a couple of months ago got a notice that ‘since he hadn’t used it, it would be confiscated’.

He was lucky. He saw the notice in time to liquidate the thing, which got him some much needed new glasses.

Don’t open any ‘health saving’ accounts. The government will probably steal them before you get to (or need to) use them.

A separate, non-designated savings account might be wise, if you can afford one.

“That will mean more people on the unemployment rolls, and how will our almost bankrupt country pay for such a thing? :

Bring the offshored jobs back, raze the propaganda machine and set up a functional education system, quit bringing in offshore labour.

Oh … and close the border to illegal immigrants.

That should do it.

“Obama knew this while he was campaigning to be re elected. HE LIED!”

Unless the insurers had already told him they’d sabotage him any way they could, and they certainly would NOT pay benefits to the unwashed masses under any conditions whatever, Obama was screwed exactly the way the rest of us have been.

Invest in a dictionary, Harley. Look up the verb ‘to lie’.

Oh yeah, not having affordable health care is ever so much better than receiving treatment for what may be ailing you or me. /sarcasm.

In every other industrialized country health insurance is a right of citizenship, so the idea is not unreasonable. In no country that I know of is a three-bedroom house a right of citizenship. Your objection is not realistic.

Re-read the ACA. Medicaid was expanded under Obamacare. I thought we were comparing apples to apples but if it makes Obama look good then it doesn’t count, does it?

“That’s a 125K. Use it or lose it every year. It takes planning which I hope he figured out.”

Or in other words, in your mind, it’s OK for the government to steal your hard earned funds.

Now we know where you stand.