MANDATORY HEALTH INSURANCE
Posted By: nana on 2007-09-21
In Reply to: Opinions on Hillary's proposed health care system? - Lifelong Democrat
You said it so well! It will bring everyone down too. What about more sliding scale clinics? We have one where I live and the care is quite good. They have patients from all income levels. Maybe we should give more tax breaks to those sliding scale clinics and encourage people with good insurance and lots of money to attend those clinics more often in order that others with less can afford decent care. I wish the Clintons would quit trying to force their health care ideas down our throats. Maybe they want us all to be socialists? By the way in case you have not guessed by now I am a Lifelong Republican, soon to be a right wing independent unless Fred or Duncan Hunter win. No one should be "forced" to get health insurance, especially one of the "crap" varieties that you mention in your post.
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Health Insurance/Health Care sm
I figure either one of two things will happen. Either the US will go to a single payer system, i.e., national health care covering all through federal taxes and cost control by the government, or therre will be an implosion of the private system in x number of years with something different emerging from the ashes.
With the exhorbitant cost of health insurance, mandating coverage is not an answer. Anything can be mandated. The question is how does one pay for it?Massachusetts mandated individual coverage, and already has had to exclude 20% due to the cost of a policy, anywhere from $1,200 to $1,400 a month for family coverage. Employers cannot afford to cover employees either due to the cost of health insurance. The current system? Well, insurance companies can charge $3,000 a month for a health insurance policy, health care providers can charge $800,000 for a 3-day hospital stay, etc. In the end no one, businesses or otherwise, will be able to keep "feeding the beast" and the current system will implode.
I think the proposal of being able to buy into Medicare is a noble one, but president Clinton pushed that years ago, and with much opposition and to no avail at that time.
I don't mean to sound so pessiimistic. Actually I'm not. There are 300 million people in this country, they have the ability to change anything, and hopefully they will take the initial steps to do that in November.
Health insurance
I'm not sure about that specific point, but in her plan if you don't purchase medical insurance your wages will be garnished. How's that for communism?
With health insurance, though
we are all driving basically the same model and we are insuring it for what could possibly happen, not what will or actually does.
Way back in the 1960s when I first started working, my company's health insurance did not cover single women for most 'female' issues, especially birth control and/or pregnancy-related issues, which has since been deemed discriminatory. Now you must cover everyone equally for every contingency.
The only way to individually ajust coverage costs would to be to exclude coverage based on genetic testing and/or family history, or maybe lifestyle issues such as alcohol or tobacco use or risky behavior like sky diving, which consumers have been fighting for years. This would probably also be deemed discriminatory.
You view of the dem health insurance is way..sm
too simplistic. The idea is to have people pay what they can afford on a sliding scale for private health insurance. You have your private doctor and everything you have with your insurance now, much like people who have been in Medicaid. The only difference is that Medicaid is for the poorest and is free. The Obama insurance would cost what is a reasonable price based on what you can afford. I am not a know it all about this subject, but this is basically what I understand about it. It would not be run like the VA. I think we should bag the VA from the horrors I have heard about them. For shame treating our veterans like that!
Health insurance for children up to age 30...
Does no one see what is wrong with this picture?
Hint.....children.....30-year-old children...those children that should have their own jobs and their own health insurance.
$300 for health insurance is a deal.
cost $1,000 or more a month?
Health insurance premiums, plus their refusal to insure people with preexisting conditions, are becoming prohibitive costwise for many (millions of Americans) to afford.
Though the example you gave may be true for some younger folks, I believe that's the exception and not the rule.
There is a huge crisis in healthcare in this country today. Good for you that you can afford it and just blame everyone else who can't. Maybe someday soon you'll be in the same boat with the 50-odd million Americans who simply can't afford it. Who will you blame then?
Health insurance is my number 1 issue
I agree with some of what you said about the state representatives being held accountable. I did vote for Senate candidates in the last election based on their stances on healthcare. One of them has been working tirelessly (with many others) to expand CHIP health insurance to kids to more middle-income children in the state, and he was successful! Now that the income bracket was raised, my 6-year-old has healthcare again, and I am so grateful! (Bush is threatening to veto the legislation that expanded CHIP to more families, though, so I'm praying he does not do that).
I am relatively young (26) and so many of my friends do not vote. I am always encouraging them to do just that (whether they vote Democrat or Republican), and I think if Senate recall (I think that's what you called it) was in place, more of them might vote. For now, we just have to hope they keep their campaign promises in hopes of being re-elected.
I know Congress needs to pass the bills on health insurance, and I know many of the Congressmen (on both sides of the aisle) have been bought and paid for by the insurance companies, and that is very disturbing to me. That's one of the reasons I like Obama so much - I think he is a good man who has not been "bought and paid for" by any big corporations.
I think America needs to cover all medical costs for our children and our elderly, and I hope more Republicans candidates will address that issue. We need to take better care of our most helpless citizens.
To me $1000 health insurance premium is a lot
That's fine you don't care about the fact that many families are working their fingers to the bone just to pay for necessities, including health insurance, but I do. I care very much and am very sad that so many people in this country only seem to care about children that come from upper middle class and rich families. I guess they deserve better health care than the middle-class kids. I don't know how people that feel that way can go to bed with a clear conscience.
People in Congress that we took the time to elect put a lot of effort into negotiating this bill to make both parties relatively happy. YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO BE TAXED FOR IT. THE CIGARETTE TAX WOULD HAVE GONE UP. Keep telling yourself what you need to tell yourself to sleep at night, but the fact is kids with diabetes from a lower-middle-class income family have less of a chance of surviving than a child from an upper class income family. That is a sad, sad, fact.
The Candidate's Health Insurance Plans
MCCAIN:
• McCain's health care plan will increase taxes on employer-based insurance, and kick 20 million people off the rolls.
• McCain's plan will throw you into the individual market, where the same plan your employer offered will cost $2,000 more, and you can be refused care because you were sick 10 years ago.
• McCain's plan will shift costs onto the sick.
OBAMA:
• Obama's plan will cover tens of millions of Americans and reform the insurance industry such that everyone gets a fair deal and no one can be discriminated against because they were once sick or unlucky.
• It will create a group market that businesses can buy their employees into so that a small business that paints homes doesn't have to run a tiny insurance company on the side and an entrepreneur can pursue his idea without having to learn about health coverage regulations.
• It will cover all children. And Christ almighty, isn't it time we did at least that?
Once i took a full-time 3rd shift job for the health insurance - sm
I have some relatives who don't have health insurance - not provided by their jobs because their husbands are self-employed and they don't buy it themselves. They also think they are too good to work the job I used to for health insurance even though they would be quite capable of it. Therefore, I think I am too good to participate in a handout so they can have it.
I have heard Obama say that every American will have health insurance
and while that is a lovely thought, it is not a realistic one. Look what happened with children in Hawaii. People began dropping their own private insurance in favor of the public insurance and caused the system to fail. Unfortunately, health care is expensive and cannot be guaranteed by the government without a price. I think that it is a nice plan, but will ultimately fail because we have a lot of lazy people who think that Obama is going to be their goose that laid the golden eggs. It's as if some people here (and it is the deep south) believe that if they vote for Obama, he is going to ensure that everyone drives a Cadillac and eats lobster. It is silly and unfortunate. These people are still living in FEMA trailers. Did you know some people actually steal them? Now--don't get me wrong, I am sure that there are some hard luck stories of people with health problems and such that cannot get out of their FEMA trailers, but the vast majority of them are just lazy. It has been three years.. but I digress. I think that radical government change happens very slowly and Obama is ushering it in. My opinion. Feel free to disagree, but I feel that these programs are stepping stones. Oh--and TriCare is the military plan.
Here is what Hillary told people about her health insurance plan. sm
She actually came out and said that they would try to garnish your wages to make you take the gov't sponsored health insurance. Fortunately, it never got any further than that.
President is going after overblown insurance charges, crooked insurance plans, .....sm
crooked hospital systems that have become quite prosperous "businesses" on the backs of the elderly, but he is NOT AGAINST the eldery getting good solid care, that is political hogwash and propaganda, you wise up and read up, and I don't mean from Fox or Coulter of Limbaugh or one of the Pub sources......
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=av1lMcI6E1no&refer=home
http://www.barackobama.com/issues/healthcare/
So don't let them. It is not mandatory.
before working yourself into a tizzy. I can't believe you would complain about people not reading when you are the one who apparently does not comprehend what it says on BO's website, or do you just read opposing propaganda without verifying its accuracy?
but if it were mandatory,
nm
Yes, we have had CD, but no it has never been MANDATORY.
Get the difference?
Remeber the draft?
Gee, that went over well, didn't it?
So if he did change it to not mandatory
I don't get the outrage. He did something that appeases his critics, but still they complain.
Brazoria county now mandatory.
nm
Abortion should be mandatory in a case like that
It is mandatory for graduation in our school
The key words are mandatory and require
This is not "volunteer". This is not "you get a choice". This is a requirement and you don't have a say.
Here is a statement about the Hitler youth's written by someone who lived under it:
School children were officially 'encouraged' to join by school teachers,
party members. parents, government etc.
It was a fun thing to do with marching, singing, drums, bugles, target
practice, summer encampments etc. Things a kid would love to do.
Members were selected for inclusion, those of doubtful ancestry were not
permitted to join, members were led to feel they were a of a select
group, the future of Germany
It was the right thing to do, there was little analytical divergent
outspoken opinion permitted or opposition to joining as there might well
be today, those that wouldn't join were suspect or at least viewed as
unpatriotic.
I can well understand the desire to join and those that did should not
be condemned.
Also, once you are part of this "civilian force" you will do as you are told. They may call it something to make you feel "patriotic", but it's just another branch of a different kind of military. Guess you could call it the Obama youths.
This should be mandatory Obama sheeple reading...nm
//
required and mandatory if you want the $4000 for college - nm
x
Mandatory evac all along Texas coast. I'm hearing lots.
I live in the path of Ike. Mandatory evac supposedly is starting around 10 a.m. I am trying to figure out whether I am staying home or hitting road. Whenever they come up for breath in the middle of lipstick on pigs and McCains preverted add long enough to actually name the mandatory evacation towns/cities, I'd appreciate a heads up.
O Changed it from mandatory Comm Serv requirement after the outcry
MANDATED community service is not acceptable to me.
Florida has Bright Futures, a scholarship assistance program for State schools. This requires community service. My son did it, and may daughter will do it as well.
BUT it is VOLUNTARY .. you choose to do it or not ..
rewards for service, yes --
mandated, no way; kids will not get anything (or the vast majority anyway) if they are forced to do it ...
ps - I believe in Comm. Service and my kids both do it .. but because they want to do so.
Just my 2 center
Insurance companies.
I agree the insurance companies need a very, very major overhaul, but do you think the insurance companies are going to do that??? If they would there would be no need for a government run system, but the insurance companies will do absolutely zilch, and things cannot contine the way that they have been going.
I'd like to see the insurance companies
You're right about the mtg. insurance
It also irks me that somehow we are being asked for $700 billion to help these companies when $700 billion would go a long way toward ensuring Americans have health insurance - what about that Mr. Bush?
mccain - insurance
The Truth about the McCain-Palin Health Care Plan
!["](http://www.johnmccain.com/Images/ml4/hc/hc_main.jpg")
Barack Obama And Joe Biden Have Consistently Lied To Americans About John McCain's Plan. Their claims have failed every fact-check - from CBS to the Washington Post. John McCain is not going to raise taxes on middle class families. Barack Obama and Joe Biden are the only ones in this race that plan to raise taxes.
![Get](http://www.johnmccain.com/Images/ml4/hc/HCFACTS_LEARNMORE.jpg")
![](http://images.johnmccain.com/Images/ml4/hc2/hc_1.jpg")
OBAMA FICTION
John McCain Will Tax Health Care Benefits For The First Time And Will Be the Largest Middle Class Tax Increase In History.
THE FACTS
This Obama charge is a blatant mischaracterization of the McCain Health Plan. It only focuses on the fact that the value of the employer provided insurance will now show up as additional income for the employees – what he fails to mention – is that John McCain’s generous refundable tax credit ($5,000 for families and $2,500 for individuals) will not only shield millions of families from a tax increase but will actually give them MORE dollars to invest in their health care needs.
The McCain Plan DOES NOT tax:
- Premiums paid by families and individuals
- Employers for providing health care coverage
- Medical expenses like the cost of a procedure or medication
- Insurance claims
Approach Supported By Obama’s Own Advisor: This is an approach supported by Barack Obama's own Senior Economic Advisor Jason Furman who wrote that "we could scrap the current deduction altogether and replace it with progressive tax credits that, together with other changes, would ensure that every American has affordable health insurance."
Better Than "Members of Congress": Under the McCain Plan, your employer can provide you with health insurance as good as a "Member of Congress" (approximately $12,000), and you would pay no more in taxes – regardless of your tax bracket. In fact, you would have additional money left over from the McCain tax credit to put in a health savings account.
|
Income Tax Liability |
McCain-Palin
Tax Credit |
Total Tax Savings |
10% Bracket
(Up to $15,000)
|
$1,200 ($12,000 x 10%) |
$5,000 |
+$3,800 |
15% Bracket ($15,650 - $63,700)
|
$1,800 ($12,000 x 15%) |
$5,000 |
+$3,200 |
25% Bracket ($63,700 - $128,500)
|
$3,000 ($12,000 x 25%) |
$5,000 |
+$2,000 |
28% Bracket ($128,500 - $195,850)
|
$3,360 ($12,000 x 28%) |
$5,000 |
+$1,640 |
33% Bracket ($195,850 - $349,700)
|
$3,960 ($12,000 x 33%) |
$5,000 |
+$1,040 |
35% Bracket ($349,700 and Over)
|
$4,200 ($12,000 x 35%) |
$5,000 |
+$800 |
Where Is The Middle-Class "Tax Increase"? If you or your family is in the 28% bracket, with an income of $180,000, you could receive employer provided health insurance even better than a Member of Congress, with a cost of almost $18,000, with no increase in taxes. Even the liberal leaning Tax Policy Center, agrees that the McCain proposals will result in a "net tax benefit" of more than $1,200 for an average tax payer. A recent Lewin Group study estimated savings of more than $1,400 per American family – almost three times the savings as under the Obama plan.
O says that he will force insurance
companies to insure preexisting conditions. That sounds like something that will put them out of business to me. No need to buy insurance until you need it. Think of all the lost jobs.
He is not going to mandate that you have insurance -
he is only going to make sure that it is available to everyone whether they have an employer-based program or not.
if you already have insurance you don't have to change - nm
x
Nobody said free insurance -
where did you get that? He said he would make insurance available at an affordable rate for everybody...
But what if you didn't have any insurance...sm
at all? Wouldn't they let you die then because they won't treat you?
But insurance companies already tell us no
What's the difference who says no? Some insurance companies pretty much say no to everything but wellness visits - and that's simply so they can find out if you develop a condition, so they can drop your coverage on a threabare excuse, or jack your rates to the moon so you'll have to drop it. Then no other company has to cover you due to it being preexisting. I don't want to pay for insurance that only covers me if I'm not sick!
At least if there was universal healthcare, even with a wait, they'd have to treat you eventually instead of NEVER. And do it for free.
How are insurance companies...
...involved in the transcription of patient notes?
That just doesn't make sense. 
Before canceling your insurance, you
should have checked a few things out.
I feel for you, but a pre-existing condition is NOT uninsurable if you have had insurance for 30 days prior to the illness.
Case in point: We had private health insurance paid for out of our own pockets for 6 years. DH had open heart surgery. In the meantime I got a job with a company, signed up for insurance and they stated a 1 year before they would insure him. Yet, it was less than 30 days since I signed up. All I needed was a Certificate of Insurance from our private carrier, and then no waiting period. I got that, and he is now totally insured under the company plan.
If you did not cancel your insurance until after your problem, you have a way out. Just ask the former insurance company for a certificate of insurance and no one can turn you down.
I'm not trying to be mean or whatever you want to call it, I'm trying to help, so don't take it the wrong way. Best of luck and hopefully, things will turn around for you.
Insurance companies and the politicians they buy..
Doesn't anybody in DC have a conscience? The system as it stands now is disgusting. They are literally making billions by killing of thousands upon thousands (maybe millions?) of Americans. Anyone with half a brain should recognize profit-driven health insurance only serves the best interest of the CEOs of the insurance companies - not healthcare recipients! This needs to change NOW!
I saw my first AMA commercial last night urging people to vote with the millions of uninsured Americans in mind. I loved it! It is at least a step in the right direction. Vote with the healthcare crisis in mind people!
Insurance industry stats
I just came across these stats in an article I was reading. How can there possibly any doubt that lobbying has single handedly taken over Washington? Especially in light of the fact that the healthcare plans on the table are pushing for more insured rather than single payer system? If we don't shove out the insurance companies, how are the prices for our healthcare ever expected to go down, or even stay at the current level for any length of time? 87% in 10 years? Absolutely ridiculous. We are not reaping any benefit from it whatsoever.
"As premiums have ballooned by 87 percent in the past decade, insurance-industry profits have climbed from $20.8 billion in 2002 to $57.5 billion in 2006. During that same period, health-care interests spent $2.2 billion on federal lobbying, more than did any other sector, and as of last month, had flooded the presidential candidates with over $11 million in campaign contributions to keep the present system intact."
Rush has good insurance.
Nice to see Rush has good insurance. I bet he is up to at least 8 OxyContin a day. On H & C tonight, he was higher than usual. He says, "I protect children under 12 years old and "seasoned citizens". How do you season a citizen? Salt? Pepper? Garlic Salt? Then fast forward and he says, all the "womens" will vote for Hilliary, he corrected himself and said "women". It really, really scares me to think people actually listen to him. By the way, Pakistan is ablaze tonight.
Insurance companies cont...sm
You made reference to the fact that you already are paying through the nose for insurance premiums and don't want to end up paying even more to cover the uninsured.
I think the general gist of reform is to guarantee access to all, and at the same time, lower the costs for people such as yourself.
Whatever direction health care reform takes it will take government intervention, either in terms of mandating what insurance companies can charge for policies for all people, likely putting caps on prohibitive prescription drugs and windfall profits made by health care providers and hospitals, etc.
What the US spends on health care is far, far above what every other country pays for health care, and that is not because the US has superior care in many cases. It's a profit driven business that has become extremely out of control. It cannot continue in its current business as usual form, as it is no longer working to the benefit of most.
indiana has insurance for children
Hoosier Healthwise is a health insurance program for Indiana children, pregnant women, and low-income families. Health care is provided at little or no cost to Indiana families enrolled in the program. The enrolled member chooses a doctor to get regular checkups and health care for illnesses. Other health needs such as prescriptions, dental care, vision care, family planning services, and mental health services are also available as part of the Hoosier Healthwise program.
This public insurance is not free -
it will still have premiums attached to it - it will just be made available to more people.
whose insurance does not pay for birth control?
Mine sure as heck does. It is much cheaper to prevent births than pay for them. It makes fiscal sense.
Private insurance and SCHIPS not the same.
SCHIPS is for CHILDREN, not parents. Federal mandates that seek to raise the age of allowable coverage for natural children of parents with PRIVATE insurance makes perfect sense. Parents (not the govt) pay premium on young adults who would otherwise not be able to afford insurance. What's the problem here?
Hello. They are referring to PRIVATE insurance.
Do you have kids? Would you like to see them go to college? Graduate school? Law school? Medical school? Would you or would you not like to have the option to carry YOUR OWN CHILDREN on your insurance beyond age 17? I think that parents who want to cover their kids (and other members of their family, for that matter, like parents, in-laws, sisters, brothers, etc) should have that choice under a group rate that would be cheaper than individual policies that some of them otherwise would not be able to afford. It's called medical care reform and the aim is to INSURE people, not exclude them. got it?
I agree....cost and insurance practices DO...
need overhaul. And McCain has good ideas to take care of that, called competition. Making all insurance available in all parts of the country is a start...so no monopolies in certain parts of the country. Now there are some really great plans, trouble is, not available everywhere in the country. McCain thinks if you offer a policy, you offer it everywhere, if you are a national company. Insurance companies, if they toe the line, can help control costs, just like they do in certain parts of the country where physicians will take whatever the insurane company is willing to pay. If they are made to compete nationally prices will have to come down. That is what competitive market does. And rather than having the government muck around in it, McCain is just going to give a tax credit $2500 individual and $5000 family to help pay premiums. That is pretty significant, and no strings attached. You still make your own health care decisions. And that works for me.
OK, I'll bite. What insurance companies and when?
Insurance companies have ALWAYS been a for profit idea. So they need to collect premiums from people who ARE NOT sick to cover the thousands they pay out for someone else who IS sick. So how is this going to work? Like I said, if this becomes a reality, I for one am going to immediately drop my coverage until such time as I need it. Unless their other healthy customers are stupid, they are going to do the same. So then the only people who will be paying insurance premiums are the ones who are also using their policies to fund their heart transplants, chemotherapy, whatever. Take a guess what their premiums are going to be.
My insurance pays for birth control.
x
WC is not a government program - it is insurance that the company's pay
nm
If the profit factor (insurance companies)...
...is removed, we will save a TON of money.
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